Computer Graphics of Cancer Cells

Gaudenz Danuser Lab; Project Mentors: Meghan Driscoll and Hanieh Mazloom Farsibaf

Cancer proliferation and metastasis is governed in part by the spatial localization of signaling molecules within cells. Powerful new microscopy technologies, in particular light-sheet microscopes developed at UT Southwestern, now enable the 3D visualization of cell signaling. However, cancer cells have convoluted dynamic morphologies, which complicate quantitative descriptions of signaling distributions. The field of computer graphics has developed mathematical and algorithmic techniques that are potentially useful for describing signaling distributions on the cell surface. However, these tools have been developed primarily to visualize objects at the human scale, such as characters in video games, and it is unclear how best to translate them to the peculiar world of cancer cells. In this project, you will adapt computer graphics algorithms for use on cancer cells. In particular, you will develop a tool to measure the spatial correlations of signaling distributions defined on the irregular manifold that is the cell surface, or, alternatively, choose to work on another mutually agreed upon application of computer graphics to cell morphology.

For more information about this project email Meghan Driscoll or Hanieh Mazloom Farsibaf.

Melanoma cells imaged via light-sheet microscopy and colored by the density of local signaling molecules. Red shows regions of high PIP2 localization, whereas blue shows regions of low localization. (Adapted from Driscoll et al., Nature Methods 2019.)