Keeping Abreast with the Biology of Breast Cancer

The Biology of the Breast and Breast Cancer

After the storyboard comes the first draft, and this blog will feature the first draft animations for "Biology of the Breast and Breast Cancer", as I produce them. I am aiming to combine about 6 to 8 draft animation clips to produce a short animated video of the first segment of this project by the summer of 2010. It will feature the background information on breast biology predominantly on the gross, tissue level. Later segments will feature animations of the microscopic levels, the cell and molecular biology of the breast.

The ongoing unfolding of biomedical research has held my fascination for a long time and I want to convey the excitement and the many surprises in store when following the latest research findings. But first some background information is needed, and we must build a common language, in this case a moving, audio-visual-spatial language. By putting the varied information we know about the breast into one container - one simulation model - we can see how different streams of information fit together. This will enable us to formulate some questions to investigate and develop some threads to follow.

What is inside of the breast? These are simulations created to demonstrate what we know of the structural components (anatomy), how they might work (physiology) and what might go wrong (pathology) inside the breast.

This is a very personal take on this material using an artistic, painterly, digital procedural mapping touch to the visuals. The subject of my work, the internal structures of the breast cannot be viewed in situ; we rely on labled and stained tissue sections or radiographic images, representations that convey limited information, whereas comprehensive simulations of that information can convey much more in a more meaningful way, to many more people. Calling for creativity in synthesis and expression but not in content. In particular, the content often contains a large component of the "not yet fully understood or visualized" that digital media has a varied set of tools to convey. This is my medium: 3D models, digital materials, lighting, special effects and 3D animation. Almost too many possibilities, but their selective use can convey much more information than words and pictures alone. It can also engage a broader audience and demonstrate technical and often "fuzzy concepts" in seconds, and in such a way that one would want to continue to interact with the material in different ways; from video, to interactive Flash pieces, comics, medical illustrations, games, quizzes, audience feedback and contributions.

Everyone comes with breast glands, but this work will pertain to women more than men. The final video/product may be balanced out with a contrast and comparison between breast glands and the prostrate gland, they are both secretory glands ruled by sex hormones.