Betty Lee, Biomedical Communications alumna, visualized research findings that solved part of a century-old slime mystery.
Lee, and her scientific visualization group at the University of Southern California (USC), used 3D modelling to reconstruct hagfish slime gland thread cells. She provided art direction for the research article published in the scientific journal “Nature Communications”.
Researchers at the University of Guelph learned how the protein threads secreted by the hagfish are organized at the cellular level. This discovery brings science closer to producing synthetic versions of hagfish threads that could provide sustainable alternatives to existing fibres made from petroleum feedstocks.
Lee, who graduated with her MScBMC in 2003, is currently Art Director at the Institute for Neuroimaging and Information at USC.
by Maeve Doyle