N = 1
reconstructing synaptic mutations
Mutants are often depicted as superheroes or monsters, but how do genetic mutations really impact the brain and body? I’ve recently been examining the effects of genetic mutations on the structure of synaptic connections in the mouse brain. We’ve been focused on a gene coding for Semaphorin 3A, a protein responsible for extracellular signalling. We identified several interesting phenotypes in the brains of mice harboring point mutation in this gene and I felt compelled to examine these phenotypes off of the computer screen and in real three dimensions. I decided to make two pieces side-by-side; one of the ‘wild-type’ form and one of the ‘mutant’ form. Can you guess which is which?
N=1
"Wild-type" in Vancouver
Presynaptic bouton with synaptic vesicles
Fully assembled "Mutant"
Postsynaptic densities with presynaptic docked vesicles
Canadian Association for Neuroscience Annual Meeting 2024
Sanding session in transit to CAN
Sometimes I work on the roof
Rooftop sanding session
Overview of the desktop reconstruction process
Reconstruction layer-by-layer
Gluing each slice back together
Projecting segmented contours onto sanded cookie
A cookie of salvaged Torrey pine
Sanded cookie
About the build
I sourced a single log of salvaged Torrey pine for this project from a sustainable sawmill outside San Diego and got them to slice it up into cookies for me. The tricky thing about slicing cookies is that you have to cut directly through the grain of the wood, which puts variable pressure on the saw blade and causes it to deflect as it cuts. In this case, this resulted in slices of slightly variable thickness. Since the overall scale factor is determined by slice thickness, this variability altered my ability to properly scale the piece, creating a slightly warped morphology. In this context, the title of the piece, N=1, reflects the important role of repetition in accurate representations.