Artist Statement:

The process of discovery in science is much like the process of completing a work of art. I have an idea based on my initial study of the topic, but often find that as I gather additional background information, I need to be flexible as to how to proceed. For Visions of Discovery, I began by reading articles published by several of the participating Bond LSC researchers. And as a result, I felled down the rabbit hole of glycine.

Glycine is the simplest most flexible amino acid because it has only hydrogen residues. For this reason glycine was probably the first amino acid to be created and it has been identified on comets. It appears to be genetically conserved in the evolution of protein sequences because missence substitutions are often harmful mutations leading to disease states or reduced fitness.

For example, glycine enhances the capability of the immune system to repel viruses or bacteria and it repels the formation of free radicals and inflammatory cytokines. Glycine's conformational flexibility allows it to assist in the olding of proteins and to appear in parts of protein structures forbidden to other amino acids. It is a key component of plant proteins. Glycine serves as a neurotransmitter in the CNS and is involved in motor related neurological diseases.

In my drawing entitled, "Somewhere in Space and Time," glycine's ubiquitousness unites humanity with our common ancestors (phylogenetic tree) across eons (time line) and space. The narrative of the drawing involves a single human child who represents humanity and our connectedness with the process of scientific discovery and our biological past.