Right Turn: “Perceptions of Promise”

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Science as art is not a new concept. Google the term and you’ll see 2,330,000 hits. Princeton University has been holding an art-science competition since 2005 and the organizers have received hundreds of images from within the university community. The 2013 winners are posted here.

In the world of stem cells, there are many examples of beautiful images, such as these neural stem cell photographs.

Closer to home, the photo of the week that appears on Signals Blog (lower right hand corner of the screen) comes from a gallery of images collected by the Stem Cell Network when it runs its Cells I See competition.

Radha Chaddah is a Toronto scientist and artist who photographs cells because she wishes “to explore the beauty and complexity of the unseen world using the power of scientific discovery and methodology.” You can see her striking images here.

Brothers Sean and Tim Caulfield, both faculty members at the University of Alberta (U of A), took a different approach and combined their professional expertise to create an exhibition called “Perceptions of Promise” to explore “legal, ethical and social issues about stem-cell research.” Sean Caulfield is a professor of printmaking and Tim Caulfield is the research director of the Health, Law and Science Policy Group at U of A.

The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, where I work, purchased one of Radha’s prints to hang in the boardroom. To me, her work and this video are reminders that the microscopic stem cell holds huge promise and great beauty if you open your mind to its possibilities.

Our regular feature, Right Turn, showcases the “lighter” side of stem cells and regenerative medicine. Every Friday, we will bring you cartoons, photos, videos and other content that may be just as thought provoking as the written submissions that you are used to finding here, but they definitely won’t be blogs.

As always, we welcome your feedback and we also welcome suitable submissions. Be creative! Use the right (!) side of your brain. Make us laugh! Let’s see if we can make this new direction a positive one for all of us. Send your submission to info(at)ccrm.ca.

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Stacey Johnson

Stacey Johnson is the editor of Signals and a contributor. For 25 years, Stacey has been providing strategic communications counsel to government, corporate, technology and health organizations. She began her career at the CTV Television Network and then moved to Hill & Knowlton Canada where she advised clients in a variety of industries and sectors. Stacey is the Vice President, Communications and Marketing for CCRM, a leader in developing and commercializing regenerative medicine-based technologies and cell and gene therapies. She has a Master's degree in Public Relations. You can follow her on Twitter @msstaceyerin.

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