Cell(f) Portrait

by rebecca torres

“My name is Rebecca Torres, and I am a junior Genetics & Genomics major. My submission, titled "Cell(f) Portrait" is an acrylic painting of a fluorescence microscopy image of my own cheek cells. The painting can be viewed in three different ways. It was painted with a combination of glossy, fluorescent, and luminescent acrylics which gives it a different appearance under a blacklight and in complete darkness. The reference image is a picture of my cheek cells stained with DAPI to view the cell nuclei and Texas Red-Phalloidin to view the shape of the plasma membrane. 

The cells are me. Science gives me a new way to see myself. 

Genetics & molecular biology gives me a new way to see & understand myself. “