Anneliese Faustino, Ph.D., recently joined The Wistar Institute as the associate managing director of the Proteomics Facility. She is also an artist who uses art to advance her science. Here she discusses why proteomic analysis is so critical to modern biomedical research and how her art background supports her work.
Tell us about your journey to Wistar’s Proteomics Facility.
Originally, I had been an art student. My major in college was in studio art. But when it came time to think about a career, I found myself drawn to the idea of doing something that combined art and science. Ever since I had taken chemistry in high school with a wonderful teacher, I’d had a keen interest in science that stayed with me even while I was studying art. Career-wise, I was inspired by certain museum curators who used mass spectrometry methods for art restoration (which we typically associate with hardcore chemistry or biology research) to isolate and then recreate pigments from historical paintings.
While I didn’t end up at a museum running a mass spec, I did work for the FDA for five years and loved my time there. I was part of a very interesting team that tried to bridge the gap between the government’s reviewing capability and what the cutting-edge of industry was producing. I fell in love with the work, which entailed a lot of protein analysis and cell culture; both techniques are used to study cells in a controlled environment. I was so inspired that I headed back to school for my Ph.D., where I worked in a mass spectrometry lab.
Was your biology background that brought you here?
Actually, it was my background in chemistry. I started with hardcore chemistry, no biology at all, analyzing the structure of flame-resistant plastics of all things. And I hated it. So that’s how I moved into the biology side of things, where I really feel the work advances our understanding of human disease. And that’s when I fell in love with proteins.
What is it about proteins that you love?
From my perspective, proteins are the molecules actually doing chemistry within the body. Proteins exist to perform functions, and they’re constantly doing that. As a scientist interested in the structure-function relationship of biochemistry, that is what I enjoy, and studying proteins appealed to me because they are so dynamic.
The question of form and function is very important in proteins, but that’s also a critical aspect of thinking about art, which is a passion I’ve continued to pursue. I’ve worked with proteins for years now. I’ve explored that fascination by doing protein art in a variety of media: digital renderings, watercolor, oils, acrylics. I am very proud that I’ve had some of my artwork accepted as journal covers.
Does mass spectrometry help you visualize these proteins? Does it inspire your art?
Yes and no. I love mass spec work, but it isn’t a visualization technique: it’s a sequencing technique. When we run our mass spectrometer, we’re weighing molecules, fragmenting them, weighing the fragments, and rebuilding the original sequence from the fragment patterns.
All of that reverse-engineered, molecule-counting amounts to reams of hard data. This allows us to address a number of questions, such as which proteins are present; how much of those are there; what’s their structure; etc. Scientists need the analysis to understand how the active proteins impact the biology which informs drug design.
Proteomics really is its own mode of analysis that, in some ways, is less abstract than other analytical methods because we’re interested in existing molecules doing concrete, measurable chemistry within the cell. If you’re a scientist and you want to better understand the downstream impacts of higher-level biological processes, you can discover what’s happening “on the ground” by looking at the protein level. We’ll assess things like which protein forms are present and how many; what an unknown protein in a given experiment might be; and even how proteins bind to each other and other compounds.
To visualize the proteins that we’re analyzing, we rely on existing computer programs with libraries of indexed and characterized proteins, which allow us to create visual models. These visual representations of proteins and their interactions from our experiments inspire me as an artist and inform my art.
So the proteins themselves inspire, but I’m also drawn to the artwork because it’s a way of sharing research science in a new, exciting way. People watching your talk or looking at your poster are more engaged if you offer them a compelling new way of looking at a protein. That sense of excitement extends to non-scientists, too, who might see an artistic representation of proteins and think about biology or chemistry in a new light. That alone thrills me: bringing people into the world of research.
