Art of Bio Eng mini puzzle

Candy Crush Lung Saga
Karthik Subramaniam, Doctoral Candidate

Lung disease is usually accompanied by changes to the lung’s microstructure. The spongy tissue of a healthy lung is generally considered to be a homogeneous material consisting of millions of alveoli. The localised breakdown of alveolar walls can be an early indicator of a host of diseases.

Developing a method for quantifying the heterogeneity of a slice of lung tissue could well be a valuable tool for early disease detection.

A computed tomography (CT) scan of a lung can be used to tell the story of how much diversity there is in each region of the lung. Smaller boxes show regions where higher variation occurs.

The Art of Bio Eng exhibition explores the interconnections between art, biology and engineering, of research undertaken at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute - The University of Auckland's first large-scale research institute.