HSA TDP-43 cKO

This digital installation considers an interdisciplinary
collaboration between molecular biology, digital rendering,
and sculpture. The cells used in this piece are from my
undergraduate research to delineate the role of TDP-43, or
transactive response DNA-binding protein, in muscle stem
cells. The cells were imaged on an Olympus wide-field
microscope. Alpha-actinin, which is a cytoskeletal protein, is
the green fluorescence that is seen. The textures used to
render the myotubes were taken from various fields of view
to highlight the diversity of the cell population.
The site, a culmination of multiple 1 inch x 1 inch coverslips,
is inaccessible to the viewer in reality. In the digital realm,
they are able to be immersed with these cells, who have
strangely anthropomorphic characteristics about them. The
interactions that are happening in their own body are
externalized, but become more personal.