as a first - year graduate student at the university of california , san francisco ( ucsf ) , i discovered a love of microscopy . during my three rotations , i peered through microscopes to take a closer look at pathogenic yeast , the chromosomes of drosophila embryos , and rapidly crawling fish keratocytes . at the end of the year , i joined dyche mullins lab and settled in to study actin networks at the leading edge of motile cells .
in retrospect , i think this decision was due , at least in part , to the fact that i found the actin cytoskeleton to be a beautiful structure to behold .
i never got tired of looking at cells stained with fluorescent phalloidin ( which is a very good thing for an actin biologist ) . during my time at ucsf , the mullins lab had weekly joint group meetings with ron vale 's lab , whose members , for the most part , studied microtubule - based motor proteins . during my first couple of years in graduate school ,
i watched numerous talks given by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows about kinesin , talks that often focused on kinesin 's structure and the mechanical and regulatory aspects of how it walks along microtubules . from watching all of these talks
, i felt i had a pretty solid understanding of the current model of kinesin - based motility .
during one of these meetings , a graduate student presented a new animation of the kinesin motor cycle .
up until that point , i had seen only a few  realistic  animations that depicted molecules , and never within the context of a research presentation .
the kinesin animation was created by graham johnson ( now a fellow at ucsf ) in collaboration with ron vale and ron milligan , and it was based on structural and biochemical data ( you can view the animation online at www.cellimagelibrary.org/images/8082 ) .
the feeling i had when i watched that animation is hard to describe , but it was as though something had finally clicked in my head , a kind of  aha !  moment .
after all , were n't all of the processes we studied dynamic and happening in three - dimensional ( 3d ) space
? why were we relying on crude two - dimensional ( 2d ) stick figure sketches when we could be creating animated models using structural data ? i became determined to create my own animations of cellular actin dynamics and started investigating 3d animation software and courses .
after some digging around , i found that , as a student at ucsf , i could take courses at san francisco state university for free and that there was a course offered in the spring that taught 3d animation .
i was hoping to learn animation in my  off  hours , so i was disappointed to find that the animation course met every week on fridays and took up a majority of the day .
i also discovered that i needed my advisor 's permission in order to register for the course .
it was with no small amount of trepidation that i approached dyche to get the needed signature .
later , after i completed the course and had made a few animations describing research in the lab , dyche suggested that i should continue to spend fridays working on animations , for however long i wanted to .
looking back , i now appreciate that dyche 's support and enthusiasm in these early years were absolutely critical for giving me the confidence ( and the portfolio ) that allowed me to successfully transition from being a bench scientist to a full - time animator .
three - dimensional animation software is well known for having a steep learning curve , requiring time and dedication to learn how to do even the most mundane tasks , as well as patience and tenacity to work through the inevitable bugs , crashes , and other technical issues .
most 3d animation packages were created for use by the entertainment industry , and the tools within them ( such as modules for creating windblown hair and fiery explosions ) reflect the needs of that target audience . in the course i took at san francisco state university , i modeled living room furniture and household objects along with the other students , and later went back to the lab to use these skills to model macromolecules and cells .
part of the fun for me has always been the puzzle of figuring out how to creatively use tools that at first seem ill - suited for biology . during my time at ucsf and the years following it , nearly all of my animations were done side by side with my lab mates and collaborators and were typically made for use in research presentations . during these projects , i found that the process of creating the animation often gave rise to new ideas and insights that would have been difficult to gain by any other means .
no other software in the lab could allow such free manipulation and viewing of multiple proteins ( created using structural data or modeled from scratch ) , and this freedom gave us the ability to envision new possibilities and see the shortcomings of our mental models for how the biology worked . in some cases
, the initial draft of the animation acted as a visual straw man that was eventually completely dismantled and rebuilt . during another collaboration , my colleagues came up with a new line of experimentation based directly on some of the questions raised during our animation project .
these experiences have led me to believe strongly that animation is a powerful tool not only for communicating an idea , but also for exploring a hypothesis .
as i approached my last couple of years of graduate school , i began to think seriously about a career in molecular animation .
ideally , i wanted to land a postdoc where i could do animation full - time , but admittedly , this seemed like a pipe dream .
nonetheless , i talked openly and frequently about this plan with my friends , my lab mates , and my thesis committee ( which earned me a couple of raised eyebrows ) .
this unabashed broadcasting eventually paid off when a good friend told me about an unconventional postdoctoral fellowship program she had heard about , which was sponsored by the national science foundation ( nsf ) chemistry division and called the discovery corps .
the discovery corps was a pilot program ( which has , unfortunately , since been discontinued ) that focused on creating new postdoctoral models combining research with outreach efforts .
while i was in graduate school , i was fortunate to have been able to attend several meetings that focused on science visualization , including the gordon research conference on visualization in science & education ( grc ) and the image and meaning 2 ( im2 ) conference , which was organized by science photographer felice frankel . at these meetings ,
i interacted with people from a wide range of backgrounds who were using visualization for art , education , outreach , and research .
these connections were extremely valuable in linking me to a community of supportive individuals , as well as potential collaborators for future projects .
as a first step toward formulating my fellowship proposal , i reached out to jack szostak at massachusetts general hospital to inquire whether he would be interested in working with me to create animations of his lab 's focus : the chemical origins of life .
i also contacted individuals at the museum of science in boston , connections i had made at the im2 and grc meetings , to explore the possibility of working with the museum to create an exhibit on how researchers study the evolution of life on earth . after receiving two positive responses ,
i wrote and submitted a proposal to nsf , and , a year later , i was on my way to boston to begin my animation postdoc .
in actuality , my postdoc started before i arrived in boston , because i had enrolled in a 3-month crash course in hollywood to learn a more advanced animation 3d software called maya .
with this course under my belt , i felt that i could hit the ground running .
this was important , because i had only 2 years to complete more than a dozen animations , a website , and a museum exhibit .
even with the training i had received , i was still largely figuring things out as i went along , trying to create solutions to animating tricky molecules like rna and fatty acids ( you can read about some of these challenges in a blog post i wrote for science magazine 's origins series : http://blogs.sciencemag.org/origins/2009/01/visualizing-lifes-origins.html ) .
fortunately , my years in graduate school had taught me persistence and the ability to troubleshoot , and the project was completed successfully with the launching of a website ( see http://exploringorigins.org and figure 1a ) , the installation of an origins of life interactive kiosk in the museum , and a series of live presentations to museum visitors . along the way ,
i had started to build an identity for myself as a molecular animator and to explore my options for the next steps in my career .
( a ) an illustration of a protocell , created in collaboration with the szostak lab ( massachusetts general hospital ) .
self - replicating nucleic acids ( blue / white ) are encapsulated by a fatty acid vesicle ( red / gray ) .
( b ) different steps of clathrin - mediated endocytosis are illustrated , from an animation created in collaboration with tomas kirchhausen ( harvard medical school ) .
the conical capsid ( orange ) surrounds viral rna and nucleocapsid ( blue / pink ) . the membrane ( green )
since my postdoc , i have held two faculty positions as a full - time academic animator .
while my husband was completing his postdoc in boston , i took a position as a faculty member in the department of cell biology at harvard medical school , where i worked with fellow members of the department to visualize their research .
numerous animations came out of this time , including an animation of clathrin - mediated endocytosis ( see figure 1b and www.cellimagelibrary.org/images/12257 ) that i worked on with tomas kirchausen . in 2012 , my family moved to salt lake city , where my husband and i both hold faculty positions at the university of utah . while much of my energy is spent creating and working on molecular animations for research and outreach , i have also worked on projects focused more broadly on visualization , such as the cell image library ( http://cellimagelibrary.org ) , which was initiated by the american society for cell biology and funded by the national institute of general medical sciences ( nigms ) .
the cell image library houses thousands of easily searchable images and videos ( including animations ) of cells and cellular substructures and is a powerful and user - friendly resource for research and education . another ongoing major project is called molecular flipbook ( http://molecularflipbook.org ) , which has been funded by the nsf .
molecular flipbook was born out of a desire to provide researchers with an intuitive software that was made to animate molecules .
the goal of molecular flipbook is not to make cinematic - quality animations but to have a tool that might eventually replace 2d vector illustration software ( like adobe illustrator ) for making model figures and animations for our publications and presentations .
the most recent large - scale and public - oriented project that i 've undertaken is to create a detailed molecular animation of the hiv life cycle that will highlight structural findings from the past two decades ( figure 1c ) .
this project is funded by the nigms , and for it i am working together with the nigms centers for hiv / aids - related structural biology , one of which is based here at the university of utah .
i 'll be launching a website called the science of hiv ( http://scienceofhiv.org ) in the fall of 2014 and will be releasing animations and videos onto the site on a regular basis until the final life - cycle animation is completed ( in 2016 ) .
in addition to these stand - alone , grant - funded projects , i 've also worked on a number of other things  ranging from model figures and cover illustrations to large - scale animation projects .
i 've also worked on textbooks and taken a number of commissions over the past several years .
i 'm frequently asked by graduate students and postdocs about how they might pursue a career similar to my own .
it 's a difficult question for me to answer , because my route , although relatively direct , may not be one that is so easily replicated ( due in large part to the paucity of postdoctoral opportunities like those provided by the discovery corps ) .
although i sense that there is growing interest in visualization and particularly animation within the molecular and cellular biology communities , there are , to my knowledge , very few academics who specialize in animation . currently , many full - time scientific animators work within the private sector as freelancers or within scientific animation studios , publishing companies , journals , pharmaceutical companies , and other industries that rely on animation to communicate complex ideas to diverse audiences .
that said , i also think it is likely that , met with the right talented individuals , many institutions would consider creating new positions for academic animators .
as a group , scientific animators come from diverse academic and artistic backgrounds . some are trained as animators and artists and have then gone on to take courses in biology .
the best way to explore animation is to download animation software and try it out .
numerous software packages can be downloaded for free , and some are open source , such as blender .
i 've contributed a number of beginner and intermediate tutorials to the molecular movies website ( http://molecularmovies.org ) for use with autodesk maya .
another more directed route to consider is enrolling in a 2-year master 's program in medical illustration ( see www.ami.org ) .
in addition to teaching classical artistic methods , many programs now also focus on digital 3d animation as well .
major benefits to enrolling in these programs are that they often teach the  business side  of a career in illustration and animation and can help students with job placement or launching their own businesses as they near graduation .
no matter how you go about learning animation and illustration skills , it is critical to develop an online portfolio that allows you to show your work to would - be employers , whether in academia or industry .
you might also consider volunteering to create animations or illustrations for well - established colleagues and ask that they acknowledge you clearly in their presentations and publications . a final note : networking is crucial ! there 's no doubt that this is something that you , as a reader of career articles , have heard time and time again .
i emphasize it here because i feel that networking has been especially important in my career , which is rooted in collaboration .
i have benefited greatly from the support i 've received from the larger cell biology research community and my network of friends , advisors , and colleagues , who have inspired and encouraged me over the past decade .
 when i first set out on a path to becoming a cell biologist , i would have never imagined that it would lead to a career in molecular animation . 
 i had always thought i would follow a more traditional route . 
 what happened ? 
 in this essay , i will describe the experiences that led to my decision to forge a career as an academic molecular animator , and how my work has evolved over the years . 
 i will also provide some resources and advice for those who may be considering following a similar route . 
SEEING MOLECULES
AN ANIMATION POSTDOC
AN ACADEMIC ANIMATOR
SOME UNSOLICITED ADVICE