Scientific and Medical Animation services

A Focus On ALK-positive Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

In partnership with Wedgewood Communications, XVIVO developed two videos for Takeda Oncology to discuss lung cancer mechanism of disease and treatments.

This animation takes an extensive and detailed look at the sub-populations of patients who have non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which affects about 198,000 new patients in the United States each year. The animation discussed the variety of possible mutations seen in lung cancer, with a focus on NSCLCs with an ALK mutation. With so many acronyms to be used in the animation, we were challenged to clearly present the lung cancer types and the possible genetic mutations found in the tumor cells.

Learn more about this animation in our blog, Demystifying the Lung Cancer Alphabet Soup.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Dr. Parth Shah, the Director of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at the Thoracic Outlet Center at Hartford Healthcare’s Heart and Vascular institute asked XVIVO to create an animation of a surgery he performs to relieve a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome, or TOS. A very realistic style of animation was chosen to accurately portray what occurs during the surgery. The animation contains very detailed visuals and voice over to inform patients and families about the procedure, and which could also serve as educational material on TOS surgery for surgeons-in-training.

Learn more about this animation in our blog, Precision in Animating Surgery.

XERMELO MOA

XVIVO partnered with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals to create a series of high end medical animations that provide an overview of carcinoid syndrome diarrhea (CSD). The program illustrates how XERMELO, through the inhibition of TPH, turns down the overproduction of serotonin within neuroendocrine tumor cells, helping patients gain control over carcinoid syndrome.

While we typically represent cellular and molecular mechanisms in a realistic manner, for this program we re-envisioned cancer cells as grungy steam punk factories, peppered with smoke stacks billowing out serotonin.

Protac Platform

The biopharmaceutical company Arvinas Inc. has taken a unique approach to develop investigational therapies for hard-to-treat diseases, including cancers. XVIVO, in collaboration with Wyant Simboli and their client, Arvinas Inc., helped communicate the unconventional mechanism of action for a new class of drugs that engage the body’s own protein disposal system to target cancers and other difficult-to-treat diseases.

Arvinas’ approach is to tag a protein implicated in a disease with their proprietary Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera, or PROTAC. PROTACs are small molecules that can be tailored to tag particular proteins. The PROTAC also binds to a naturally-occurring protein that ultimately results in the disease protein being degraded by the body’s natural disposal system.

The XVIVO animation showcased the multiple steps in the natural pathway for protein degradation and the tunable structure of the PROTAC molecule. The animation gave Arvinas a crucial tool to accurately and succinctly illustrate the PROTAC mechanism of action.

Learn more about this animation in our blog, Illustrating the Unconventional: PROTAC Technology for Disease Therapy.

COBRA Platform MOA

Maverick Therapeutics collaborated with the XVIVO team to create a scientific animation that brought to life the highly complex and novel mechanism of action behind Maverick’s pioneering approach to T cell-engaging immunotherapies. A product of brilliant protein engineering, Maverick’s COBRA™ therapeutic platform generates conditionally active bispecific T cell engagers designed to eliminate solid tumors. 

Unlike other inherently active T cell engagers, COBRAs only become active, potent T cell engagers once acted upon in the tumor microenvironment, and remain inactive when attached to healthy cells. COBRA molecules also have a built-in safety mechanism that extends their half-life prior to activation. This component physically detaches once the molecule is activated within the tumor microenvironment, allowing for rapid elimination of active molecules once the tumor has been eradicated and reducing the chance of damage to nearby healthy tissue.

Maverick’s unique approach is designed to overcome the limitations of inherently active T cell engagers, which generate dose-limiting toxicities at the moment efficacy is observed. Maverick’s in vivo data demonstrates that COBRAs can fully regress established tumors at doses well below the toxic dose, validating that this technology offers a wider therapeutic window and could be a major breakthrough for people with solid tumor cancers.

Biostage Cellframe Technology

About 456,000 new cases of esophageal cancer occur each year. In the United States alone, there are 17,000 new cases. Esophageal cancer is treated with an esophagectomy, which has a 90-day mortality rate as high as 19%. Biostage is pioneering a new technology to regenerate the patient’s native esophagus through Cellframe Technology. Two weeks before the esophagectomy, stem cells are extract and incubated with the Cellspan implant in a bioreactor. This animation shows how Cellframe Technology works to regenerate esophagus tissue and muscle through stem cells as well as the Cellspan Implant process.

Learn more about how XVIVO is a trusted partner for start-up companies in our blog, Start-up with Style: Launch your Visuals with XVIVO.

Glutamate Modulation

Glutamate is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. Release of glutamate is essential for normal function of neurons, but the levels of this neurotransmitter must be tightly regulated to avoid toxic effects on neurons.

XVIVO partnered with Biohaven to animate the glutamate story. The script details normal glutamate signaling, dysfunctional glutamate signaling and the mechanism of action of Biohaven’s investigational agent trigriluzole, a novel neuroprotective agent to modulate glutamate neurotransmission. Trigriluzole is expected to reduce the neurotoxicity associated with excessive glutamatergic excitation, which is implicated in many disorders involving the central nervous system.

Voxelotor An Investigational Drug for Sickle Cell Disease

In collaboration with Global Blood Therapeutics, our folks here at XVIVO created this medical animation to illustrate the mechanism of action of a potential drug candidate for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). SCD is caused by a point mutation in the hemoglobin gene, resulting in the aggregation and polymerization of deoxygenated hemoglobin. This causes structural deformation of red blood cells into the characteristic “sickle” shape, which can lead to cellular lysis and vaso-occlusion, impairing oxygen delivery and causing a number of health effects. Voxelotor is an investigational disease-modifying drug that binds to hemoglobin and increases its affinity to oxygen, keeping it in its oxygenated state. By diluting the concentration of deoxygenated hemoglobin, mutant hemoglobin may be kept from polymerizing, thus preventing cellular sickling and its many clinical consequences.

To view a related animation click here: SB-030: A Novel Matrix Regulator.

Neuralink

XVIVO created an animation that provides a 30,000-foot overview of neurophysiological signaling in the human brain to help the team at Neuralink describe the science that underpins their brain-machine interface development. Neuralink is developing a brain-machine interface that can simultaneously record from specific brain areas, interpret the incoming neurological signals, and selectively stimulate regions of the brain to elicit specific desired responses.  

Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) are designed to perform tasks such as translating neuronal information into control instructions for an external computer or prosthetic arm. In principle, patients with brain disorders as varied as Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, or sensory impairment could benefit from a device similar to Neuralink’s BMI. The first application of the Link will be to help people with paralysis regain independence through brain control of computers and mobile devices to assist them with communication. 

While it is no easy task to animate the structure and function of something as complicated as the human brain, XVIVO delicately balanced scientific accuracy with visual clarity to help contextualize Neuralink’s work. 

Learn more about this animation in our blog, Peering into the Brain: Neuralink’s brain-machine interface.