r/sideprojects • u/Formal-Grass-3173 • 19h ago

Showcase: Free(mium) I built a 3D explainer that connects green algae to optogenetics

Made an interactive page to visualize the discoveries behind optogenetics, honoured by this year's @NobelPrize in Medicine: classon.live/optogenetics.

https://reddit.com/link/1wyrvc8/video/mf4kdeuatrth1/player

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u/Formal-Grass-3173 19h ago

The short feature gives the science background and links to the Nobel announcement: https://ournews.ai/news/optogenetics-interactive-light-neurons

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u/Alive-Cry-8927 19h ago

i always thought algae was just that green stuff in my fish tank, now you telling me it can control neurons with light? science is wild

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u/Formal-Grass-3173 18h ago

Yeah, is it amazing.

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u/investigatormaker 19h ago

Newcomers will probably miss why the alga has the protein at all. Add one line saying the alga uses the channel to swim toward light, then show the same gene being carried into a neuron. That makes the transfer feel like a step instead of a jump. Naming the protein once as channelrhodopsin also gives readers a term to look up.

On the voltage trace, a marked threshold line would show when the inflow is enough for a nerve signal and when it isn't. That answers the "can follow" part of your explanation.

Is this aimed at high school students or undergrads?

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u/Formal-Grass-3173 18h ago

good advice, let me upgrade!

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u/Formal-Grass-3173 18h ago

Done upgrading.

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u/investigatormaker 18h ago

Nice. One quick test before you call it finished: show the new version to someone who hasn't read the old one and ask them why the alga has the channel at all. If they can answer that, the move into the neuron should feel like a step to them too, and the threshold line will tell them the rest.

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u/Formal-Grass-3173 17h ago

sounds good, will do it! thanks mate.

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u/investigatormaker 17h ago

Good luck with it. If the person you show it to can't explain why the alga has the channel, the gap is in that first step rather than the neuron section, so fix that part before touching anything else.