2020 Online Salon
Clinical Trials of Cancer Drugs Fail Due to Missed Target Protein

Project Details
- Entrant Name: Emily Taylor
- Membership Type: Student Submission
- Address: Toronto, Ontario Canada
- Client: Marc Dryer
- Copyright: 2019 Emily Taylor
- Medium/software used: Autodesk Maya, Photoshop, Illustrator
- Final presentation format: Print, Journal Cover
- Primary Audience: Scientifically-Minded Lay Audience
Project Description
A new study revealed the reason for some cancer drugs failing during clinical trials was that they were not targeting the protein that the researchers had intended to target. As well, some drugs that had worked in clinical trials were still found to target a different protein than intended. This piece serves as a visual metaphor for the study. It is a mock cover intended to be used in a scientific journal to catch the interest of a potential reader. The piece uses a “cellular dart board” to represent the cancer cell being targeted. The target drug is the bulls-eye, however I chose to represent the case where the drug is still effective despite hitting the wrong protein, in this case, I put that protein in the triple-20 spot of the dartboard.