Yana Zorina
Yana Zorina, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist with a lifelong passion for the arts. In her scientific career, Yana has always been attracted to microscopy as a means of taking a closer look at the beautiful structures that compose the mammalian brain. In her scientifically-inspired artwork, she uses her scientific knowledge to accurately recreate scientific images into 3D-beaded renderings of cellular structures that can bring the beauty of scientific research to a wider audience. In seeing beads as analogs of pixels that we observe on a screen, Yana turns microscopy on its head by transforming ultra-thin optical sections into 3D structures. Beyond being passionate about the breathtaking beauty of microscopy images, Yana uses them to serve a greater purpose of communicating science to a wider audience and initiating conversations on difficult topics, such as neurological conditions.
Artwork Fragile Memory (right)
© Yana Zorina. All rights reserved.
“Fragile Memory” is based on an image of a Brainbow mouse hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory formation, processing and storage. The Brainbow mouse is genetically engineered to express a different combination of four fluorescent markers in each neuron, which makes it burst with over a dozen different colors and permits for better tracing of connections and circuit delineation.
While it has long been believed that formation of memory progresses from learning to long-term storage to retrieval, more recent research suggests that every time a memory is recalled it becomes labile.
On the one hand, it allows us to continue learning and updating our understanding of the world as we acquire new information. On the other hand, each time a given memory is recalled, it becomes unstable, at the risk of being inaccurately modified or possibly even lost. The white jewel in this work represents a memory of a good time in our life that we would like to keep revisiting yet being able to preserve.
Brilliant Mind (right)
© Yana Zorina. All rights reserved.
The human mind is a truly beautiful and elusive concept.
Despite considerable progress in neuroscience research, we still cannot quite explain where our mind is and what it looks like.
The “Brilliant Mind” was created by taking schematic images of the human brain from the Allen Brain Atlas and portraying them as beaded histological sections on 6 sheets of plexiglass.
Such sections of human tissue are typically used to study anatomy in healthy and diseased states. The sections can be assembled into a sculpture or be displayed individually.
Links
Website: www.neurobead.com
Instagram: @neurobead_boutique
Twitter: @YZorina
Facebook: NeuroBead
Etsy: NeuroBead