Timothy Davison
CEO and Cofounder, Ako Biotica Inc.
About me
I cofounded Ako Biotica Inc., the maker of CellWalk, with the mission to inspire the next generation of scientists. I have a PhD in computer graphics and a background in realtime simulation and AI. I like coffee, running, and photography. Dream: working on Ako in beautiful places.
CellWalk
Take a guided tour through the molecular machines of a bacterial cell or explore on your own. Zoom from a whole cell down to its atoms. Available on iPad, iPhone, and Apple Vision Pro.
Download on the App Store – CellWalk.ca – Follow me on X
Created by Timothy Davison and HK. Model and tour by David Goodsell, Ludovic Autin, and Martina Maritan, built on their 2022 whole-cell paper with Jonathan Karr, Markus W. Covert, and Arthur J. Olson.
Thank you to the many people who have helped support CellWalk along the way.
News
What the Tech? Podcast
I joined the University of Calgary’s What the Tech? podcast to talk about my path into computer science and biology, my experience with spatial computing and real time simulation, and the story and inspiration behind CellWalk.
Published March 2026 · Listen on Spotify
SIGGRAPH 2020 Thesis fast forward
My PhD thesis–LifeBrush: An illustrative simulation canvas for the biological mesoscale–won an honorable mention at SIGGRAPH 2020’s thesis fast forward session. My thesis is about painting 3D molecular landscapes within an interactive virtual reality canvas. We bring these molecular illustrations to life with realtime coarse-grained simulation based on agent-based modelling.
Photos
Education
-
PhD Computer Science, 2019
University of Calgary
-
MSc Computer Science
University of Calgary
-
BSc Computer Science
University of Calgary
Experience
Embark on an interstellar journey with “ShipCraft” a riveting VR game where you engineer intricate spacecraft. You’ll wield cutting-edge CAD tools in virtual reality, crafting spaceships right down to the engine’s fuel flow rates.
Each challenge pits you against the merciless void of space. Can you mend a malfunctioning ship hurtling toward a gas giant?
I put this project on hold to finish my PhD. Its innovative simulation and VR crafting technology lay the groundwork for my LifeBrush system.
SimuDenseEndo was a startup leveraging virtual reality for dental surgery training. We developed innovative realtime pysics models, interaction and rendering technology to train dental surgeons on a variety of procedures.
Responsibilities:
- Development
- Research
- Server administration
- macOS software development
Accomplishments
