Eureka

Benjamin Carlson, Graduate Student, Cell Biology, Duke University

This image is of a mouse neuron from the hippocampus, the brain area that
is critically involved in memory. The large branching projections contain spiky
spines at their tips that receive signals from other neurons. These spiny structures
are thought to be involved in the processing of information during learning and
memory function. In this image, the neuron is stained to identify a protein that
forms the internal skeleton of the cell. This allows us to study the structure of
these spines during memory formation and learning.

Donna DeSoto

I have to admit that the word “hippocampus” makes me smile!
When I first heard of the website containing BioArtography
images, I studied each one and read each description. As soon
as I found out that the subject of one of the images includes
the area of the brain that is involved in memory, I knew that
I wanted to make that quilt. The idea for the black and white
background of this piece came from Barbara Persing’s book
called StrataVarious Quilts. Materials used were commercial
cottons; the raw edge design was free motion quilted and glass
beads were applied by hand.

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