Imagining The Brain 2005: A project to aid the understanding of science through art
Students were asked to depict either the brain as an organ controlling the body and housing the mind, or synaptic transmission.
Lizzie Burns is a professional artist who currently is the artist in residence for the MRC. She trained as a scientist at Oxford and spends a great deal of her time communicating science to primary school children by involving them in art.
Judges for 2005

Julia Tozer, the education officer for Kettle's Yard, the well known Cambridge art house.

What did the winners think?

“How can I complain about a job that merges the two things that I like most? Art and biology have always interested me and it has been a wonderful experience to be able to work on this project. Not only would you be able to get in touch with your creative side but you’ll also learn a whole bunch of fun facts about science at its frontier.”Wen-Xi Chen, Hills Road Sixth Form College

“I found it personally very helpful talking to each member of the lab about how their research is developing and where they see it going. It helped me develop ideas, which I was able to convey to them individually which they could comment on and in most cases correct and hugely develop the ideas further.”Alex McCuish, Hills Road Sixth Form College
‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ and some of the most complex and exciting science is can be better communicated to people without specialised scientific training through art. Please browse through these pictures and feedback any comments on the project to Neurobiology at the MRC-LMB.


Why we did it: In the McMahon laboratory within the Neurobiology Division of the MRC’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology, we wanted to communicate our science to young artists with a strong interest in science. We decided to invite a young artist to come into the lab over the summer holiday, to explore what we do and to aid us in communicating to a wider audience through art. In order to find the right person, we held a competition in which Sixth Form artists were asked to depict either the brain as an organ controlling the body and housing the mind, or a complex process involved in the transmission of signals from one nerve cell to another.

Local Sixth Form colleges were approached and asked to encourage any suitable pupils to apply. Ted Coney, art lecturer at Hills Road Sixth Form College, really took the idea on board and proposed to interested students that they could make their entry part of the course requirements for their AS level in art. This resulted in seven spectacular entries from Hills Road students that left the judges with the almost impossible task of choosing a winner.

We are very excited by the prospect of opening up this dialogue with local young artists and hope to widen the scope of the project next year in order to encourage more students to apply. In the meantime, we thank all of this years participants and look forward to welcoming Alex and Wen-Xi into the laboratory this summer. Watch this space for more of their fantastic work!

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