Shown above is an Illustration of the vertebrate telomerase from the Telemorase database. Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak received The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009, for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. The elegance of their ideas are depicted in this beautiful 3-D image of the structures wrapped tightly in the end of a chromosome (the little purple shape in the upper left).
Elegance of form in discovery
Three women got the Nobel this year! Most women I spoke to were as thrilled as I and knew the announcement was historic. Why such a big deal about women winning? Read Karen A. Frenkel‘s insightful and witty comments about the ranks of too few women that Nobel Laureates Blackburn, Greider and Yonath join.
May your telomerase grow long and prosper
The good news is that more scientists like Carol Greider are in decision making positions. Take a look at the Greider Lab web site where the ratio is 9 to 1 for the XX. While checking out her site, you’ll see that her lab continues to research how telomere length is regulated at the genetic level. Short telomeres are connected to disease and cellular health — something we are concerned with as we age.
Shown above on the right, is a hand drawn colored pencil ribbon schematic of the 3D structure of the protein triose phosphate isomerase. The barrel of 8 beta strands is shown by green arrows and the 8 alpha-helices as brown spirals. By Jane Richardson.
Shoelace-like ribbons as a visual language
Look at the nice big healthy pairs of chromosomes shown in purple above. The red tips on the ends are telomeres, end caps on chromosomes much like plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces. Carol Greider’s mentor and fellow Laureate, Elizabeth Blackburn, referred to telomeres in this way. Which reminds me of another extraordinary scientist, Jane Richardson. Jane developed a consistent method to depict protein structure that brought her a McArthur Fellowship. She spent two years, from 1979 to 1981, drawing by hand the 75 then-known proteins. Her work became the standard visual language for protein ribbon diagrams.
Science and art, pencils and paper
When I read an article that quoted Dr. Richardson saying she struggled drawing the ins and outs, over and under shapes, I called her office at Duke University. When she answered, I said, “I understand!” Then explained that as a young staff artist for a retail corporation, I was assigned to draw the most difficult product for print ads — shoes complete with shoe laces. I told her how I worked to get the form just right with overlapping pieces. She laughed with me about it, saying it does take a lot of time!
Shown below on the left, is my drawing of a shoe which began as a pencil sketch. I finished the image with my digital drawing tools giving it a crisp feel. On the right is a close up of Dr. Richardson’s protein. Look how nice her colored pencil rendering is. It makes a wonderful work of art as well as a historical document, don’t you think? An example of the elegant way fundamental forms of nature can be revealed.
