The importance of Art to Science - an Encounter

Visual data & artistic representations help us better understand Biology and remind us that life is complex and beautiful!

  "Huntington disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrolled movements, emotional problems, and loss of thinking ability (cognition) (1)."

https://instagram.com/p/8MPtIiQBB9/

Mutations in the HTT gene that codes for the protein Huntingtin cause Huntington disease. The function of the protein is still unknown. The mutation is a CAG triplet repeat; normally this pattern is repeated 10 to 35 times within the gene, in individuals with huntington disease the CAG triplet is repeated 36 to 120 times within the gene. Individuals with the CAG triplet repeated between 36 and 39 times may or may not develop Huntington disease. The longer gene causes production of abnormally long Huntingtin proteins that are then "cut into smaller, toxic fragments that bind together and accumulate in neurons, disrupting the normal functions of these cells"(1).

"This illustration shows potassium levels in astrocytes -- cells in your nervous system -- disrupted by Huntington’s Disease, a genetic disorder that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. In this artistic rendering, created by @TEDFellow Janet Iwasa and scientist Baljit Khakh, potassium is represented by glowing points of light. Those points show how potassium accumulates in astrocytes and not in the surrounding neuropil, contradicting the idea that Huntington’s Disease is caused by neuronal dysfunction. To see more of Janet’s scientific illustrations, visit go.ted.com/huntingtons" - TED original Instram Commemt (2). 

Originally this was what my topic was going to be for this blog, then I visited the TED link in the Instagram post. I watched a video about animating biological processes. This caught my attention aswell. The presenter had an amazing idea (as most TED speakers do) to create open source, simple to use, animation software that would allow biology researchers the ability to animate their hypothesis. This is increadible, it would allow researches to see their ideas and/or results from a totally new perspective; help students better understand complex and interconnected biological processes; shed light on possibly incorrect hypotheses (like the photo above does); and reveal the true beauty of biology at the molecular level. The software is called Molecular Flipbook, and is free to download.

Then I thought about the beautiful artwork on my Cell & Molecular Biology book. The artwork is that of David Goodsell - an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. It is so important to have people creating visual representations of the cellular processes. Visuals help us better understand what is going on. Visuals are also very beautiful. 

Don't think of Biology as a bunch of facts to memorize, medical information, strange protein names, or random multi-cellular critters. There is a huge potential for art inherent in the study of Biology. This is because, living things are complex and beautiful. Take advantage of all the art linked to biology, enjoy the art, enjoy the beauty of life. 

References: 

1. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/huntington-disease
2. https://instagram.com/p/8MPtIiQBB9/
3. http://www.ted.com/talks/janet_iwasa_how_animations_can_help_scientists_test_a_hypothesis?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=IGTalks
4. https://www.molecularflipbook.org/
5. http://mgl.scripps.edu/people/goodsell/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Goodsell