Biological Illustration: Kekkon6 Localization and Biological Pacemakers
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Biological Illustration: Kekkon6 localization and biological pacemakers A Major Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science In Interdisciplinary Biological Illustration By Daniel Valerio October 25, 2012 APPROVED BY: Jill Rulfs, PhD Biology WPI Major and Academic Advisor Abstract Illustrations have helped mankind understand the world we inhabit since antiquity. Today biological illustration helps us to understand the biological world. This project demonstrates my abilities as an artist and knowledge as a scientist. As biological illustrator, I have done this by illustrating for two projects. One pertains to localization of Kekkon6, a transmembrane protein, in Drosophila melanogaster. The other relates to developing biological pacemakers with the use of stem cell implants. Acknowledgements I first would like to thank Jill Rulfs, my academic advisor and head of the committee of professors supporting my interdisciplinary individually created Biological Illustration major. Thank you for guiding me through my time here at WPI. And for encouraging me to embrace my passion for biology and the arts with the realization of this Biological Illustration major. And thank you for your endless help and support pertaining to this MQP. I would also like to thank Joe Duffy and Glenn Gaudette for extending interest in my MQP proposal and allowing me to work with you. Your support and reassurance in my abilities and direction as an artist and a scientist were fundamental in this project. To Joe Farbrook, thank you for teaching me everything you have as my professor and allowing me to grow as an artist. And for your support as a committee advisor for the creation of my major and believing that what I was pursuing as an artist has a future. Also, thank you to Dan Gibson and Mike Buckholt for showing support by being committee advisors for my Biological Illustration major. Thank you both for the confidence and reassurance in this academic endeavor. Development of Illustration in the Sciences In every form of life, no matter the complexity of the organism or its role on earth, there is a necessity for communication. Be it within the organism, or between organisms, communication leads life. Single cells can signal to the nucleus when a particular the cell is damaged, so the nucleus can initiate apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Receptors on a sunflower plant tell it which way to face to receive the most sunlight. Our bodies have a nervous system that carries electrochemical impulses to communicate pain and other sensory information. Many organisms possess the ability to vocalize in order to communicate with others. In the evolution of humanity, our modes of communication have grown, from simple vocalization to now expressing ideas and thoughts electronically over the internet. Beyond the vocalization of primitive man, primitive visual aid developed, and the idea that something could be better understood if it was not only heard, but also seen. In what was ancient Rome, stone models of organs have been found. The small sculptures of ears, eyes, or intestines were used as charms to defend against the illness of these parts (Ford, 1993). These charms must have been meant to communicate with someone or something somewhere to protect these areas. If the believed gods of this time were godly in the peoples’ minds, would they not also be literate? Why did the ancient Romans not write “protect my eyes from illness” on a slate? There is something safe, uncontroversial and unmistakable about using visual depictions to communicate, even with omniscient beings. Cro-magnon illustrations on cave walls give us further insight into how important mankind thought communication was. These drawings with blood, clay, juices from berries and charred wood depict attack patterns for hunting and killing large prey. They also illustrate specific target areas for young hunters to aim at, to better maim the beast (Ford, 1993). When life required hunting and with hunting came the risk of dying, being careful and accurate was as important as being successful. Hunting, in that time, was something that required training, skill, knowledge and discipline; it was as much a science then as science is now. These illustrations represent the earliest attempts to use visual representation to convey an important concept of a science. This would serve as the possible birth of scientific illustration, if not by today’s definition of the term, then by the literal meaning of the words that compose today’s definition. Mankind has a natural need to understand, and desire to teach others what we’ve learned. As history progressed, man wanted to understand more. Australian aboriginal “x-ray” drawings crudely depict the spinal cord, pelvis and other anatomical structures of the kangaroo. In 11th- century England, diagrams were drawn to depict medical procedures (Ford, 1993). An explosion of medical and scientific illustrations emerged as man progressed and came to understand the importance of these images. Many artists have influenced various fields of study and realms of life. Let’s take a look at a few artists who helped shape the modern illustration of scientific, medical, and natural subjects. Leonardo da Vinci was a man of science, whose interests and work spanned the realms of zoology, botany, geology, anatomy, optics, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and many others (Boston Museum of Science). He was a great inventor. His ability to take his ideas and his work and represent it on paper led to his greatness. In this way, as he created inventions in the fields of architecture, canal building, military engineering and weapons development (Boston Museum of Science). However it is his role in medical and scientific illustration that is of interest here. He was apprenticed to Verrocchio of Florence, an artist who was recognized for his mastery of perspective. With the skills learned from his master, da Vinci started to create a new path for medical illustration. Prior to da Vinci’s work, most informational art was visually two dimensional, having firm outlines and lacking in form, weight and structure. His mastery of chiaroscuro shading gave his figures and depictions these necessary qualities to depict with exact accuracy and put the viewer in awe. His works were created with realism and life, when earlier eras relied on figurative representation to convey the idea of an image (Boston Museum of Science). As a medical scientist, he studied ancient texts and works. However, he noticed and understood their limitations. He dissected over 30 human cadavers in his efforts to understand the body. Through his sharp observation and truthful depictions, his understanding surpassed the accepted ideas of the time and he in turn understood more. Because of this he corrected countless fallacies in the accepted understanding of anatomy and corrected techniques used in medieval procedures (Boston Museum of Science). This was his method; precise dissection, direct observation, accurate depiction and truthful conclusion. It was a systematic, genuine, and literal approach to observational information. This mentality in the fields of natural sciences would persist as the accepted method into the 19th century (Boston Museum of Science). It is with the combination of his talents in the arts, discipline in the sciences, and passion for both that his accomplishments have resonated throughout the development of modern scientific illustration. John James Audubon, born in 1785, was a French-American ornithologist. He was also a naturalist and a painter. This began with his hobby of studying and drawing birds. Audubon’s great work is his book Birds of America. This was not the first undertaking of the sort. Alexander Wilson created a similar compilation of birds; however, Audubon’s work surpassed Wilson’s. In the 18 years of his life that it took to complete his book, Audubon illustrated and painted 435 life size images of North American birds. Avian artists of the 20th and 21st centuries are still compared to the immensely talented and famed Audubon (National Audubon Society). Today, if someone mentions medical illustration, or visual aspect of anatomy, the name Netter, Frank H. Netter, is undoubtedly brought up. Netter was born in 1906. His career in medical illustration started in the 1930’s, when he was commissioned by a pharmaceutical company. They hired him to do drawings of human pathology and organs. These first drawings were so successful that they were published in a book. His life’s work became completing a series of anatomic atlases, The Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations (Netter Medical Images). His illustrations were immensely detailed and lifelike. He was the modern master in medical illustration and even after his death in 1991. His works are still the bar when measuring other artists’ medical illustrations. This one man, whose notebooks in school were filled with drawings rather than traditional notes, changed the modern standard and understanding of anatomic art (Netter Medical Images). The following sections of this project will feature the two projects that this MQP focused on and the illustrations I have done for them. All of the images seen here were either taken or created by myself. Biological Illustration: Visual Insight into Junction Biology Drosophila melanogaster (commonly known as the fruit fly, figure 1) females have two ovaries each containing approximately 18-20 ovarioles. Each ovariole consists of a chain of egg chambers at different developmental stages (stages 1-14), with an egg chamber being comprised of an oocyte and its associated nurse cells all enclosed in a monolayer of epithelial cells termed the follicular epithelium. Essential to oogenesis, tissue formation and subsequently embryonic development is the necessity of cells to communicate and react to their local environment. In this case this means other cells within that environment, meaning proper communication between the somatic (epithelial) and germline (oocyte and nurse) cells.