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Recent recommendations for undergraduate biology instruction emphasize teaching foundational biological principles and helping students transfer these principles to more complex biological phenomena. These curricular endeavors can be facilitated by the incorporation of interactive visualization materials. The following research project was developed to explore whether a visual interactive didactic tool could be developed to improve learning outcomes for undergraduate biology students on the topic of allosteric regulation within the context of glycolysis. The results of this research could be beneficial for improving the development of interactive applications for science education.A pretest-posttest design method was used during an introductory biology course at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Spring 2017. 16 students completed the pretest and 12 completed the posttest. Both tests were worth 5 points. A decrease of 1.38 points was observed for the average score on the posttest. Due to the lack of control with this research study and the small sample sizes, it is not possible to draw meaningful conclusions from these preliminary quantitative results. Qualitative results aggregated from the posttest reveal an overall positive experience with the interactive application (see figure 8 below).Glycolytic enzymes with resolved structures were first aggregated from the Protein Data Bank and modified in the Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) software. Enzyme models were then exported to Pixologic ZBrush where they were retopologized for efficiency of geometry and performance (see figure 3). Enzymes and substrates were animated in Autodesk 3ds Max. The user interface elements were created in Adobe Illustrator. All assets were imported into Unity and scripted for interactivity. Finally, lighting and materials were applied within the Unity environment. The completed application was built out on the WebGL platform in order to be accessed online. For the 2D animation, all elements were created within Adobe Illustrator. Adobe After Effects was used for compositing and the finished animation was encoded with Adobe Media Encoder for deployment and integration into the online module. Overall ProcessThere were two primary scenes in the application:Functional level scene (see figure 4): Students were able to control the amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the environment and observe the effects on enzymatic activity. By manipulating this value, allosteric enzymes were either activated or deactivated. User interface elements were implemented strategically to help scaffold student understanding of this process. Students were then encouraged to click on the third enzyme, phosphofructokinase, to observe allosteric regulation at the structural level. Structural level scene (see figure 5):The final scene allowed students to interact with and observe the regulatory mechanisms of phosphofructokinase (PFK). Students could again manipulate the levels of ATP in the system and observe the effects on PFK. At this level, direct struc...

Intramedullary spinal cord tumors (IMSCTs) are rare neoplasms in the central nervous system (CNS), accounting for 2-4% of all CNS tumors.1 Astrocytomas, a common type of IMSCT, are inltrative and do not have a clear plane of dissection making surgical removal difficult. Due to limitations in current surgical options, along with adverse effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the use of external magnets to guide intrathecally delivered gold-coated nanoparticles has been proposed as a less invasive treatment for eliminating astrocytomas.1,2 An animation was developed to create a new resource providing an overview of the procedure and to teach grant committees, surgical residents, and surgical faculty. A qualitative survey was administered to provide residents, faculty, and researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Neurosurgery and Neurology Departments an opportunity to provide comments. Likert scale questions and qualitative comments confirmed that the animation was effective in accurately portraying the technique and was a valuable visual aid for neurosurgeons. This new resource will continue to helpintroduce and explain the procedure for anticipated upcoming clinical trials.

Translating new discoveries into viable therapies is dependent upon communication between scientists and medical professionals, especially in the emerging field of nanomedicine. Understanding of mechanisms on the cellular and molecular scale is commonly facilitated using 3D animation. However, this project sought to validate the knowledge transfer of complex biomedical information in nanomedicine using an alternative medium, the comic book. This medium has been effective for science communication but remains largely untested in medical education. In order to explore the differences in knowledge gain, engagement, and preference between comics and 3D animations, a comic book about a synthetic high-density lipoprotein gold nanoparticle’s apoptotic effects on lymphoma cells was created and compared to a 3D animation with identical content. Thirty-five individuals consisting of medical students, physicians, graduate students, and research scientists in the biomedical sciences were randomly shown the comic or the animation following a pretest. A posttest and preferences survey was conducted afterward. Results indicated that both the comic and animation were similarly effective at increasing knowledge about the HDL AuNP mechanism of action and had a similar level of engagement.