The Art of Systems Biology & Nanoscience

March 30 / 31, 2012

Research in advanced microscopy, nanoscale engineering and computer simulations creates beautiful images as well as new knowledge. You are invited to explore some of the newest and most fascinating images during a two-day public celebration at 333 Montezuma Annex in the rail yard area of Santa Fe on March 30 and 31.

The Art of Systems Biology & Nanoscience will feature talks by two widely recognized biomedical scientists, the cell biologist and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, Ron Vale from the University of California in San Francisco, and the computational biologist Bette Korber from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Vale's accomplishments include pioneering work with novel light microscopes to discover and characterize microtubule motors, the molecular machines that power processes like cell division and neurotransmission. Dr. Korber uses new data visualization techniques to make fundamental discoveries about the evolution of viruses harmful to human health. The future of nanotechnology in medicine and the beauty of nanoscale engineering will be discussed and illustrated by Piotr Grodzinski, Director of the National Cancer Institute Alliance for Cancer Nanotechnology.

The hung and digital art will feature the stunning scientific illustrations and animations of 2012 visiting artist, Graham Johnson, along with powerful new visualizations of our world generated through the use of contemporary microscopes and captured through competitions ranging from the American Society for Cell Biology's international CellDance competition to the annual competition in the UNM Cancer Center's Imaging Center. Karen Dell from the I-Bio organization will show how I-Bio uses new visualization tools to share new developments and discoveries in the biomedical sciences with scientists, students and the community.

The art show will be open from 4:00 PM on Friday, March 30 to 8:00 PM on Saturday March 31. Public talks will be held at 6:00 PM on Friday and 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM on Saturday. Kids and teachers are invited to enter the world of the "teeny-tiny" through interactive experiments in nanotechnology from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday, led by graduate students from the UNM Nanoscience and Microsystems degree program and the New Mexico Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center. The nanoscience program also includes a glo-fish giveaway for a participating teacher.

The Art of Systems Biology & Nanoscience is sponsored by: The New Mexico Center for the Spatiotemporal Modeling of Cell Signaling, The New Mexico Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center, The UNM Nanoscience and Microsystems Graduate Program, Los Alamos National Lab (Center for Nonlinear Studies), The New Mexico Consortium, and The Santa Fe Complex.

*image detail above: © Copyright Graham Johnson