Scienfy, a new tool to create 3D scientific illustrations by the Aragonese researcher Marta Baselga

The tool allows you to create visual and profuse 3D illustrations for scientific publications, presentations or theses, without the need for design knowledge..

Scienfy has hundreds of models applicable to the fields of Medicine, Biomedicine, Biology or Veterinary Medicine, although it does not rule out its extension to more technological fields..

A tool to create surprising and detailed scientific illustrations in 3D, this is how it is presented Scienfy, a project of the Dr. Marta Baselta, Biomedical Engineer who develops her research work in the Health Research Institute of Aragon (IIS Aragón). With two master's degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Project Management, and with two doctorates Biomedical Engineering and Medicine (the latter in the process of completion), Baselga has made available to the world of medical-health research knowledge such as Design engineer . requested by Spanish and foreign colleagues, who asked her for help in generating illustrations as professional as those she used in her scientific publications. From there Scienfy emerged, a intuitive and friendly tool with which researchers in the fields of Medicine, Biomedicine, Biology or Veterinary Medicine can create visual and professional graphic summaries or graphical abstracts for their publications, conference posters, presentations, theses, doctorates and TFGs. A personal project that has the collaboration of IIS Aragón and that does not rule out its expansion into other areas of knowledge.

Known for being the director of the team she developed in pandemic, a protective material against Covid-19 based on silver nanoparticles that increased the protection of masks surgical techniques, Marta Baselga came to the field of Biology, as she explains, naturally. “Biology has always interested me a lot. I studied Industrial Design Engineering, and many times I applied the designs or projects I carried out to the field of Biomedicine. The jump to Biomedical Engineering was quite natural, given that I was already focused on this area of ​​Medicine and Biology. Right now I am dedicated to research in the field of cell biology with electron microscopy, which represents a leap from Biomedical Engineering to Biology,” he explains.

Marta Baselga began her career as a Design Engineer, a training that provides her with resources that other researchers in the field of Medicine do not have. “Every time I publish something, I generate 3D images to explain my research. of it They are very visual figures that attract a lot of attention, especially in a field in which, perhaps, not so much attention is paid to graphic design.. For this reason, it is very common for people around me to ask me for designs for their articles, even I have received requests from other countries, like England, to design the drawings of the articles. That's why it occurred to me to create an easy-to-use tool that would be accessible to everyone., where the hundreds of 3D models that I have done throughout this time, related especially to Biology and Medicine. I upload these models on the web and, thus, any researcher has this process of designing the figure more accessible. It is easier for him, and with a quite professional result”, points out the doctor.

Scienfy: the leap from 2D diagrams to striking and visual 3D illustrations

As this Aragonese scientist explains, there are tools on the market that allow researchers to create illustrations for their scientific work, but they are 2D schematics with unrealistic designs. “With Scienfy you can make much more realistic illustrations, with 3D cells, with a fairly deep level of detail. Scienfy is more focused on design visual art, applicable especially to graphic summaries (graphical abstracts), theses, presentations... As a researcher I would use it to illustrate a summary of my research, or to make a more illustrative scheme”, He argues.

And that is precisely one of the Scienfy's main attractions: the generation of very visual images, which are ideal for Scientific Publications, the main resource used by researchers, but also for presentations, conference poster, illustrations of thesis o end of studies projects. “Wherever an illustration of the research is required or a figure explaining the science behind a research, Scienfy can be useful,” says Dr. Baselga.

Scienfy has hundreds of 3D models that are constantly updated. Currently, it is more focused on the field of Medicine, Biomedicine, Biology or Veterinary Medicine, but Baselga does not rule out expanding the application towards more technological areas. In any case, it is an easy tool to use for any researcher, regardless of their previous knowledge in design, for which access is only necessary register. After registration, you access a editor where all the resources are found.

Currently, there is a free version where you can see all the program functionalities, although with watermark, since the images in this trial version cannot be published in magazines. However, Marta Baselga announces that at this moment Scienfy is in agreement. promotion: People interested in trying this tool can send an email to info@scienfy.eu to receive a free coupon to make a first figure with all use licenses.

Countries are rich because they investigate, they do not investigate because they are rich

Marta Baselga carries out her research career at the IIS Aragón, an institution that supports her Scienfy project, and which has determined her leap from Design Engineering to Cellular Biology. “I have been very lucky and I have been able to take these leaps through the people I have around me, especially Dr. Antonio Güemes, Dr. Concepción Junquera, and Alberto Jiménez Schumacher. "I have been able to take these leaps because these people have been by my side," she says, although, as she appreciates, both areas of knowledge are connected, since "when I was engineer I worked solving problems, and now that I am a researcher, I work solving doubts, which if you think about it, they are not so different things.”

Currently, this Aragonese doctor is part of the Surgical, Clinical and Experimental Research Group, a team led by doctor and surgeon Antonio Güemes, which seeks synergies between the fields of Medicine and Engineering. “The objective of this group is to find doctors, especially in the field of surgery, who detect needs in their daily lives, in order to be able to solve them from Engineering. We have a innovation laboratory at the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital, where we develop projects linked to the Biomedicine sector, to which responses are given from Engineering. Above all, we are dedicated to vascular surgery, trauma control, hemorrhage control and oncological surgery, especially breast surgery"He explains.

Within this research group, Baselga led a team during the pandemic that developed an innovative protective material against Covid-19, based on silver nanoparticles that increase the protection of surgical masks. A system that inactivated the coronavirus and eliminated its ability to infect. Within this line of work, the doctor also became part of the CoviBlock team, a research and technical assistance project promoted by the IIS Aragón that sought to define areas with low risk of contagion of Covid-19. He also worked in projects to determine the existence of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols, as well as in the development of filter media for masks made from discarded materials.

Some investigations that led to Essential practical applications for pandemic control which has lasted three years. “Without science and research I don't know what would have happened to us in the pandemic. Today's research, which is tomorrow's results, is what create the future, is what creates the world in which we will live in the future. In Biomedicine, the application of research is very clear: at the level of treatments, prognosis… Medicine would not have evolved if it had not been accompanied by research,” he argues.

A necessary and sacrificial work that brings great wealth to the countries that promote it. "He The researcher's work is complex and exciting, every day you have new challenges, but at the same time it is very sacrificed. There are many hours of dedication, many years of study, many hours in the laboratory, many failures, and at the same time successes that make you see that what you do every day is worth it, what you strive for every day. There are many hours of work and many sleepless nights. Of course, I think that the money invested in science is a investment in a better future for all. I'm not just talking about the Medicine part, but also about technology or any of the branches of knowledge. That's why I think Countries are rich because they research, and they do not research because they are rich, and that is something that we should keep in mind, especially in Spain. You have to generate R&D&I, the research you do today is results for tomorrow, which will then have a place in the translation to society, to companies, and to the country's economy,” he concludes.

Source and Photography: GoAragón.