Blood Cells in 3D

3D images of normal red blood cells, poikilocytes and more

About Blood Cells in 3D

Most of us have been trained to envision blood cells as they are represented on a peripheral blood smear or in an image from a textbook. Yet, as blood cells travel through our blood vessels, they are very much alive in three dimensional space, and there is so much information – conceptual and otherwise – that is encoded by their 3D structure and lost on the glass slide or printed page. In this section, edited by Lester Zamora, TBP endeavors to bring blood cells to life by rendering 3D images of normal red blood cells and poikilocytes. The images are drawn using Blender 3D, a free modeling software program. Though not accurate to scale, they are based on a careful, sound interpretation of previously published images and scanning electron micrographs.

About Lester Zamora: Lester is an anatomic and clinical pathologist at the Silliman University Medical School in the Philippines. He is involved in game development and some 3D modeling as a hobby. Lester employs these tools to teach certain aspects of pathology, especially hematopathology. 

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