We Have an Artist Working for Systems Biology

My department has been established for just two years and is relatively young comparing to other departments in my school or the whole Boston area.

Because of this, many "new and interesting" (a.k.a weird) things could be seen here, making it a unique place for doing research.

Not surprisingly, We, as a "Systems Biology" department, have biologists, chemists,physicists, and mathematicians in this place, working together. However, we also have a residential artist in our department. This is rare, even in the whole world. The artist's name is Brian Knep, owned two Academy (Oscar) Awards. You can visit his website www.blep.com for more information.

Marc, our chair, notes that one of the greatest obstacles in understanding the mechanisms underlying biological complexity is our own limited imagination. "While we can easily write the equations, appreciating what they mean is a formidable challenge. Visualization .becomes critical to illuminating and understanding the whole system. Healing is a hint of how that might be accomplished and how revealing it may ultimately prove to be." He adds, "I believe it will be essential for systems biologists and artists to collaborate in the effort to understand and visualize the mechanisms that underlie the behavior of living systems."

Hmm... Do you really believe what Marc said??

One of my colleagues' feedback was "maybe someday in this department Marc will hire a poet to write papers for us."

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BIO

Brian Knep is a Boston-based artist who combines art, architecture and science in his work. He has shown in museums, galleries and festivals across the United States, Europe and Korea. His career has ranged from the film industry, where he was awarded two Academy Awards in science and technology, to the exhibit design industry, and now to full time artwork. In September 2005 he becomes the first artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School, splitting the residency with the undergraduate Office for the Arts.

Brian helped organize the Cambridge-based Collision Collective and co-curated several of their exhibitions. He has published in computer-graphics and other scientific journals, and graduated with honors from Brown University, where he received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees.