RNAi in the Arts

At a time when this blog, the RNAi Therapeutics space, and indeed the entire drug development sector and society at large is struggling with the politics of intellectual property and exclusivity periods, it is helpful to remind myself that the reason why RNAi Therapeutics is so fascinating and a socially worthwhile endeavor is that here we are able to understand and even harness in a straightforward way for public health a gene regulatory process so elegant that, if I did not know better, would appear to have been the result of intelligent design.

Fritz Schomburg is a scientist-artist from Madison, Wisconsin, who shares many of the same feelings when it comes to RNAi, and has to be counted among the more important, yet largely unseen supporters of its therapeutic potential. His cast glass and bronze statues are strongly influenced by ancient basic molecular themes of biology, with an added layer of depth the result of material that change with light. Shown here is 'Futureperfect', a depiction of what I interpret as the siRNA duplex complexed to some cationic lipids and that I found to be prominently displayed on Fritz’ website.

Please take some time to explore his work, and I believe some of his art is also for sale - in case you are looking for something special for your company foyer.