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Cancer is, as we know it, one of the most dreaded diseases for humanity.
But now with a novel alliance of VR experts and cancer researchers comes a 3-dimensional view of cancer cells that'll hopefully make for better cancer treatment.
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Cancerous cells may look like this under a microscope...
But now, they can appear as a colourful matrix of dots which we can explore.
I'm talking about cancerous tumours under virtual reality -- the kind of technology that can provide a new glimpse of real cancer cells.
And this is a three-dimensional model of an early breast cancer tumour.
Currently, only 2-dimensional photographs are available, but these 3D models are expected to give researchers a more visual perspective.
Plus, cancer cells often take different shapes, and VR can uniquely flag them in individual colours and shapes.
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OWEN HARRIS, Lead Video Game Designer, Cambridge University, IMAXT Laboratory:
It's so much easier to notice differences, to notice features, to notice peculiarities when you're actually in a thing than when you're looking at it through a spreadsheet or a photograph.
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Harris says such revolutionary 3D models can also help nip cancer cells in the bud in areas like blood vessels and milk ducts.
But this expert downplayed the innovation.
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GREG HANNON, Director, Cancer Research, UK Cambridge Institute:
The arrangement of cells within a tumour actually had prognostic power.
It can predict outcome for patients in a way that was better than we could do with other techniques.
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It was a daring project funded by Cancer Grand Challenges co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
Despite the novelty, scientists are already collaborating with experts from such fields as astronomy and video gaming to guide better cancer treatment.
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