Week 7 Post

 It makes sense that neuroscience and art would be connected, since it could be argued that our brains are what make art in the first place. In the lectures, I found the "brainbow" images to be striking and engaging, so I decided to do more research on them. Below is an artwork depicting what Professor Bill Harris believes will be able to be done in the future with this method of dyeing neurons.

view Neuronal migration is an artwork depicting many very young neurons that have been produced in the neuroepithelium migrating to their appropriate destinations in the brain. This image highlights the future of neuroscience showing different classes of cells colour coded. There is no available technique to do this now, but it is not far off considering the advances that have been made with brainbow mice. The brainbow technique allows for different cell types to be tagged with fluorescent proteins to track their development and connections with other cells. 

"Neuronal Migration" by Prof. Bill Harris (4)

The reason this technique is so useful is because, even at high magnification, it is extremely difficult to study neurons in the brain and tell where one starts and ends due to their shape and closeness to each other. By introducing bioluminescent proteins of different colors which combine in each neuron scientists are able to study the paths that exist in brains. 

File:The Spectrum of Brainbow Expression.png 

Diagram showing how different color combinations are created, made by Lawson Kurtz (6)

 Not only do these techniques allow scientists to study how neurons in living tissue function, which has been achieved in fish, fruit flies, and worms, they also create these striking images reminiscent of bunches and bunches of neon balloons. Brains are so mysterious despite being so integral to our lives, and the production of images like these are incredible. To me, it is almost an emotional experience to see what my brain could look like, my everyday companion, who despite being intimately connected to I have never and (hopefully) will never see. I believe this field of study is inherently artistic, not just because of the beauty of the images that come out of it, but also because of how I define art: as creating a thing or experience that inspires emotion. 

brainbow 

Bioluminescent brain tissue in a living animal, by Jeff Lichtman (5)

Sources:

1. Jung, Carl. "The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man."

2. Frazetto, Giovanni and Anker, Suzanne. "Neuroculture," Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Vol. 10 (Nov. 2009): 815-821).

3. Le-Cunff, Anne-Laure, "Somewhere over the brainbow: A beautiful neuroimaging technique." Ness Labs, https://nesslabs.com/brainbow

4. Harris, Bill. "Neuronal Migration." https://wellcomecollection.org/works/u2mrc7w5

5. Lichtman, Jeff and Saines, Joshua. "Brainbow." Harvard Brain Tour. https://braintour.harvard.edu/archives/portfolio-items/brainbow  

6. Kurtz, Lawson. "The Spectrum of Brainbow Expression." Duke University.

 

 

Comments

  1. WhitneyMay 20, 2023 at 9:13 PM

    Hi Hearth, I really enjoyed your blogpost! I appreciate how you delved into the process behind creating a brainbow, and how you emphasized that this artwork can be created for a multitude of different species beyond humans. The diversity of colors produced in the image creates such a wonderful piece of artwork and really makes you think about the beautiful biology in our brains.

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