Transforming Confocal Microscopy Imaging Data of Retinal Vasculature into 3D Animation

Presented at the Association of Medical Illustrator's 2021 virtual annual meeting

Abstract

This research study presents a methodology for creation of 3D models from confocal microscopy, specifically the retinal trilaminar capillary network, that can be used in 3D biomedical animation. Biomedical visualization professionals regularly use CT and MRI imaging data to create 3D models and other visuals. Adding confocal microscopy to this toolkit using ImageJ FIJI¹ and Materialise Mimics^® allows for a wider range of options to create data-driven 3D models of microscopic structures. Understanding the interactions of the neurovascular unit through visualization may be a key to advancing understanding of normal function of the retina and diabetic retinopathy pathology.