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PathogenAR, an application co-created by U of T grad Kristen Browne, was named Finalist in the 2020 Adobe Creativity Government Awards. The awards recognize government professionals who are making an impact through creativity and design.
“This is an innovative solution to what sounds to be a long-standing problem. The concept to use AR and be able to even present and discuss on the fly is what really makes this an outstanding entry,” wrote one assessor.
A 3D-modelling specialist, Browne created PathogenAR as part of a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The app allows users to carry around 3D-models of pathogens in their pockets.
“We thought we could create an application which would allow a user to carry around all the structures they needed. Something they could just bring out at a conference table and show their peers and say, this is what I’m trying to tell you about,” says Browne. “They’d be able to walk people through important features, interacting, highlighting, connecting to a projector. Then those people could download the app and walk through it themselves.”
Biomedical Communications alum Kristen Browne. Photo provided by K. Browne.
3D-model print files for download
“PathogenAR is a natural extension of the NIH’s 3D Print Exchange,” says Darrell Hurt, computational biologist, project lead and chief of the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch of NIAID at the National Institute of Health (NIH).
The 3D Print Exchange is an interactive website for searching, sharing and downloading print files for 3D biomedical models.
Browne, a 2015 graduate of the Master of Science in Biomedical Communications, says that although colour 3D prints from the 3D Print Exchange’s library are a really great way to visualize protein structures, they’re not particularly portable. “They’re also really fragile and heavy, so carrying them around isn’t practical.”
For a solution, the 3D Print Exchange team turned to augmented reality, an increasingly popular technology that overlays computer visualizations onto the real world through a smartphone or tablet screen.
See a demo of PathogenAR on YouTube. “Experience pathogens in augmented reality. The PathogenAR app uses image-tracking-based interactivity as a convenient method for researchers and students to...”
Prototype module
The first module Influenza: A Universal Vaccine allows users to explore strategies that NIAID researchers are using to develop a single vaccine to target the many types of influenza virus.
“This is really high level data that ordinarily people would have a hard time interpreting, but because of PathogenAR, they can visualize it as long as they have a smartphone,” says Browne.
With a Merge Cube device–a foam cube inlaid with patterns recognized by a smartphone’s camera–users can even project and interact with 3D-models of the virus.
PathogenAR’s 3D model of the influenza virus projected onto a Merge Cube. (Marketing image. Not real game play.) Provided by K. Browne.
SARS-CoV-2
Browne says PathogenAR has been downloaded more than 300 times after being shared through NIH social platforms, and that feedback has been positive.
“That indicates that there definitely is interest and now we know we can build forward. How can we make this more engaging? Reduce barriers? Improve our storytelling? What subjects can have the most impact on people right now?” says Browne. “And, of course, that’s where SARS-CoV-2 comes up.”
In one module under development, the PathogenAR team is working to tell the story of one route to stopping the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. It will allow users to explore the interaction between the viral spike protein and the host cell, and potentially better understand how scientists hope to disrupt the mechanism that allows the virus to enter a cell.
Ultimately, both the influenza and the SARS-CoV-2 modules will inform the public about viruses, immunity, and vaccines. “People can start to understand, oh, this is what a vaccine is. It’s not just a fluid that goes into my arm. It’s a functional entity,” says Browne.
While PathogenAR is all about molecular data right now, she says it won’t always be.
“We will likely be integrating models that come from medical imaging for stories about how pathogens affect the body, and maybe even one showing how the swab test for COVID-19 works using a model of the sinus from one of our collaborators. We can basically tell any story that lends itself to augmented reality.”
NIAID’s PathogenAR app is available for download from Google Play and the App Store.