Sarah H
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Expertise
Neuroscience, life sciences, microbiome, biotech, visual arts, applications of neuroimaging
Bio
Hi! I'm Sarah. I love to explore how the many different cell types in our bodies interact to make us healthy (or not), from the bacteria in our gut to the immune cells in our brains. In my PhD, I started looking at these interactions in neurodegeneration (axon degeneration, to be exact), and now I'm figuring out how to turn these discoveries into medicine as I start a biotech company. When I'm not doing science, I like to make things- Painting, drawing, tiny polymer clay food sculptures, learning to sew. I also like playing sports with friends. Oh, and I've been trying to get into gardening, but it's not going very well (so far).Project ideas
Interpreting scientific data through art
Every field and every question has its own tools to investigate answers, each with its own unique dataset. One of the hard parts of research is learning to interpret and explain these data. Oftentimes, the numerical data can be difficult to translate back into their biological meanings for ourselves and others to understand. Artists are well-versed in making abstract ideas concrete, and so previous programs I've helped to create thrive on the process of translating complex research into intuitively grasped concepts through visual art. In this project, students review the literature to identify data they would like to interpret with a piece of visual art of their own creation. Some examples might include "Circadian Rhythms" by Kirell Benzi Studio and "Climate Change Data" by Jill Pelto Art. In a life sciences context, big data sets like RNAseq or "omics" data especially can benefit from these visual representations. Successfully completing this project will require students to review primary literature, understand how scientific data was generated, analyzed, and interpreted, work with scientific data to contextualize or even re-interpret it, and integrate their creativity and communication skills to convey research findings in a new way. The art created will be valuable in and of itself. Additional potential outcomes include visual aids that can be shared with and used by the research labs that originally published the data, feature on lab, department, and other affiliated websites, submission to scientific art contests, inclusion in artist portfolios, and use in college applications. While not a requirement, students may also choose to focus on research from labs they could see themselves working in as undergraduates. The artwork can then be leveraged to initiate a connection with said research lab, or others focused on similar techniques and topics. This artwork should demonstrate deep understanding of and initiative for academic research topics, which colleges and research labs look for in recruits. Anyone can cold email a lab their resume, but who can send a lab's next graphical abstract? (Note: placement and other outcomes are not guaranteed.)