Art in the President's Suite

ART FROM THE BENCHTOP
Presented by the Graduate Student Association

Selections from the annual exhibit featuring works rooted in the current research of RFU students and biomedical researchers. The images provide an opportunity to look behind the scenes at a diverse range of studies, experiences, and reflections.

NEURONS AS SEEN THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE OF GOLGOV KLIMT
GM O'HARE, MS'25, CMS '29

Gustav Klimt was a prolific painter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for his symbolist and art nouveau works. He was also, sometimes controversially, heavily involved in the Vienna scientific community...Motifs from microbiology and microscopy featured heavily in his works. Golgi-stained neurons, like those depicted in my painting, have always reminded me of Klimt's Golden Phase works. Uniting science and art in form and function is a personal passion, and I know I am—and always have been—in good company.

PONDERING THE WAVES
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
VIRAL MISTRY, PhD '25

...the Chicago skyline as viewed from Promontory Point in Burnham Park. Below it are spike trains from resting locomotor pedal neurons from the opisthobranch mollusk Aplysia californica. In my doctoral thesis, I showed how aging degrades Aplysia's locomotion. A surprise finding that emerged from my thesis work was this slow rhythmic activity in many resting pedal neurons. Interestingly, it's even weaker and slower in elderly brains...I've spent the last few years at RFUMS studying rhythmic brain activity in sea slugs. While my time at RFUMS is coming to a close soon, I will fortunately get to stay nearby. Still getting to appreciate the skyline.

Still getting to ponder the waves.

FORGING CONNECTIONS
EMILY REISENBIGLER, SENIOR RESARCH SPECIALIST

This is a merged image of a stained human dermal fibroblasts collected at low magnification...I find it fascinating to see how groups of cells line up and orient themselves in the same direction as their neighbors. The patterns remind me of Vincent van Gogh's painting the Starry Night. In this moment with such division in the world, I'm hopeful that different communities of people can also choose to come together in this way.