BMC graduate creates animation for freshwater ecology education

Brittany Cheung, a 2021 graduate of the Master of Science in Biomedical Communications program, created the short animated film The Impacts of Road Salts on Freshwater Ecosystems to communicate to the public important research findings about the effect of road salts on aquatic ecosystems.

Brittany Cheung "The Impacts of Road Salts on Freshwater Ecosystems" (2021) from Biomedical Communications on Vimeo

The animation was inspired by and uses research from Associate Professor Shannon McCauley's lab in the Department of Biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Among other things, McCauley studies the carryover effects of high salinity on dragonfly larvae.

Brittany Cheung, MScBMC 2021

Cheung, who also holds a B.Sc. in ecology and evolutionary biology, says that road salts are not commonly thought of as a pollutant. "But when road salts are washed into our freshwater ecosystems, the increased salinity leads to less healthy ecosystems that are biased towards salt-tolerant species," says Cheung.

The animation informs a general audience about the impact of road salts on freshwater ecosystems. It encourages pro-environmental behaviour by cultivating appreciation of, and empathy for, freshwater ecosystems and their denizens. The animation also encourages hope and self-efficacy–rather than fear–and presents practical individual solutions, as well as collective ones.

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Links referenced in story:
Brittany Cheung's website https://www.bcheungbiomedicalillustration.com/
Link to animated film: https://vimeo.com/589890589
Shannon McCauley's website: http://www.shannonjmccauley.com/

Introducing the MScBMC Class of 2021

We are pleased to welcome our newest members to the Biomedical Communications alumni family.

After only five months of in-person training and education, this remarkable and resilient cohort successfully completed the remainder of their 24-month program online. (Thanks, COVID.)

Congratulations to the MScBMC Class of 2021!

Top row, left to right: Ingrid Barany, Jennifer Barolet, Brittany Cheung, Eric Chung
Second row: Jennifer Zheng Gu, Katrina Hass, Cassie Hillock-Watling, Jennifer Lee
Third row: Chloe Xiaoyi Ma, Colleen Paris, Ariadna Pomada Villalbi, Yu Xiang Ren
Fourth row: Margot Riggi, Ava Schroedl, Martin Shook, Willow Yang

BMC prof and alumna use graphic medicine for trauma psychoeducation

In a project overseen by trauma therapists Abby Hershler and Lesley Hughes, biomedical communications alumna Patricia Nguyen (Class of 2018) and BMC associate professor Shelley Wall co-edited Looking at Trauma–A Toolkit for Clinicians.

Published this autumn by Penn State University Press, the workbook presents twelve psychoeducational models of trauma, which Nguyen (MScBMC 2018) translated into graphic medicine comics. The illustrations are accompanied by introductions that describe how these visual models might be used in therapy.

This sample of Patricia Nguyen's work shows how a single visual metaphor can be a powerful explanatory tool–in this case, explaining how a present-day trigger evokes a response fuelled by strong emotions from past trauma.

Hershler, Hughes, Nguyen and Wall designed Looking at Trauma to be an easy-to-use, accessible, and engaging resource for health-care professionals who provide psychoeducation to clients with histories of childhood trauma.

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Looking at Trauma–A Toolkit for Clinicians: https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09207-2.html

Biomedical Communications students create science trading cards

Move over Pokémon–BMC SciCards are here!

7:15 a.m.
Maeve Doyle

Inspired by the Pokémon collectible trading cards of their childhoods, biomedical communications graduate students Shehryar (Shay) Saharan and Michie (Xingyu) Wu developed the BMC SciCard Collaborative project.

Michie (Xingyu) Wu and Shehryar (Shay) Saharan, both MScBMC Class of 2022, co-created the extra-curricular BMC SciCard Collaborative project. Photo credit: Dave Mazierski

"The project began back in February 2021 when Michie and I were talking about ways we could collaborate as a cohort and involve other BMC students," says Saharan, now a second-year student in the Master of Science in Biomedical Communications (BMC) at the University of Toronto.

BMC students are educated and trained in medical illustration and scientific visualization. Saharan, Wu and their cohort completed almost their entire first year in the program online due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

"We felt like a lot of our projects were individual so we thought why not have a fun side-project that we could all contribute to and also get the incoming BMC students involved in?" he says.

The SciCard Collaborative project is based on the idea of trading cards but with a BMC twist. Unlike Pokémon's imaginary creatures with magical powers, the SciCard "creatures" are real.

"Everyone could choose an animal, a plant, or a molecule with some sort of special ability that can be explained by science," says Saharan, who still has his Pokémon collection of over 200 cards.

Each participant tackled subjects with seemingly impossible traits, then created cards for them. Participants were encouraged to illustrate the card fronts in their own unique, explorative and creative styles. The card backs had to explain the science.

Colour-Changing Crystals by Shehryar Saharan. Saharan first rendered the Panther chameleon in carbon dust. He then scanned and inverted the image so that light and dark tones were switched. This gave the image a nocturnal look and emphasized the "wizardly" nature of the chameleon.

Fascinated by its ability to change the colour of its skin, and curious to learn how, Saharan chose the Panther chameleon.

"The front of the card was called Colour-Changing Crystals. The back shows the different layers of the skin and explains how the structure within the skin allows different light to bounce off and cause that colour-changing effect. So, although it sounds very magical, there are interesting scientific properties to explain it," says Saharan.

First-year BMC graduate student Anaïs Lupu hadn't yet started the program when she received an invitation from Saharan and Wu to participate in the SciCard Collaborative project.

Anaïs Lupu, MScBMC Class of 2023. Photo credit: Dave Mazierski

"I was excited. I wanted to make a good impression and put my first piece out there," says Lupu, a former Yu-gi-oh! trading card collector and, according to Saharan, a crazy-talented artist.

Spear Kick by Anaïs Lupu. Lupu illustrated her card front in a realistic National Geographic style. She used info graphics to communicate the science behind the bird’s powerful and dangerous kick.

"I did a detailed illustration in a Nat Geo style," says Lupu. Her card front is a realistic depiction of the deadly Southern Cassowary on a forest background. A pretty, blue, flightless bird, the Cassowary's special ability is its powerful kick. "This bird is buff," she says. For the card back, Lupu chose to communicate the science through infographics rather than text.

Saharan and Wu organized online meetings for the SciCard participants where they presented their sketches, and gave and received feedback.

"We even met to vote on the strength of the special ability," says Lupu. Like Pokémon cards, SciCards have power rankings or "hit points." Lupu's Spear Kick card has a hit point of 55. Saharan's Colour-Changing Crystals has a hit point of 48.

Saharan describes the SciCard Collaborative project as a precursor to the program’s Information Visualization course and a chance to dive in early to some visual communication principles. "The stakes were low. It was just collaborative and fun and we all got to know each other in the process, too. So, that was really rewarding," he says.

He hopes that, in the future, with a larger collection, there may be an online archive of the artwork and even printed physical copies of the SciCards. For now, the digital files are stored within the BMC program.

Saharan says that he and Wu hope someone will take on the SciCard Collaborative project next year and recruit a new group of current and incoming students to participate. 

Lupu may just be that someone. "I want to do this again next year if it's offered. If not, I'd like to borrow their idea and run it myself."

The Teardrop Dive-Bomb by Emily Tjan, MScBMC Class of 2023

Tjan used a painterly, cartoonesque style to capture and illustrate the Peregrine falcon diving at high speed.

Limb Regeneration by Jessica Ye Feng, MScBMC Class of 2023

Feng used a Pokémon card-style to depict the Axolotl as a cartoon.

Desert Survivalist by Amy Zhu, MScBMC Class of 2023

Zhu combined inspirations from concept art and fantasy role-playing games with a dash of Indiana Jones to illustrate a semi-realistic Fennec fox exploring a desert environment.

Fist of the Sun by Joshua Koentjoro, MScBMC Class of 2023

Koentjoro used a flat illustrative style to render the Peacock Mantis shrimp as it unleashed a dynamic punch.

Blood Eye Shot by Neramy Ganesan, MScBMC Class of 2023

Ganesan rendered her illustration in a semi-realistic style using a limited colour palette and a technique similar to cell-shading. She depicted the Regal Horned lizard breaking out of the darkness, with the blood coming out of its eye to form an arrow that emits a glow.

Fur Slip Escape by Viola Yu, MScBMC Class of 2023

Poison Fingers by Michie (Xingyu) Wu, MScBMC Class of 2022

Wu created a stylized cartoon depiction of the Blue Dragon sea slug (Glaucus atlanticus) in an underwater setting. She was influenced by the style of Ken Sugimori, character designer and art director for the Pokémon franchise.

Biomedical Communications graduate students bring home awards from AMI 2021 Annual Meeting

Due to another year of COVID restrictions, the 2021 edition of the Annual Meeting of the Association of Medical Illustrators, originally scheduled to be held in Phoenix, Arizona was held online between July 20 and 28. Once again, University of Toronto Master of Science In Biomedical Communications (MScBMC) students did extremely well at the conference's Salon event. 

The Salon is an annual exhibition of medical art created and produced by student and professional members of the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI). MScBMC students took home nearly half of all student awards winning 15 of the 36 total student awards given out. First year MScBMC student Shehryar Saharan won Best in Show for his infographic titled "Orangutan–The Most Endangered Great Ape." Saharan describes the piece, created with pencil, Photoshop and Tableau, as "a comprehensive and intuitive information graphic that communicates orangutan biology and behaviour, and the urgent need for further conservation efforts." 

Shehryar Saharan won Best in Show in the student category at the 2021 AMI Salon for his infographic Orangutan–The Most Endangered Great Ape. The piece was created in consultation with BMC faculty member Jodie Jenkinson, and content expert Leif Cocks (President, The Orangutan Project).

The other MScBMC student award winning pieces are listed below:

• Brittany Cheung’s “Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis”

• Jennifer Gu’s “Bioluminescent Mushrooms Mock Nature Cover”

• Jennifer Lee’s “Plaque Psoriasis”

• Chloe Ma’s “Waipo? – A Story of Alzheimer’s Disease in Grandma and My Family”

• Colleen Paris’s “Multiple Sclerosis”

• Yu Xiang Ren “Lymphatic Filariasis”

• Yu Xiang Ren, Chloe (Xiaoyi) Ma, and Willow Yang’s “Vaccine Chat”

• Shehryar Saharan’s “Data Storage in Bacterial DNA”

• Ava Schroedl’s “Managing Our Waste“

• Martin Shook’s “Critical Contact and the Burden on the Brain”

• Su Min Suh’s “Window Chamber Method: A Novel Approach of Cellular Imaging”

• Su Min Suh’s “Futuristic Approaches of Skin Bioprinting”

• Michelle Wu’s “Bubble Bee”

Linda Wilson-Pauwels, professor emerita and past director of the BScAAM and MScBMC program (1986-2008) was awarded the AMI's Lifetime Achievement Award. This award acknowledges and honours a medical illustrator whose "life, work and accomplishments have significantly contributed to the profession and fellow illustrators." Wilson-Pauwels, winner of the AMI's Brödel Award for Excellence in Education in 2008, was celebrated for her tireless efforts to advance and support the profession which included more than 30 years of volunteerism to the AMI including a year as its president. 

After a year as president-elect of the AMI, Nicholas Woolridge now assumes the role of president. Woolridge, an associate professor and past director of the MScBMC program from 2008 to 2019, will serve in his new role as the AMI's President until July of 2022.

BMC75 Gala Closing Social and Reunion—June 27, 11:00AM ET

BMC75 Gala closing SOCIAL AND REUNION*

Sunday, June 27 | 11:00 a.M.-12:00 P.M. EDT

After 27 days of celebration, 10 social and skills-development events, and countless (re)connections with fellow BMCers across the globe, it is finally time for the BMC75 Gala to come to a close. Come chat with old classmates and swap stories about your favourite BMClasses, or maybe even meet a new BMCer in breakout rooms. We'll also be announcing the grand prize winner of the Virtual Gallery Scavenger Hunt Challenge - so don't miss out!

*This event is hosted by the BMCAA, intended for AAM/BMC Alumni, Students & Faculty.

BMC75 Virtual Trivia Night—June 24, 8:00PM ET

BMC75 virtual trivia night

Thursday, June 24 | 8:00-9:00 P.M. EDT

The BMCAA is hosting another virtual Trivia Night! Play solo or in a team of up to 4, and there will be prizes!

"Doors open" at 7:30 - come early, hang out and meet folks in the main room or breakout rooms. The game will start at 8!

Once you register for the event, you'll find a link to a team sign-up sheet if you're playing with others (max teams of 4). All team members should register through EventBrite.

There will be prizes for the trivia champ(s)!

BMC prof and clinical education partner deliver vital training to grad students

Aimy Meng Yu Wang, a first-year graduate student in the Master of Science in Biomedical Communications program, practices surgical observation in the Surgical Skills Centre’s training theatre at Mount Sinai Hospital. Photo credit: Dave Mazierski

8:00 a.m.
Maeve Doyle

Surgical observation very nearly didn't happen this past semester for first-year Master of Science in Biomedical Communications students.

To preserve resources such as ICU beds for COVID patients, on April 7, 2021, the Ontario government ordered hospitals to postpone all elective and non-emergency surgeries. Surgeries that could take place were restricted to essential personnel only.

Fortunately, a BMC faculty member was able to leverage the close relationship between the BMC program and its clinical educational partner at Mount Sinai Hospital to create a surgical observation opportunity exclusively for BMC graduate students.

COVID’s third wave

"We had moved surgical illustration from January to the spring thinking surely the students will be able to enter the operating room by then. Then the third wave hit and it was out of the question for any non-essential personnel to be in the OR," says Shelley Wall, associate professor in the Master of Science in Biomedical Communications program.

Wall and her colleague Lisa Satterthwaite, the senior manager of the University of Toronto’s Surgical Skills Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital, decided to mount a dedicated session exclusively for the BMC graduate students.

The Surgical Skills Centre provides a laboratory setting where surgeons, medical students, residents, fellows and physicians can learn and practice basic and complex surgical and medical procedures on cadavers, organ tissue, analog or digital simulators.

"I contacted a few surgeons who spoke with their residents to see who would be interested. We had a response of five residents who volunteered to come in and do dissections on cadaveric tissue provided by the Department of Anatomy," says Satterthwaite. Anatomy has also struggled under COVID with donations having been very much reduced, she says. "They've had a tough time of it, but they were more than willing to help us out with this program."

To prepare for surgical observation, Wall lectured the students on the basics of surgical procedure. She also instructed them on visual narrative to give them a sense of what to look for while observing procedures, and what questions to ask.

Orthopaedic surgery observation

On May 6, the first-year biomedical communications students attended orthopaedic trauma surgery in the Surgical Skills Centre’s training theatre. They observed techniques such as plating of fractures, fasciotomies, suturing wound closures and dissections.

The observership differed from what the students might have experienced in the OR.

"Cadaveric material is obviously not the same as actually seeing live tissue in a surgical field. There's also a lot of instrumentation or procedures such as suction or cautery that they did not see," says Wall. But neither did the students have to worry about entering the surgical field or interrupting the surgeon. "The residents were very happy to pause and explain all the underlying relevant anatomy."

Sketches of surgical procedures that will be reconstructed and illustrated. Sketches and photo by Aimy Meng Yu Wang.

Speed Sketching

Aimy Meng Yu Wang, a biomedical communications graduate student, compared sketching the surgical demonstrations to figure drawing.

"We only had a short amount of time to capture a movement, a sequence, a set of steps–so every stroke had to count," says Wang. "It was great that we were in the SSC because we could ask the surgeons questions directly. This would have been much more difficult to do in the OR with a patient on the operating table."

Also unique to the session was that the students were able to participate.

"I've never experienced orthopaedic surgery before, so the power tools were a shock. But it was really exciting when we had the chance to try to drill into the bone and fix plates into it ourselves. It became truly hands-on," Wang says.

Surgical illustration skills are transferable to all aspects of medical illustration and animation, says Shelley Wall. "Students have to bring to bear all the anatomical and procedural knowledge they are gaining. This experience crystallizes what needs to be done to tell a good visual story."

Space permitting, Lisa Satterthwaite hopes that there may be future opportunities for the biomedical communications students to observe other surgical training sessions. "Because COVID has reduced our ability to deliver education, we were thrilled from the skills laboratory side to be able to offer this opportunity," she says.

BMClasses: Professional Development Workshops—June 14-18

The BMC Alumni Association introduces BMClasses—short, one-hour professional development workshops in biomedical communications. These workshops are free and open to the public. Come learn a new technique or simply freshen up your skills!

Blender 101: An Introductory Crash Course!

Monday, June 14 | 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Instructor: Abeeshan Selvabaskaran (2T2)

Description: Blender is one of the fastest-growing softwares available and competes with the biggest 3D modelling and animation programs in the industry. A huge advantage of Blender is that it's completely open-source and free to use. I've been using Blender for several years and have seen it grow into the magnificent beast it is today. This BMClass will be an introductory crash course to get participants started and excited to use Blender. I'll go over the UI, some of the basics in modelling and texturing, and participants will end the session by creating some simple models.

What you’ll need: Access to a computer with a 3-button mouse and the latest build of Blender (2.92.0) downloaded prior to the BMClass.

Affinity Designer 101: The Antidote to Adobe Illustrator

Tuesday, June 15 | 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Instructor: Dave Mazierski (8T2)

Description: The dominance of Adobe Illustrator in the vector graphics market has not stopped little software Davids from emerging to take on Adobe’s Goliath. One worthy competitor is Affinity Designer, by Serif (Europe) Ltd. Competitively priced at $70 CDN (and it’s available at half price often throughout the year), Affinity Designer offers a suite of tools (with eerily identical keyboard shortcuts) that rival Illustrator’s, plus throws in a set of pixel editing and painting tools that, while not at the level of Photoshop, allows the user to create vector objects that serve as masks for pixel painting all within one file. Affinity can open most common (and Adobe-based) file formats, and save to them as well. This BMClass will feature an overview of the program’s interface and toolset, with examples of artwork created as part of my undergraduate teaching during the recent “work from home or die” academic year. If participants are looking to lighten their monthly software budget, Affinity Designer might be the solution.

What you’ll need: Nothing is required for the demonstration; however, if participants would like to follow along they may download a trial version of Affinity Designer prior to the BMClass.

DaVinci Resolve 101: Your New Favourite Piece of Freeware!

Tuesday, June 15 | 8:00-9:00 p.m.

Instructor: Paul Kelly (1T1)

Description: Known for being the best app for colour-grading video, DaVinci Resolve by Blackmagic is an all-in-one video editing and development tool that also integrates audio editing and node based compositing. It's ridiculous that this software is free. Not only can you do all your video editing, audio editing and 3D compositing in one piece of software, but it renders out the final super fast. In this BMClass I’ll run through a demonstration of DaVinci and how it can be incorporated into participants' video editing workflow.

What you'll need: Nothing is required for the demonstration; however, if participants would like to follow along they may download DaVinci Resolve 17 prior to the BMClass.

Facilitation 101: Digital Workshopping Using Miro

Wednesday, June 16  |  12:00-1:00 p.m.

Instructor: Marina Spyridis (1T6)

Description:  Running workshops and acting as a facilitator are useful skills to broaden your ability to creatively ideate on your own work, with teammates, or with clients. In this BMClass, participants will learn the basics of how to structure a workshop, communication & facilitation techniques, what type of assets you should create to run the session, and how to plan for output afterwards. Participants will finish this BMClass with an interactive working session in Miro, a free software that can be used for remote workshopping and facilitation. This BMClass would benefit those who want to improve their communication and facilitation, or aspire to work in strategic design, service design, or consulting. 

What you'll need: Access to the internet in order to participate and engage via a Miro board, which is free to use and edit as a guest.

Houdini 101: Getting Molecular with Houdini

Wednesday, June 16  |  7:00-8:00 p.m.

Instructor: Stuart Jantzen (1T3)

Description:  Molecules and Houdini are a beautiful marriage! In this BMClass participants will learn how to use Houdini to create a complex molecular structure using biological data. The model will be converted into a reusable tool with adjustable parameters. This session will provide just a taste of the strengths of Houdini, namely data manipulation, procedural model generation, and tool development. 

What you'll need: Access to a computer with a 3-button mouse and Houdini Apprentice (Free learning version) downloaded prior to the BMClass. Additionally, participants are strongly encouraged to spend 30 minutes following an introductory tutorial that covers the ultra-basics of using Houdini prior to the session.

Digital Painting 101: Creating Cohesive Colour Palettes 

Thursday, June 17  |  8:00-9:00 P.M.

Instructor: Brittany Cheung (2T1)

Description:  A relatively informal class on digital painting with an emphasis on colour palettes and layer styles. I will be going through how to pick pleasing, cohesive colour palettes, and how I use layer styles to adhere to the palette as the painting progresses. I will also facilitate a Q&A about my painting process and give impromptu demonstrations of specific techniques based on participants’ requests, as time allows.

What you'll need: Any 2D painting program (Photoshop, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, etc.) that participants would like to practice in!

Blender 201: Creating a Sciviz Scene

Friday, June 18  |  12:00-1:00 P.m.

Instructor: Eric Chung (2T1)

Description: Blender’s rate of development has skyrocketed since the release of version 2.8, with a significant UI overhaul, and new, unique features continuously being added. Having used Blender since version 2.59, I’ve found that it excels as a jack-of-all trades concepting tool.

In this BMClass, I’ll show participants how to leverage its snappy, real-time Eevee rendering engine for faster iteration in final renders and lookdev. I’ll also introduce Blender’s new Houdini-esque Geometry Nodes, as well as its very comprehensive sculpting toolset. The session will go through how these features work through the creation of a sciviz scene, as well as how they differ from traditional 3D workflows.

What you'll need: Access to a computer with a 3-button mouse and the latest build of Blender (2.92.0) downloaded prior to the BMClass. Participants may also find the following free Blender add-on useful for the session.

BMC75 Watercolour Postcard Workshop with Joyce Hui (1T1)—June 13, 2:00PM ET

Paint a watercolour scene and share it with a fellow BMCer!

Sunday, June 13 | 2:00-3:00 P.M. EDT

Instructor: Joyce Hui (@rurupoi)

Description: During this interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to capture, on a postcard, an outdoor scene in your local environment using traditional watercolour media. You’ll be guided through tips on tools and tricks for colour mixing, then paint along with me as I give a live demo. Q+A will be welcomed throughout as you create your watercolour postcard!

Workshop participants can choose to paint a scene en direct (for example, a view out your window / in your backyard), bring a photo reference to work from, or follow along with the reference photo Joyce will be using.

Following the workshop, you can exchange your watercolour postcard via snail mail with other workshop participants (facilitated by the BMCAA). Connect with a new BMCer and share a little slice of where you are with them!

Materials you'll need:​​

• Basic watercolour set*

• Watercolour or mixed media paper: recommended 5x7" postcard size

• A watercolour brush (round size 10 recommended)

• Pencil for sketching

• An outdoor scene to paint: either one in your immediate environment (e.g. view out the window), or a reference photo

• Optional: water-soluble pencils, markers, ink, white gouache, white gel pen, eraser 

If you plan on purchasing new materials for this workshop, please consider supporting local art stores! For those located in Toronto/GTA, we recommend Above Ground, Curry's Art Store, and ARTiculations. For folks located outside Toronto, try DeSerres. And feel free to share any other gems you know of!

*Joyce will be using quinacridone red, hansa yellow medium, ultramarine blue, phthalo blue (green shade), cerulean blue, burnt sienna, and perylene maroon. But a basic triad of the primaries also works!