Art is science in love.
— E.F. Weisslitz
In genomics, insights can hinge on a difference of one. One cellular mutation to go from healthy to diseased. One cell migration from tumor to metastasis. Even subtle differences in gene expression between healthy cells shapes their form and function.
In Data in New Dimensions, we’ve created an immersive data art experience celebrating the individuality and often underestimated influence of the single cell—captured by high-throughput single cell analysis.
Using the rich data from the very tools and instruments in this room, we’ve transformed data points back into cells and, informed by their differences, allowed those cells to once again rejoin the world of the viewer in the third dimension.
How do these canvases make you think about the difference of one in your work?
This piece contrasts two different blood cell states, diseased versus healthy, in such a way that the differences manifest as depth. Cells on the base plane (the closest to the wall) represent healthy control cells, while diseased cells ascend increasingly closer to the viewer based on how different they are from their healthy counterpart.
This piece paints a picture of the diversity of disease, showing how the cells of a tumor and its metastasis vary in expression patterns. These differences are manifested in the piece through each cell’s position in the third dimension. Cells from the primary tumor exist on the base layer (closest to the wall). Cells from the metastatic site project into the room based on the degree of difference from the nearest primary tumor cell in their cluster.
This piece explores the expression differences that help determine a healthy cell’s role within an organism. Each cluster corresponds to a different cell type along the renal tubule, with that cluster’s depth mapping to its position along the tubule. Blood enters the tubule through the cells on the base layer (closest to the wall) and is filtered by the cells in the successively ascending layers. The remaining waste exits past the cells in the layer nearest to the viewer.
Our cover on the 11 January 2023 Cell Genomics issue depicts the process of determining the parent-of-origin using differential methylation of alleles at imprinted regions (iDMRs) is imagined as a circuit.
Designed in collaboration with with Carlos Urzua.
Akbari, V. et al. Parent-of-origin detection and chromosome-scale haplotyping using long-read DNA methylation sequencing and Strand-seq (2023) Cell Genomics 3(1).
Browse my gallery of cover designs.
My cover design on the 6 January 2023 Science Advances issue depicts DNA sequencing read translation in high-dimensional space. The image showss 672 bases of sequencing barcodes generated by three different single-cell RNA sequencing platforms were encoded as oriented triangles on the faces of three 7-dimensional cubes.
More details about the design.
Kijima, Y. et al. A universal sequencing read interpreter (2023) Science Advances 9
Browse my gallery of cover designs.
If you sit on the sofa for your entire life, you’re running a higher risk of getting heart disease and cancer. —Alex Honnold, American rock climber
In a follow-up to our Survival analysis — time-to-event data and censoring article, we look at how regression can be used to account for additional risk factors in survival analysis.
We explore accelerated failure time regression (AFTR) and the Cox Proportional Hazards model (Cox PH).
Dey, T., Lipsitz, S.R., Cooper, Z., Trinh, Q., Krzywinski, M & Altman, N. (2022) Points of significance: Regression modeling of time-to-event data with censoring. Nature Methods 19.
My 5-dimensional animation sets the visual stage for Max Cooper's Ascent from the album Unspoken Words. I have previously collaborated with Max on telling a story about infinity for his Yearning for the Infinite album.
I provide a walkthrough the video, describe the animation system I created to generate the frames, and show you all the keyframes
The video recently premiered on YouTube.
Renders of the full scene are available as NFTs.
I am more than my genome and my genome is more than me.
The MIT Museum reopened at its new location on 2nd October 2022. The new Gene Cultures exhibit featured my visualization of the human genome, which walks through the size and organization of the genome and some of the important structures.
My cover design on the 1 September 2022 Annals of Oncology issue shows 570 individual cases of difficult-to-treat cancers. Each case shows the number and type of actionable genomic alterations that were detected and the length of therapies that resulted from the analysis.
Pleasance E et al. Whole-genome and transcriptome analysis enhances precision cancer treatment options (2022) Annals of Oncology 33:939–949.
Browse my gallery of cover designs.