2020 Small World in Motion Competition

Dr. Daetwyler, a researcher at UT Southwestern Medical Center and his collaborator, Dr. Gloria Slattum focus their work on epithelial cell biology. Their main interest in creation of this movie was a visualization and further understanding of dynamic processes in the development of disease, particularly cancer. In short, this movie is part of life-saving research to learn how cancer metastasis takes place. It illustrates how mutated genes in the zebrafish epidermis cause cancerous cells to be extruded and invade surrounding tissue. Imaging events such as this require cutting edge technology that calls on the latest developments in imaging, microscopy, sample care/preparation and data processing. These movies are often derived from data sets that are measured in terabytes (1 terabyte=1,000 Gigabytes) Cancer metastasis is the primary cause of cancer associated death. The knowledge gained from such research will translate directly to more effective ways of controlling this deadly aspect of the disease.