Cellular Backpacks for Macrophage Immunotherapy
About:
Researchers have recently engineered polymer discoidal particles termed ‘backpacks’ that adhere to macrophages and regulate macrophage phenotypes in tumor microenvironments. These backpacks carry and secrete cytokines that maintain macrophages in their antitumor state, increasing the efficacy of cellular immunotherapies against cancer.
This editorial illustration aims to catch the attention of potential readers and prompt them to read the featured research article. The backpack was designed to have an inorganic and futuristic look and feel to emphasize the novel aspect of the engineered technology and was a stylistic interpretation of what would have been simple polymer discs. The emissive lighting on the tubes draws attention to the backpack and highlights the potency of the cytokines stored in the backpack that keep the macrophage in its antitumor state.
Target audience: Biomedical Researchers
Client: Kelly Cloninger, UIC BVIS
Software: 3DSMax w/ Arnold, Substance Designer & Painter, Zbrush, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator
Format: 8.5 by 11 mock editorial print
Research & Ideation
Literature review was done to better understand the technical aspects of the backpack technology to enable conscientious design of the backpack for an editorial piece.
Sketches and composition development.
Asset development & Testing
Lighting tests
Lighting tests were done to get a basic idea of the look and feel of the environment. I wanted the macrophage and backpack to be the hero of the scene and ensure that they didn’t look sinister, so I decided to go for brighter lighting.
Modeling
Organic modeling was done in ZBrush. Curve tubes and brushes in Sculptris Pro mode were used to add appendages and texture to the macrophage. The appendages were polypainted so they were a different polygroup from the base mesh. This ensured that Zremeshing can be done by polygroups to create separate islands for the appendages and not warp the topology of the mesh. The base of the backpack was done in 3DSMax and details were added in ZBrush.
Texturing
Texturing for the backpack was done in Substance Painter. The textures for the rest of the organic objects in the scene were done procedurally in 3DSMax.
Compositing
Render passes were taken out and composited in Photoshop. Light rays were added to simulate volumetric lighting and color corrections and a background texture was added as well. The light rays were focused on the macrophage and backpack to draw attention to the focus of the paper.
Composited image
Before compositing
