Welcome to Etch A Cell - Fat Checker

There is a whole Zooniverse of discovery out there...help us explore!

Etch A Cell - Fat Checker is a subset of the Etch A Cell project. Working in collaboration with the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK, the Etch A Cell research team, the University Imaging and Research Computing and Super Computer Centers of the University of Minnesota, USA and the Microscopy and Cell Analysis Core of the Mayo Clinic, USA, this project will focus on extending recognition of cellular components to address fundamental questions and discovery in biology.

Why are we studying the components of cells...because STRUCTURE IS FUNCTION!

Decoding biological mechanism in health and disease lies, in part, on understanding the relationship between structure and function – a concept that has served well to address fundamental questions and discovery in biology. That is, in biology - what something does, is directly related to its shape, what it is made of, and the arrangement of its parts. This is true at every size scale from the organ system, to the tissue, the cell, the organelle, the macromolecular complex, and finally at the molecular level. These concepts are not new: indeed, masters of the microscope of the late 19th to middle 20th century knew them well.

How you can help - check cells for fat to help train a computer

Using a special electron microscope, we section through cells that make up liver tissues and take hundreds of images of the components within these cells (including fat). In order to take advantage of all the data these images can reveal, and better understand the role fat droplets play in these cells, we need to be able to identify the fat droplets in these images. This is where you can help! By looking through these images and identifying the fat droplets, you will help us to train computers that will eventually be able to identify the fat automatically, saving researchers valuable time and helping to advance the understanding of the role fat plays in disease.

This project is part of the Etch A Cell Organisation

'Etch A Cell - Fat Checker' is one of multiple projects produced by the Etch A Cell team and their collaborators to explore different aspects of cell biology. If you'd like to get involved in some of our other projects, you can find the other Etch A Cell projects on our organisation page here.

The science team behind Etch A Cell are based at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK. There they work with many other researchers to study different aspects of biology using cutting-edge Electron Microscopes. These microscopes have a very high magnification and resolution, and so can be used to take highly-detailed images of many things, including cells, molecules and tissues. These images can be used to provide us with a richer understanding of biology, which can help us understand the biological changes associated with health and disease.

Recent developments in electron microscopy mean it is possible to collect images automatically, so our team is now producing a huge amount data; looking at a single cell alone can produce several terabytes worth! Although these technological advances mean we can perform our research much faster, this flood of data has caused a data analysis bottleneck, which is why we need your help!