1 post tagged “mara haseltine”
Protein molecule visualization is one of those things that is surprisingly accessible to the non-specialist. With a visit to the Protein Data Bank, some free software downloads and a little time, anyone can generate very beautiful three-dimensional models.
Exploring the art and craft of these visualization techniques yields insight into the nature of Mara G. Haseltine's work. Her permanent installation at Biopolis in Singapore depicts an active cleft in the SARS protease, which is a potential target for antiviral drugs.
Haseltine's work is interesting, because it is not immediately obvious that it is figurative. This intent is made very clear in a series of inflatable chandeliers entitled Those Could Be Anything! Representing pluripotent stem cells - which, of course, can eventually specialize in any body tissue - these objects appear simultaneously strange and familiar. While the casual viewer may be less likely to discern the right answer than someone with a background in biotechnology, both audiences experience the same interrobang of recognition and query that also characterizes scientific discovery.
Making 3-dimensional computer models can be great fun, but generating the data archived in the Protein Data Bank is a time-consuming and laborious process. Haseltine's work evokes the "Eureka!" moment that sustains researchers through late nights at the computer, changing all the spaces to underscores in thousands of file names.
