Drew Berry (born 1970 in the United States) is a biomedical animator at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. He produces animations of proteins and protein complexes to illustrate cellular and molecular processes.[1]
Education
Berry received a Bachelor of Science (1993) and Master of Science (1995) degrees from the University of Melbourne, and received training in cell biology as well as in light microscopy and electron microscopy.
Career
Since 1995, Berry has been a biomedical animator at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.[2] His 3D and 4D animations have focussed on explaining cellular and molecular processes relevant to research conducted at the institute, in fields including molecular biology, malaria, cell death, cancer biology, hematology and immunology.[3]
Berry's animations have received many awards and commendations. His animations which formed part of Harold Varmus' 'Genes and Jazz' presentation were described by The New Yorker as "astonishingly beautiful".[4] In 2009 American Scientist stated "The admirers of Drew Berry... talk about him the way Cellini talked about Michelangelo."[5] In 2010, the New York Times claimed "If there is a Steven Spielberg of molecular animation, it is probably Drew Berry"[6]
After collaborating with Berry for the Biophilia animated music app, the musician Björk described Berry as "someone who has made scientifically correct animation of DNA… on this project, he has crossed the line beautifully into the artistic realm where he has animated gorgeous DNA but added some poetic licence... he truly has brought magic to our insides, and shows us that we don’t have to look far for the miracle of nature, it is right inside us!"[7]
Awards and recognition
- 2004– BAFTA award for DNA Interactive DVD, UK 2004[8]
- 2005– Emmy Award for DNA documentary series[9]
- 2005– Maya Master Award
- 2006– National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge first place, noninteractive multimedia[10]
- 2008– Nature Niche Prize[11]
- 2009– Seed Magazine 'Revolutionary Minds'[12]
- 2010– MacArthur Fellowship[13]
Highlight exhibitions and productions
- 2003– SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater[14]
- 2003– "DNA" project Channel 4, PBS and American Museum of Natural History; Five episode "DNA" documentary series, "DNA: The Secret of Life" museum film, "DNAi" DVD, DNAi.org online education portal [11]
- 2003– "oZone" Cinema of Tomorrow Experimental Digital Media Art Festival, Pompidou Centre Paris, France[15]
- 2003– International Genetics Congress 2003 opening ceremony performance, Melbourne, Australia[16]
- 2003-04- Australian Centre for the Moving Image Federation Square ‘Transfigure’ exhibition, Australia[17]
- 2004-05- Museum of Modern Art (New York) ‘Premieres’ exhibition[18]
- 2004-05- Queensland Art Gallery "The Nature Machine" exhibition, Brisbane, Australia[19]
- 2004-2006- National Academy of Sciences Koshland Science Museum, USA[20]
- 2005– Moving Image Centre "Transfigure" exhibition, Auckland, New Zealand
- 2005 Visual effects for Doctor Who episode "The End of the World"
- 2006– Rose Center for Earth and Space, American Museum of Natural History, New York
- 2006– Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art ‘Strange Attractors’ exhibition, China[21]
- 2006-07- Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft Düsseldorf, Museum of Design, exhibition on nanotechnology, Germany[22]
- 2008– 20th Century Fox ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ visual effects, USA[23]
- 2008-09- The Royal Institute of Great Britain installation, UK
- 2008-09- ‘Genes and Jazz’ at the Guggenheim with Harold Varmus[24]
- 2009– ‘The Cell’ [12] BBC documentary series with Dr Adam Rutherford, UK
- 2009– Museum of Natural History Stuttgart ‘200th birthday of Charles Darwin’ exhibition, Germany[25]
- 2009-10- University of Geneva’s ‘Genome Dome’ exhibition, Switzerland
- 2010– Imagine Science Film Festival, New York[26]
- 2011– TEDxCaltech[27]
- 2011– TEDxSydney[28]
- 2011– Created animations to accompany the track Hollow, in Björk's Biophilia album iPad app[29]
- 2011– Rochester Institute of Technology "Visionaries in Motion" speaker series[30]
- 2011– Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's DNAi.org Spliceosome visualization
- 2012– Animations for E.O.Wilson's Life on Earth digital textbook[31]
