Etch A Cell - Fat Checker Round 2

Why do we need fat? The balance between health and disease depends, in part, on the physical structure of the cells in your body and the activities that grow, repair, and power them. Lipids (also known as fats and oils) play a key role in life, serving as a main structural component of cell membranes, in cell signaling, and as a reservoir for energy storage and release. Without lipids, your body would disperse into a muddled fluid mass on the floor. Too much, too little, or the wrong kind or balance of lipids can lead to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, muscle weakness, neurodegeneration, and eventually to death. You get lipids by eating vegetables and meat, and your cells also make them.

The aim of this Zooniverse Citizen Scientist project is to help determine the number, size, and location of lipid droplets in cells, and to map their relationship to other parts of the cell that are important for processing and using lipids. In round one, our volunteers were successful in identifying lipid droplets inside liver cells. For this second round, we are asking our volunteers to identify lipid droplets in breast cancer cells. Characterizing lipids in both of these cell types strengthens the results. Thank you for helping provide this valuable additional data to our Fat Checker research.

The data you provide will be used to train an Artificial Intelligence program to recognize and render the 3-dimensional architecture of lipid droplets in cells.

This information will help biologists to understand the complex roles that lipids play in health and disease.