What is Explore Insulin?
Explore Insulin is an educational website designed to make the complex science of insulin secretion and diabetes accessible to diverse audiences. Using content based on information from the RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB), tetrahedral language visuals from the Inner Space project, interactive pathway diagrams, and storytelling, the site bridges the gap between advanced scientific knowledge and approachable, engaging explanations.
The website features two distinct pathways for learning:
For children, beginners, and audiences not in the science field, there is A Child’s Guide. This guide features very simplified explanations, colorful figures, and interactive metaphors that introduce proteins, insulin biology, and diabetes in clear and memorable ways.
For advanced learners, there is A Student’s Guide. This guide features modules drawing from the RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB) that offers deeper dives into protein structure, molecular pathways, and real biomedical data.
Together, these pathways allow visitors to learn at their own level and pace, whether they are encountering insulin biology for the first time or expanding their academic understanding. Embrace the subway metaphor; hop on and off at your own pace, choosing the pathway and guide that interest you most.
Who Created Explore Insulin?
Explore Insulin was designed and created by Anyssa Dang, an undergraduate student at Barnard College of Columbia University majoring in Art History with a Concentration in Visual Arts on the Pre-health track. She received a grant from Barnard College’s Beyond Barnard Internship Program (BBIP), which provides support for unique internships across interdisciplinary career fields. During her internship at the USC Bridge Institute in Summer 2025 under the mentorship of Professor Helen Berman (Barnard Alumna and USC professor) and Professor Alex McDowell (USC World Building Media Lab) and with the help of website developer Cornelius Bergen (Matchbox Creative), Anyssa developed Explore Insulin as a way to use visual arts and storytelling to help make science more accessible and understandable.
What is Inner Space?
The Inner Space Project is an immersive initiative led by the USC Bridge Institute and the World Building Media Lab, which uses virtual reality, engineering, art, and narrative design to make complex scientific concepts approachable. The team has developed a new way to present molecules that are recognizable, relatable, and widely accessible, through intention and development of a radically new structural language. Each constituent of a Cell is represented as a new fluid, but modular, architecture that we call the tetrahedral language. To prototype, develop, and apply this new representation, the Inner Space team chose glucose regulated insulin release by the Pancreatic Beta Cell as their subject. The modular representation of the constituents of the Pancreatic Beta Cell allows the user/viewer to see the constituents of the cell in direct relationship to one another, observing relative scale, geo-location, activity, and function of each constituent through time and fully immersive space. It’s science you can actually step into.
Explore Insulin draws directly on Inner Space assets, incorporating VR illustrations of Pancreatic Beta Cell constituents and the insulin secretion pathways into its educational materials. By linking world-building with molecular biology, the project embodies the larger mission of Inner Space: to connect science, art, and storytelling in ways that spark imagination while encouraging academic curiosity and understanding.