Said Sannuga

The founder of Cellscape, has both molecular biology and animation backgrounds. He obtained an MPhil degree in Microbial Genetics from the Medical School at Newcastle University and studied protein-DNA interactions at the Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College, London, at the PhD level. Subsequently, he self-trained in animation technology and worked as a senior animator at a special effects studio in Brighton. Said produced his first molecular animation, the "Nucleosome assembly", and cellular animation, the "A eukaryotic cell model", in the year 2000. Both of these works were commended by leading medical illustrators.

Said then started working professionally on his scientific animations; his first projects being with Professor Guy Dodson and, later, with many leading scientists from the UK, Europe and USA. Said's visualisation work has been used widely for educational and outreach purposes and has been highlighted or included in several journals and books, including Animation UK, EMBO reports, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, the "Visual Strategies" book and the "Life On Earth" e-Book.

Alison Davis

Alison is our scientific consultant, trained as a molecular biologist (BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, Imperial College, London, PhD protein-protein interactions, Leeds University), who has carried out research at Imperial College, London, the Institute of Child Health, London and the Universities of Leeds and York.

References

  1. Said Sannuga (2000) Breaking into biology. In "animationUK", Issue 2, p. 13.

  2. Holger Breithupt (2006) Seeing is understanding: Improvements in computer software and hardware are revolutionizing three-dimensional imaging in biology. EMBO Reports, Vol. 7, No 5, p. 467-470.

  3. Visual Strategies: A Practical Guide to Graphics for Scientists and Engineers (2012) By Felice Frankel and Angela Depace, Yale University Press.

  4. Life On Earth, e-Book: https://eowilsonfoundation.org/tag/e-o-wilsons-life-on-earth-digital-textbook/

  5. Sunny Sharma and Denis L.J. Lafontaine (2015) ‘View From A Bridge’: A New Perspective on Eukaryotic rRNA Base Modification. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Vol. 40, Issue 10, p. 560-575.