Microbial Musings

A warm welcome from the MadMicrobe team to our newest addition, Gary Welch, CMI who joins us in the role of Medical Art Director!

Gary is a veteran of the Life Science visualization industry with 29 years of experience in such roles as Senior Art Director, Technical Director, and 3D Animator producing interactive and 3D video content for a wide range of pharmaceutical, broadcast and educational companies.

Designing cutting edge accurate microscopic worlds for Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality is what Gary has most recently focused on. On weekends he can be found mountain biking in the beautiful Wissahickon Valley. Welcome aboard!

Here’s a short educational clip MadMicrobe created. Hemoglobin is a molecule within red blood cells which delivers oxygen to cells throughout the body and is responsible for the rbc’s red pigment. Oxygen atoms bind to heme groups within the larger molecule.

Created by MadMicrobe Animation Director, Alan Smith in Cinema 4D/Redshift using data from the protein data bank.

A strange epidemic baffles the medical community this Halloween season…

Happy Fat Tuesday! Here is a festive little Mardi Gras bead animation piece we put together to brighten up your week! See if you can spot the science elements peppered throughout…

And while we’re at it, what would Fat Tuesday be without the FAT? Speaking of which, here are a clump of fat cells (also known as lipocytes or adipocytes) from a recent project MadMicrobe has completed. Adipocytes, the type of cells that primarily compose adipose tissue, store energy in the form of fat within large globules in their cytoplasm. Enjoy your Fat Tuesday festivities today, and remember these little guys are lurking within, ready to help you store whatever extra “energy” you throw at them! 🙂

Mitch and Mike headed out to St. Louis this week to meet up with the nice folks at 2e Creative. It’s always fun to watch people’s reactions after we let them experience our VR demo. 🙂

Thanks 2e for the great afternoon of brainstorming, amazing BBQ
…and giving us the opportunity to squeeze in a little sight-seeing to boot!
St. Louis, thats one big old metal arch you got there!

Happy New Year!
We are all happy to announce the addition of another talented microbe to our growing team of science creatives.

Luke Letellier has a degree in film production, and several years of experience in 3D visualization, with a focus on technical animation and motion design. Prior to joining the MadMicrobe team, Luke has created animation projects for the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Defense, Virgin’s Hyperloop One, and Marriott International. 

Hailing from the woods of rural Maine, Luke enjoys the quiet life of the country, fueling his love of cinematography and contrasting with his expertise in cutting-edge animation technology.

When work’s over you’ll probably find him catching squirrels in his office, troubleshooting someone’s old VCR, or solving complex technical animation rigging conundrums (usually for Mitch).  Check out Luke’s animation showreel below along with a few stills of his work:

Below is a little peek under the hood of our cellular tree ornament miniature world. Created in Cinema 4D and rendered in Arnold. Thanks for looking!