Publisher's Comment: JBC Volume 47, Number 2, 2023

Introduction

Welcome to the Journal of Biocommunication, the professional journal of the Association of Medical Illustrators and the BioCommunications Association. This JBC issue 47-2 completes our 2023 publishing year. We would like to thank our Management Board, our editors, our advisors, and our authors for their contributions to our success.

Our Open Journal Systems (OJS) management system continues to serve us well, providing rich online features for our users. Authors are able to submit content online, and then track their article's progress throughout the review and editing process. For those authors and content creators wanting to submit an article to the JBC, please visit: https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/jbc/about/submissions.

We appreciate the ongoing support from our JBC community around the world. In particular, we acknowledge the support of the Association of Medical Illustrators and the BioCommunications Association. It's a privilege to be the professional journal of these two organizations.

Featured Article

Authors Joshua C., Brad E. Gilleland, Austin F. Wright, Evan M. White, Grant H. Crane, Christopher B. Herron, Jason J. Locklin, and Branson W. Ritchie present "A Biologically Degradable and Bioseniatic™ Feedstock for the High-Quality 3D Printing of Anatomical Models."

This article examines the viability of a Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx) -based filament as a more environmentally friendly and biologically degradable option for fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3-Dimensional (3D) printing of medical models. PHBHHx-based prints of domestic cat vertebrae, skull bone, and an aortic arch cast were found comparable to conventional materials. PHBHHx-based filament and extrudate samples were evaluated for biological degradability, to meet the Bioseniatic™ standard, defined by the University of Georgia New Materials Institute. Both samples achieved more than 90% mineralization within 32 days in industrial composting conditions.

Invited Commentary and Contributions

Forensic photography technologist David Larraguibel was invited to explain the process behind his photograph entitled Cerebral Reflections, winner of the BioCommunications BioImages 2022 Premiere Award in the Biomedical - Human & Animal category. Larraguibel details his background in photography, the technical environment, and his work doing forensic postmortem photography (FPM) as it applies to medico-legal postmortem examination.

Your Feedback is Appreciated

We rely on our readers for feedback about the Journal, and we invite you to share your thoughts with us about any of our columns and articles. We always appreciate your suggestions for improvement. We also encourage you to submit manuscripts for publication.

For a complete list of JBC Management Board members, Editors, and Advisors, visit:
http://jbiocommunication.org/management.html

Biographies

Sam Bond is a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago with appointments in the Department of Physical Therapy and the Biomedical Visualization (BVIS) graduate program. Her work in physical therapy focuses on patient education for the department's faculty practice, as well as game design for patient behavior modification. Within the BVIS program, Sam teaches two Interactive Visualization courses in beginner to advanced interactive development. These courses cover scripting in Unity, with applications for 2D games, 3D games, and Virtual Reality development, and additional interactive topics such as Articulate Storyline, advanced web development, and interactive PDF creation.

Kelly Cloninger is a Clinical Assistant Professor within the Biomedical Visualization Graduate program (BVIS) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Formerly a multimedia developer in pharmaceutical medical communications, she specializes in visualizing the mechanism of action for new drugs. Her work focuses on the utilization of 3D visualization for medical animations and applications, and in the graduate program she teaches the 3D modeling track. Her expertise in software includes Zbrush, 3DS Max, the Substance Suite, Blender3D, Cinema4D, and more.