Avatars, art and aspirations: the creative potential for learning in the virtual world

The Creative Industries regard the virtual world as a potential aid for fostering creative approaches. The Experimental Learning Framework (ELF) was a 3 year research project that analysed the capacity of Second Life for learning and teaching in project management, aiming to understand virtual learning environments in relation to physical world experience. This chapter focuses on the avatar as an embodiment of a physical person. It analyses avatar design and its workability and avatar awareness, which are discussed within the framework of reflexive methodology. Two research outcomes are presented. Firstly, creative avatar applications resulted in fostering creativity as part of the independent learning process. Secondly, the enduring comparison between physical and virtual worlds as triggered by the avatar-supported analytical thinking skills

Cell-type specific potent Wnt signaling blockade by bispecific antibody

Abstract Cell signaling pathways are often shared between normal and diseased cells. How to achieve cell type-specific, potent inhibition of signaling pathways is a major challenge with implications for therapeutic development. Using the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway as a model system, we report here a novel and generally applicable method to achieve cell type-selective signaling blockade. We constructed a bispecific antibody targeting the Wnt co-receptor LRP6 (the effector antigen) and a cell type-associated antigen (the guide antigen) that provides the targeting specificity. We found that the bispecific antibody inhibits Wnt-induced reporter activities with over one hundred-fold enhancement in potency, and in a cell type-selective manner. Potency enhancement is dependent on the expression level of the guide antigen on the target cell surface and the apparent affinity of the anti-guide antibody. Both internalizing and non-internalizing guide antigens can be used, with internalizing bispecific antibody being able to block signaling by all ligands binding to the target receptor due to its removal from the cell surface. It is thus feasible to develop bispecific-based therapeutic strategies that potently and selectively inhibit signaling pathways in a cell type-selective manner, creating opportunity for therapeutic targeting