Massive 3-D Cell Library Teaches Computers How to Find Mitochondria

Graham Johnson is an artist with a curious muse: the human cell. Twenty years ago he graduated from a quiet corner of Johns Hopkins where students draw cadavers instead of cutting them up. At first, Johnson stuck to the medical illustrator canon, animating cells in a classic, cartoonish style. But he dreamed of constructing three-dimensional, data-driven models that could capture all their beautiful complexity. For that, he'd need computers, lots of them.