Selection of Summer Art Work by Emma Mayoux-Andrews

Bending Membranes

N-BAR domains and membrane sculpting: Summer art fork for Imagining The Brain 2008
A double layer of corks represent a lipid bilayer (membrane). Insertions (amphipathic helices) and agents able to modify the lipid packing (BAR domains) cause the membrane to bend.

Making a clathrin-coated vesicle

Summer art work for Imagining The Brain 2008: building a clathrin-coated vesicle from various ingredients: On the menu today is a "Freshing sculpted lipid membrane bilayer with a rich clathrin coating"
"A rich clathrin coating" surrounding a lipid bilayer- the essence of a fine vesicle. In this picture a membrane is represented as a double layer of books packed end-on-end, showing that membranes can contain vast amounts of information. The open book is marked with an amphipathic helix inserted into the 'membrane' (book) that stabilizes the opening. The master chef reads from this book how to make a clathrin-coated vesicle- "Vesicle a la clathrin coat".

Fitting proteins together into a vesicle

Summer art work for Imagining The Brain 2008: building a synaptic vesicle from various shapes of proteins and lipids

Proteins of all sorts of shapes and sizes have to fit together into a vesicle, which appeared to the artist rather like a 360degree game of tetris.

The picture promotes the idea that proteins are designed to be in different environments or in different curvatures or may even have a preference for a protein of a complementary shape.

Emma Mayoux-Andrews

with her model of a DNA double helix, where the base paring evens was represented by flashing lights, powered by a solar panel. The various aspects coded by the DNA are represented by the different balls.

Emma Maynoux-Andrews, Artist in residence: Lab2005 Summer 2008

The Thinker: who am I?

A monkey considers what makes him who he is..

A monkey considers what makes him who he is.....