Animating embryos: the in toto representation of life
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In: British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 50, No. 3, 01.09.2017, p. 521-535.
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Animating embryos
T2 - the in toto representation of life
AU - Wellmann, Janina
PY - 2017/9/1
Y1 - 2017/9/1
N2 - With the recent advent of systems biology, developmental biology is taking a new turn. Attempts to create a ‘digital embryo’ are prominent among systems approaches. At the heart of these systems-based endeavours, variously described as ‘in vivo imaging’, ‘live imaging’ or ‘in toto representation’, are visualization techniques that allow researchers to image whole, live embryos at cellular resolution over time. Ultimately, the aim of the visualizations is to build a computer model of embryogenesis. This article examines the role of such visualization techniques in the building of a computational model, focusing, in particular, on the cinematographic character of these representations. It asks how the animated representation of development may change the biological understanding of embryogenesis. By situating the animations of the digital embryo within the iconography of developmental biology, it brings to light the inextricably entwined, yet shifting, borders between the animated, the living and the computational.
AB - With the recent advent of systems biology, developmental biology is taking a new turn. Attempts to create a ‘digital embryo’ are prominent among systems approaches. At the heart of these systems-based endeavours, variously described as ‘in vivo imaging’, ‘live imaging’ or ‘in toto representation’, are visualization techniques that allow researchers to image whole, live embryos at cellular resolution over time. Ultimately, the aim of the visualizations is to build a computer model of embryogenesis. This article examines the role of such visualization techniques in the building of a computational model, focusing, in particular, on the cinematographic character of these representations. It asks how the animated representation of development may change the biological understanding of embryogenesis. By situating the animations of the digital embryo within the iconography of developmental biology, it brings to light the inextricably entwined, yet shifting, borders between the animated, the living and the computational.
KW - Biology
KW - Embryo
KW - Cultural studies
KW - Visualisierung
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032631730&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0007087417000656
DO - 10.1017/S0007087417000656
M3 - Scientific review articles
C2 - 28923124
VL - 50
SP - 521
EP - 535
JO - British Journal for the History of Science
JF - British Journal for the History of Science
SN - 0007-0874
IS - 3
ER -