Scientists in Cambridge have built a virtual reality (VR) 3D model of cancer, providing a new way to look at the disease.
The tumour sample, taken from a patient, can be studied in detail and from all angles, with each individual cell mapped.
Researchers say it will increase understanding of cancer and help in the search for new treatments. The project is part of an international research scheme.
The Director of Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK), Professor Greg Hannon, told the BBC: “No-one has examined the geography of a tumour in this level of detail before; it is a new way of looking at cancer.”
The ‘virtual tumour’ project is part of CRUK’s Grand Challenge Awards.Within a ‘virtual’ laboratory, Prof Hannon and I became avatars, whilst the cancer was represented by a multi-coloured mass of bubbles.
Although the human tissue sample was about the size of a pinhead, within the virtual laboratory it could be magnified to appear several metres across.
To explore the tumour in more detail, the VR system allowed us to ‘fly through’ the cells.The virtual tumour we were looking at through our headsets was taken from the lining of the breast milk ducts.
