Inspired by a dear friend’s affinity for adult coloring books, we began to focus on adding a myriad of colors to liven up the ‘annotation’ — or tracing — of particular shapes (organelles) within cancer cell images captured by an electron microscope. We quickly adapted this concept to create nanoQuill, “The Coloring Book of Life.” Different from any other coloring book, your results are actually used to advance cancer research and shared on www.nanoQuill.org. This Coloring Book of Life includes 25 select cancer images giving everyone touched by cancer an opportunity to become unique artists fighting the disease using their very own palette. Art therapy is key to cancer centers worldwide and assists with emotional, physical healing and growth for its patients. nanoQuill goes a step further in using your ability to color cancer images to advance our research. Post a picture of your artwork and we will be able to measure the cell’s detail, render 3D images from all the 2D images that you color, and ultimately train new deep learning algorithms, all to benefit cancer research. We invite you to join our nanoQuill tribe and “artistically unwind” by coloring one or more of these images helping to transform the stigma of the disease into something beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to #color4cancer. A true coloring book for LIFE! * Unique images of cancer cells you can transform into colorful artwork to help beat cancer * Inspiring quotes * High grade, acid free, no bleed paper * Designs printed on only one side of a page -- no bleed-through * For artists of all levels, beginner to expert * 8.5 x 8.5 book size! Partnership The nanoQuill project, a crowdsourced coloring book and mobile app for annotating cancer research datais a partnership between The Qt Company, a leading software development company that enables a single software code across all operating systems, platforms and screen types, from desktops and embedded systems to wearables and mobile devices, Quantitative Imaging Systems (Qi), a biotechnology company focused on revolutionizing cancer research and treatment, and The KDAB Group (KDAB), the leading global software consultancy for Qt, C++ and OpenGL, to advance cancer research. Quantitative Imaging Systems (Qi) is the creator and sponsor of nanoQuill. Qi provides innovative software and services for biomedical research, based on digital microscopy. The QiTissue product is an advanced image analysis package to analyze fluorescence microscopy samples of cells and tissues, with superior machine vision and visualization functionality. QiTissue was built with Qt technology and with the help of KDAB. A longstanding collaboration with OHSU has led to the desire of a crowdsource solution to annotate the more complex images acquired on electron microscopes: nanoQuill. Qi, KDAB, and the Qt Company have collaborated to bring the nanoQuill concept to life in this community website, a mindful printed book, and an engaging mobile app. The search for a cure for cancer is an extremely complex task due to the fact that cancer is a highly dynamic disease, and as such there are myriad aspects to the problem that need to be solved. As a result, finding a cure demands a collaborative approach from researchers, technology providers and countless other members of the worldwide medical and academic ecosystem. As the state’s only academic health center, OHSU’s breakthrough research leads to new cures, new standards of care, and a better understanding of the basic science that drives biomedical discovery. OHSU researchers are exploring new basic, clinical, and applied research frontiers.
