Learning from Jill

Usually I blog about my artwork, but this time I thought I'd blog about my other passion -- science; specifically, microbiology.

I earned a Master of Science degree at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in California. My graduate advisor was one Dr. Jill Adler-Moore who, sadly, died recently of cancer.

Her celebration of life memorial was this morning, and the comments people made about her got me to thinking about my own life, which was so deeply impacted by Jill.

Dr. Jill Adler-Moore

Jill was an energetic, hard-working positive person who doubled as a cheerleader and friend to many of her students, including me. Her own passion for science and research rubbed off on everyone who worked with her, and I never realized how much of my scientific thinking came from her.

I know I can be quite intense when discussing scientific matters and I ask a lot of questions, something one learns to do in grad school. I'm the stereotypical skeptic when it comes to science topics and especially when it comes to microbiology. Many people who are not scientists don't understand this is how science works, and they easily believe what they hear about topics -- for example, immunology and the Covid-19 vaccines -- from the mass media.

I've learned that most people don't think like scientists. And it's frustrating to try and discuss things with them. But I'm grateful Jill taught me to pursue answers and seek the truth as best as we can perceive it.

Jill also taught me that failure is not necessarily a bad thing, because we're more likely to learn from our failures more than we would from our successes where we may not learn anything new at all.

The labs/jobs I worked at following grad school don't, of course often see it that way. In a way, working in real life was kind of a let-down after working with Jill in grad school.

In short, Jill changed my life! My life is better for having known her and worked with her. We stayed in touch after I finished grad school and often met for lunch when we discussed -- what else? -- scientific advancements.

By the way, Jill pioneered a treatment for systemic fungal infections by incorporating the highly toxic antifungal drug Amphotericin B into microscopic fat bubbles called liposomes. When the drug is packaged this way, it greatly reduces the toxic effects of the drug, a higher dose of the drug can be given and the patient is spared the chemotherapy-like side effects of Amphotericin B. A similar approach is being being developed for anticancer drugs.

Jill was a mentor, teacher and a good friend. As Jill's husband said at the memorial service: "We are all diminished by our loss." I totally agree.

RIP, Jill.

A Walk in the (Cretaceous) Woods

Sometimes, ya jes' gotta paint DINOSAURS!!

A Walk in the Mist -- Deinonychus   10" x 8" / 25cm x 20cm

Here we have a group of Deinonychus ("die-NO-nee-kus"), a raptor species that was about 6'-7'/2m tall (and was what the "velociraptors" really were in the Jurassic Park movies). It's likely that, like modern-day lions, they finished gorging themselves on a kill and are now looking for a safe place to sleep it off -- safe from critters that might eat them!

Deinonychus lived in the late Cretaceous -- a hot, muggy, carbon dioxide-heavy time. Thus, I wanted the air to appear very foggy but still lit up by the blazing afternoon sun.

Although these dinos are long extinct, most of the plants I've depicted are still around -- "living relics" or "living fossils." The tall trees are Wollemia nobilis or Wollemi pine -- I believe they're limited today in the wild to SE Australia but can be found in landscaping for homes or businesses -- they're attractive trees! To the left is a cycad or sago palm, and further back are some taller Macaw palms, Acrocomia aculeata. And, of course, tree ferns and other species of low-growing ferns and mosses.

(Ya know -- finding resources to visualize dinosaurs isn't hard, but information about how extinct plants looked takes more effort!)

I'm not a dinosaur expert -- my area was microbiology -- but I do have a childlike fascination with these animals. They give me an opportunity to paint something a little different while applying what I've learned about Old Masters techniques and composition in art. I wanted to get away from the edge-to-edge sharpness that I see so often in paleoart and illustration; thus, the only spots in this painting that are detailed are the dinos and the treefern to their upper right. (Treeferns, by the way, are my favorite plants, especially the species that grow on Kauai'i (Cibotium chamissoi), even more than organ pipe cactus and Joshua trees.

I'm curious to see what kind of reaction I get from potential collectors. I have no idea what the market is for artwork like this -- I suspect it's limited -- but if works like these sell, I may have to work bigger in the future!

Rawr!!

The "Real" Surreal

I used to use electron microscopes a lot in some of the research jobs I had. One type is the scanning electron microscope (SEM), which makes images that resemble black-and-white photographs. (Nowadays, SEMs can be linked to computers that add false color to the images).

SEMs can be used in research, quality control and forensics. But for the artistically-inclined, they can be wonderful tools for showing the surrealistic world that exists right under our noses!

The scanning electron micrograph (the fancy name for a picture taken on an SEM) to the right is a highly magnified object common to many, if not all, of us. Can you guess what it is?

It's salted popcorn! The cubes that are scattered about are salt crystals.

The "mountain" that rises in the background is not part of the popcorn -- it's some of the dried electrically-conducting carbon paste that we use to adhere specimens to a sample holder which, in turn, is inserted in the SEM. But I always thought it helped give the image the look of a landscape, so I didn't crop it out.

We know about the concept of the universe being a vast place with stars, planets and many other things (but with LOTS of empty space). But we live in another universe as well, and one that is equally hard to see and comprehend -- the universe of the microscopic and the infinitely small.

A Bunny Named Bunny

Referring to my previous post, I could mention that Bunny #3 (named Bunny), was my favorite. I attended California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (aka Cal Poly Pomona), California, where I received both a Masters and a Bachelors degree in Microbiology (more about all this another time).

One of the classes I took in my undergrad years was Immunology and Serology. Part of the lab work was to inject cute little albino bunnies with stuff (nothing that would make the bunnies sick), then collect blood from them and go through an isolation and purification procedure to get the antibodies the bunnies made against the stuff. When the academic quarter was over, we had a choice of bringing the bunnies home (only catch -- we had to donate some of our own blood for the same class), or leave the bunnies there. If we left them, they ended up in one of the zoology classes' labs where, sadly, they would endure open-heart surgery and then would die. Needless to say, I took my team's bunny home.

Over a period of a few months or so, Bunny had the free run of an enclosed patio. She could hippity-hop around, hide, eat or do whatever she wanted.

The best part was when I called my girlfriend (now my wife). The phone was by a door that led out to the patio. So I'd sit on the doorstep, talking on the phone, often for an hour or more. Bunny would come over, go in betwen my legs and turn around, facing away from me. Then she'd settle down while I petted her until well after the phone call was finished. None of the other bunnies or the guinea pig seemed to appreciate the affection the way Bunny did.

One of Bunny's favorite places to be petted was just a little above her nose. I noticed that when a male and female are together, the male will lick and nibble the female there, and the female seemed to be in bunny heaven when he did.

Bunnies also like being petted and rubbed around the base of the ears. So--if you have a bunny or the next time you're in a bunny's company, consider letting it know how cute you think it is by petting it in those places.