Sea Urchin 3D Virtual Embryogenesis
Academic Article
Overview
Overview
Abstract
This project fits into a larger collaborative research/applied learning effort between students with several different majors/minors, including marine biology, computer science, information technology, and digital arts, as well as professors from different departments – Marine Biology and Information Systems. Members of Dr. Warner’s marine biology lab study, in part, how sea urchins develop from a single cell into an embryo and how genes are arranged into regulatory networks to effect cell fate decisions and morphological changes in the early embryo. As part of the effort to share relevant research data with interested colleagues and to demystify the beginnings of life for the general population more broadly, we are creating a web application populated with a series of 3D models of sea urchins in various stages of development from a single cell to an embryo. Site visitors will be able to manipulate these 3D models to view their different sides and click different parts to see the associated gene data. Our poster presents progress to date on our 3D model creation and web application construction efforts.
