WPI Research Publication

FALL 2013

WPI Research is the research magazine of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It contains news and features about graduate research in the arts and sciences, business, and engineering, along with notes about new grants, books, and faculty achievements.

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art of science AS YOU ENTER the Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at WPI's Gateway Park, one of the frst things you'll notice is an art gallery. The works are all by scientists and engineers — students, faculty members, and staff who work in the center's laboratories and imaging facilities — and the subject is science. The exhibit features the winners of the annual "Art of Science" contest; contest entries must represent life sciences research at WPI. Here is a sample of the 2013 contenders. 5 1 2 3 4 6 The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious — the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. — Albert Einstein 1 > Rat Gut Flowers Zoë Reidinger PhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering 4 > Pig Heart Valves in Fibrin Gel Mehmet Hamdi Kural PhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering Reidinger says this pastoral scene started out as an alcain blue stain of rat intestines taken on an inverted microscope. The stain turns polysaccharides blue; when she noticed that the microvilli in the intestines resembled fowers, she completed the scene in Photoshop, adding clouds and a buzzing bee with the help of Will Ryan. Kural captured this image of cells from pig heart valves using a Leica TCS SP5 Point Scanning Confocal Microscope. It will appear in the journal Biomaterials (Kural and Billiar, 2013, accepted). 2 > Cell 'n Gel Kristen Billiar Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering This view of a human lung fbroblast cultured on a fbrin gel was taken to see how far a cell can "feel" through the body's fbrous extracellular matrix, Billiar says. The cells were captured with a confocal microscope in standard fuorescence mode while the fbers were imaged in confocal refectance mode. 3 > Recrystallized Benzophenone in Acetone Morgan Stanton PhD Candidate, Chemistry and Biochemistry "In my lab," Stanton writes, "if I let my benzophenone sit out overnight, large, delicate crystals form by morning." She captured this image of the crystals with a Nikon D70 digital camera using ambient light. 5 > Pollen Grains Victoria Huntress Microscopy/Imaging Technology Manager Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center Taken at 40 magnifcation with a Zeiss Aviovert 200M, an inverted microscope, this image of pollen grains is, Huntress says, a "perfect example of art in science. Who knew that pollen grains could be beautiful as well as irritating?" 6 > Drosophila melanogaster Daniel Valerio '13 Interdisciplinary Major in Biological Illustration Valerio designed his own major, which combined his passions for art and biology. For his Major Qualifying Project, he illustrated professor Joseph Duffy's research on the transmembrane protein Kekkon-6, work conducted with fruit fies. This illustration was created with Photoshop. Worcester Polytechnic Institute > 9

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