Decorative data

Have you ever seen an image from a microscope or a data visualization and thought, “Wow, that looks like a piece of art I’d hang on the wall in my living room?” You’re not alone. Each year BioNexus KC, an organization that advances life sciences research and collaboration in the Kansas City area, hosts an online art auction called Science2Art, where student and faculty investigators are invited to submit a scientific image that represents their research. 

Anyone interested in owning the art can bid on their favorite images and learn more about the research they’re beholding. Proceeds from the auction are donated to support science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) programs in the Kansas City area. 

Before the art is auctioned off, it’s also displayed at the BioNexus KC’s annual meeting, where stakeholders from across the region convene to network and discuss the year’s research and innovation highlights.

Chris Lorson, associate vice chancellor for research and strategic initiatives and a Curators’ Distinguished Professor, represents Mizzou on the BioNexus Institutional Advisory Committee, a group of scientific leaders from higher education and health care.

“For the past 25 years BioNexus KC has bridged academia and industry, fostering life sciences innovation,” Lorson said. “This annual event, highlighted by the Science2Art auction, showcases the innovative spirit of the life sciences stakeholders in the region and directly translates that creativity into collaborative grant funding, strategically fueling the next generation of multidisciplinary research.”

This year, two Mizzou students submitted their images to be auctioned and collectively raised $1,150 for Kansas City STEAM programs. We asked them more about their projects and what inspired them to submit a piece to Science2Art:

Javier Llorente Torres 
PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program
Hometown: Madrid, Spain

Tell us about your piece. What are we looking at? 
This image shows the intricate architecture of the peripheral nervous system. Each dark ring represents a single nerve fiber wrapped in a protective layer called myelin, which helps electrical signals travel quickly from the spinal cord to the muscles. The pattern and size of these rings can tell us a lot about nerve health.

This research is focused on a rare genetic disease called SMARD1 (Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress Type 1), which causes nerve degeneration and muscle weakness in infants. One goal of this research is to understand how the disease damages nerves and how potential treatments might protect or restore them.

What is your role in your lab? Why did you choose Mizzou?  

My main focus is SMARD1. I study how IGHMBP2 mutations cause neuromuscular and respiratory pathology in the Chris and Monique Lorson lab. I chose the Lorson lab because of its strong expertise in neuromuscular disease models and translational approaches that directly align with my research interests.

How did you create the image?

First, we dissect the nerve and embed it in resin. Once the resin hardens, we use an ultramicrotome, an instrument that cuts ultrathin tissue sections at the Advanced Light Microscopy Core, to obtain slices of the sciatic nerve. We then stain the cross-sections with toluidine blue, a dye that binds specifically to myelin, the outer layer of individual axons. These axons appear as the black-and-white circular structures in the image. Finally, we capture the stained sections using a brightfield microscope. The image is not digitally altered; it shows the pure, raw organization of the axons within the nerve.

Why did you decide to enter an image in Science2Art?

I wanted to highlight the inherent beauty found in scientific research. Even when studying disease, imaging allows us to appreciate the organization and design of biological structures.

Why did you name the image Pathways to Perception?

The title refers to the neural pathways — nerves — that carry both motor and sensory information. The image captures these structural routes that allow organisms to interact with and perceive the world.

Ava Fleury
Junior majoring in Biochemistry and Physics
Hometown: Wardsville, MO

Tell us about your image. What are we looking at? 
This image captures medical research using a high-resolution laser microscope to study calcium activity in heart cells. Calcium is essential for each heartbeat. In a healthy heart, calcium moves in a rhythmic cycle within cells, ensuring a steady rhythm. But during events like a heart attack, calcium flow becomes erratic and uncoordinated. In this image, a mouse heart underwent ischemia—reduced oxygen similar to what occurs in a heart attack. The disrupted calcium signals, no longer synchronized in space or time, were captured using color to represent different phases of the ischemic event. Each heart cell paints a unique hue on the canvas, blending scientific insight with artistic expression to visually depict the chaos of a distressed heart.

Why did you title your image Iridescent Ischemia?

Given the various bright colors in the piece, coupled with the experimental circumstances that created the calcium waves, the name “Iridescent Ischemia” seemed appropriate.

What is your role in your lab? Why did you chose that program? 
In the Domeier lab, I focus on studying atrial tachyarrhythmias in mouse models of diseases like muscular dystrophy and sleep apnea. I have especially focused on developing and performing analysis and microscopy protocols to measure calcium levels as they relate to cardiac arrhythmias. I initially decided to join the lab because the intricacies of calcium handling and cardiac pathophysiology were very fascinating to me. I love working in the lab because I get to learn about and develop novel research techniques like laser-scanning microscopy, which I wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to do in a traditional classroom.

How did you create the image? 
I obtained the recording on a microscope in Dr. Domeier’s lab then made the image itself using the image processing program FIJI as well as Photoshop. The microscope used to obtain this image is a NikonAXR, which uses a resonant laser scanner to obtain up to 720 images per second. The technique is called high-speed, high-resolution laser-scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy. After I obtained the fluorescence images, I used the image processing program FIJI to create frame averages of waves in similar spatial areas, then added color to those waves and used Photoshop to create a “paintbrush” effect, highlighting the waves that have been “painted” by the heart itself.

Why did you decide to enter an image in Science2Art? 
Research gives me the opportunity to combine art and science. I decided to enter my image in Science2Art because I believe that in order to be an effective scientist, one must be able to communicate their work to others. Art is a modality of communicating science that is more accessible to most people than complicated scientific jargon, so getting to share science that I am passionate about in the form of bright colors and painted calcium waves has been an amazing experience.