Kevin Tan is a Graduate Student of Research Semifinalist!
His image caption: "A blocky version of myself dons his lab coat and mines his way into the microscopic realm of cell biology with this 3D image of live breast cancer cells programmatically placed into Minecraft. Block by block, I am sharing my research in label-free optical microscopy through Minecraft, my favorite computer game. I acquired this image using digital holotomography which uses light to measure the tiny volumetric structures within cells. Through digital segmentation of the image, each Minecraft block tells a story: blue glass for the cell membrane, pink for the nucleus, the nucleolus in purple and all other organelles colored green. Breaking through the boundaries of traditional education, these Minecraft models will provide a captivating experience to explore the true 3D and dynamic aspect of cell biology that is too often overlooked in the classroom. Through interaction with the cells, players will have hands-on experience with how cells function and how this function changes with disease. As an effort to make this knowledge accessible and inspiring to the next generation of young researchers, I am working with the Science and Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology to craft this dream into a reality! "