Blog | Magipics

Aravax MoA

November 28, 2023 By Mats Leave a Comment

Magipics has produced a biomedical animation for Aravax describing the mechanism of action of PVX108, a next generation immunotherapy for the treatment of peanut allergy.
As stated on the Aravax website (aravax.com.au): “Aravax is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the first safe, convenient and disease-modifying treatment for peanut allergy. Aravax uses proprietary technology to precisely reset the immune system to tolerate allergens without evoking allergic reactions during treatment. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
Following successful Phase 1 trials, Aravax’s lead product PVX108 has received FDA clearance to commence Phase 2 clinical trials in the United States. PVX108 is being developed to become the first safe and convenient treatment for peanut allergy.”

Mats Bjorklund at Magipics has a strong scientific background in molecular biology and cell biology with a PhD in Biotechnology. Creating accurate visuals illustrating complex biomedical topics such as these are thus easily handled.

The animation can be viewed on the Aravax website.

Affinity Chromatography

July 21, 2023 By Mats Leave a Comment

Magipics has produced animated videos for a large pharmaceutical corporation. Shown here is an extract from one of these animations. It illustrates a common affinity chromatography concept.

Briefly, antigen molecules (shown in purple) are immobilized on a microporous resin. A solution containing a mixture of proteins, including antibodies (blue), is then passed through the resin, whereupon the antibodies bind specifically to the antigen. Other proteins pass through. A pure solution of antibodies is finally generated by adding a buffer that causes the antibodies to desorb from the antigen molecules.

The graphic representations of the molecules were created using publicly available crystallographic data.

Click on the image below to view the animation.

Anatomics SkullBox

June 22, 2023 By Mats Leave a Comment

Magipics has produced a series of medical/surgical animations for Anatomics. As stated on their website (anatomics.com): “Anatomics is a Melbourne-based and Australian-owned medical device company that has been marketing surgical products to surgeons locally and internationally since 1995. Anatomics pioneered CT scan derived surgical implant technology and was first to market with an innovative, quality product that assisted surgeons to produce better surgical outcomes and save valuable operating theatre time”.

Shown here is one of these animations, illustrating the Anatomics “SkullBox” product. This system is used for cranial decompression and reconstruction. As requested by the client, the videos are silent with on-screen text explaining the process.

View the animation by clicking on the image below:

Ena Respiratory

January 30, 2021 By Mats Leave a Comment

Magipics has produced a biomedical product animation for Ena Respiratory. This animation illustrates INNA-X, a novel class of immunomodulators that has the capability to prime the immune system in the respiratory tract.

INNA-X is a series of novel, synthetic, potent TLR2/6 agonists with drug-like properties. The product is developed for topical delivery to the airways via nasal spray in order to target the primary site of most respiratory virus infections, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza and rhinovirus.

View the animation by clicking on the image below:

Here is the animation as it appears on the Ena Respiratory website (you may need to scroll down on the page): https://enarespiratory.com/products

PSMA Theranostics

June 19, 2020 By Mats Leave a Comment

Magipics has produced a biomedical animation for the PeterMacCallum Cancer Centre. The animation describes the principles of PSMA Theranostics or ProsTIC, a treatment method for Prostate cancer. Briefly, this method involves targeting Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA), a unique marker found on the surface of prostate cancer cells. Utilizing radioactive particles conjugated to a molecule that binds only to PSMA, the cancer cells can be detected and destroyed.

Here is the animation as it appears on the PeterMac website: https://www.petermac.org/research/ProsTIC/about-prostic

It has also been published in the Daily Telegraph: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breakthrough-techniques-for-treating-prostate-cancer/video/837cb2edb12f568bb5f9cfe16094a039

Mats Bjorklund, 2020-06-19

Cells and Biomolecules, May 2020

May 11, 2020 By Mats Leave a Comment

Some time has been spent in recent weeks exploring new animation techniques. For this purpose a selection of old Magipics animations have been revisited and reworked, and entirely new material has also been created. Here is a short biomolecular showreel, focussing on cells and biomolecules. It starts out with red blood cells; then moving on to stylized stem cells, followed by the molecular principle of an ion channel in a cell membrane. The next scene illustrates the molecular “motor” mechanism driving flagellar movement in bacteria. It finishes on a very current topic: the attack of a Corona virus. Genuine molecular pdb structures have been used for the “spike” and HA surface antigens on the virus particles.
The soundtrack was also created in-house.

Biomedical Showreel 2020

March 24, 2020 By Mats Leave a Comment

Showreel with short samples of Magipics’ biomedical animations. The video covers the fields of Biology, Biomedicine, Surgery, Analysis and Nanotechnology.
Soundtrack created in-house.

Here is the video!

Headwind effect

June 1, 2019 By Mats Leave a Comment

Fluctuations of the relative rate of dark matter hitting Earth in its orbit around the Sun

Magipics has created a series of animations for CAASTRO, The Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics. Presented here is an animation illustrating the “headwind effect” (To view it, scroll down to the end of this blog). This animation was created without voice-over and captions, as the presenter would provide his own narration. So a brief explanation is warranted.
A large proportion of the universe is made up of dark matter. “Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that is thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total energy density” (Wikipedia). Our movement through space and thus through the dark matter is a combination of the Milky Way’s movement and rotation, the movement of the solar system, and the movement of the Earth around the Sun. So in a sense we are constantly encountering a “head wind” of dark matter. However, the relative speed of this headwind goes through small cyclical fluctuations due to Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
One difficulty when creating this animation was how to visualise something that can’t be seen. So with a bit of artistic licence, the dark matter has been shown as dark blue wispy cloud shapes. We hope this is acceptable to any scientists viewing the animation!
The animation starts out with a wide shot of the slowly spinning Milky Way, surrounded by the dark matter. We then fly in to a closeup of our Sun, level with the galactic plane. As we are now moving with the Sun (and the galaxy), we can see the dark matter streaming towards us. We then shift to a “birds-eye” view of the Sun with the inner planets in their orbits, travelling through the dark matter. We finally move in to a view following the Earth in its orbit around the Sun (note that another bit of artistic licence has been used here: In reality the Earth of course spins 365 times each year, but then it would just be a blur in the animation). As observed from the Earth, the headwind of dark matter is slightly faster through the first half of the year, and slightly slower during the other half. This is further supported visually with the cyclical fluctuation being drawn simultaneously in a superimposed diagram.

Enjoy!

Wear resistance of SI-TUFF™ coating

April 8, 2019 By Mats Leave a Comment

Magipics has created animations for Haydale Technologies Inc, illustrating the properties of SI-TUFF™ Performance Silicon Carbide. Shown here is a pipeline scenario. SI-TUFF™ is a new type of reinforcing additive for protective coatings. The primary benefit of this additive is improved scratch and abrasion resistance, which results in increased service lifetime. It toughens coatings, increases wear resistance, and extends their service lifetime by up to 70%.

Haydale is an advanced materials company specialising in functionalized graphene and single crystal silicon carbide microfiber and fiber technology.

The animation can also be viewed on the Haydale website

Clarity technology

March 31, 2019 By Mats Leave a Comment

MAGIPICS has created an animation for Clarity Pharmaceuticals, illustrating the targeted delivery of a radioisotope.
Clarity’s platform technology allows peptides and antibodies to be radiolabeled for visualisation using PET imaging and therapy.
The Company is a leader in innovative radiopharmaceuticals, developing targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases in adults and children.

The animation can also be viewed on the Clarity website