Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Drew Berry

American-born Australian 3-D Digital Biomedical Animator at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia

"If a device were possible that could magnify objects 100 million times, we could directly watch the writhing, dynamic molecular world of DNA. However, even with the most advanced imaging technology, the biggest bio-molecules are resolved as static blurry shapes, with scientists relying on other techniques to determine how they interact and accomplish their roles in creating life. Drawing upon this fragmentary evidence from all fields of biomedical research, my quest is to holistically construct the most accurate, insightful visualisations of cellular and molecular worlds that have ever been produced. With clarity and detail never before seen, the animations are enlightening visual explanations of how cells, DNA and bio-molecules perform the essential tasks at the basis of life."

"Each of the animations is founded on the latest scientific data sets, such as X-ray crystallography, so that details such as molecular shapes, sizes and real-time dynamics are distinctively accurate. Through the animations, an audience can be placed face-to-face with a neuron pulsing with electric messages, or inside an artery to view the rush of blood cells, or hover above the growing knot of flesh in a tumour."