The Drawn to Science series was started in 2013 by the Roche Communications Team supporting the company’s Pharma Research and Early Development organisation as a way to tell stories about science and innovation. With the use of scribing—a mixture of witty drawings and voiceovers from real scientists—the intent was to strike the right chord so that audiences would be engaged, educated and enchanted about the cool things Roche scientists do in their labs and clinics to discover and develop medicines. The series was drawn by Simona Ceccarelli, who is both a chemist and an artist working at Roche.
The artist
The hand behind the drawings belongs to Dr Simona Ceccarelli, a scientist with a passion for visual storytelling. After eleven years in Roche pre-clinical research—doodling science-themed cartoons on the side—she gave in to her visual side and started a second degree in animation and a second career in Communications. She now leads Creative Services in Roche Group Communications.
The videos
Drawn to Science is an ongoing project - the next issue is in production. Let us show you a selection of videos from the entire series.
The glycosylation of antibodies
Antibodies, like many other natural proteins, are normally decorated with sugars. Optimising the pattern of sugars associated with synthetic antibodies can have an enormous impact on their therapeutic efficacy. This technology, known as glycoengineering, is the focus of the Roche research centre in Schlieren, Switzerland.
moreZebrafish
Zebrafish larvae have evolved into a very attractive model for drug discovery. Recently published methods facilitate genetic engineering of zebrafish, allowing the study of targets of interest in an easily accessible vertebrate system: a multi-organ culture model. Zebrafish are being used in Roche research and early development for both safety and efficacy studies.
moreTarget identification in drug discovery
Identifying the biological origin of a disease, and the potential targets for intervention, is the first step in the discovery of a medicine. More of an art than a science, target identification is grounded in a number of different approaches and technologies, many of which are used in Roche pRED.
moreClinical trials
Clinical trials are essential to providing the scientific data required to determine whether new drugs, diagnostics or procedures are both safe and effective when used to diagnose and treat people.
Carefully conducted clinical trials are performed in human volunteers to provide answers to important questions. Every new treatment is usually tested in three phases of clinical trials before regulatory agencies consider it safe and effective.
Draw your kids to science!
To further enrich the "Drawn to Science" series, we invite you to download and print the attached "colouring sheet" and the attached word puzzle to encourage your children and grandchildren to learn more about science—a colourful goal for family fun!