C. elegans - The three sisters
The Science
In the 1960s, the legendary Molecular Biologist Sidney Brenner decided that one of the remaining mysteries in Biology was the functions of the animal nervous system. Carefully selecting a suitable model system to tackle this question, he chose the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans due to its comparably simple nervous system. Studying this tiny worm led to many major breakthroughs, not only in Neurobiology. Fundamental biology processes like Apoptosis and RNA-interference were first described in the worm. This artwork was created for the CeNeuro conference in Vienna 2022.
The Art
C. elegans emerges as a wondrous animal from a galactic cloud of dna letters, resembling the very information encoding the blueprint for all organisms on planet earth. in reference to a widely used genetic marker, the pharynx is highlighted in green and special focus is given to the germline. Culminating in an embryo about see the light of the world for the first time, which is painted in 24 carat gold, the ever-ongoing and unbroken continuity of life is a central motif of this painting. The three individuals are isogenic siblings, almost the same but each coming in a different nuance.
