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Jessica Heebner, Holly Peterson (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hillsboro, OR, USA)
Cryo electron tomography allows us to image proteins in their native environment at the highest resolution currently possible. As microscopes, cameras, and software continually advance, cryoET is becoming an increasingly accessible technique. With this accessibility comes an explosion in the amount of data produced and shared. Tomograms contain a wealth of information for scientists, but also an enormous potential for education and outreach to students and non-scientists. The nature of these images can make them challenging to interpret. For scientists, the solution is image segmentation, where every structure in the tomographic volume is identified. Once identified, the noisy background can be removed, and the underlying structure rendered in 3D for further analysis. These renderings have value far beyond the scientific as well. On the educational side, rendered images of real structures as they appear in their native environments can be paired with artistic renderings of cellular structures to teach students about proteins, organelles, and cellular ultrastructure. For outreach, these renderings are incredibly engaging and introduce new people to science in a fascinating way.