Simulating Biological Cells in 3D

Advancements in computer graphics and simulation technologies have opened new avenues for studying complex biological systems in a visually immersive, interactive and multi-scale manner. Concurrently, biologists are unraveling the fundamental principles explaining how a single cell robustly develops into a mesmerizingly complex organism, known as us - humans.

Despite the success of existing Blender applications in visualizing molecules (i.e. MolecularNodes), simulating and capturing plausible cellular shapes and interactions has been overlooked, especially in 3D. Therefore, we introduce Goo, a Blender extension designed for biologists, science communicators, and illustrators, providing them with the tools to simulate, study, and visualize how biological cells physically behave in a tissue in 3D. The software is open-source and maintained by the Megason Laboratory at Harvard University - https://github.com/smegason/Goo.

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