THE FRACTALS IN US

(interact with the slides to see it glow in the dark)

Fractal geometry manifests ubiquitously in nature, spanning from the branching patterns of trees, snowflakes, and flower petals to the intricate vascular and pulmonary networks within the human body. This piece focuses on the manifestation of fractals within our vascular systems.

In my tissue engineering class, we grew microvasculature in 3D-engineered tissue constructs. To do this, we cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and normal human lung fibroblasts (NHLFs), encapsulated them in fibrin gels, fixed the co-cultures, and fluorescently stained them for visualization. The cultures were imaged using confocal fluorescence microscopy. The blue regions indicate DAPI (to visualize nuclei), green for phalloidin (to see actin filaments) and red is UEA (to show sugar residues on endothelial cells).

Components:

1) 2D painted surface: painted in regular and glow-in-the-dark acrylic. It is referenced from an image that my lab team and I took

2) 3D print (SLA resin): represents angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) occurring. This was generated with a recursive sequence in Python through Rhino’s Grasshopper extension and 3D-printed in black resin. Also painted in acrylic.

Displayed at:

University of Michigan Arts Engine: Science as Art