Nina: Artist. Scientist. Educator. Entrepreneur.
I met Nina in 2010 while working in the lab at The Institute for Systems Biology. She was also a lab technician slaving away at the bench doing repeated tedious tasks to advance our understanding peroxisomes in fatty acid metabolism using yeast as a model organism. This project took a peak into how epigenetics plays a part in disease spreading of lipid disorders which have huge health implications.
The lab didn’t hold Nina for long. “It was at ISB where I decided not to pursue a scientific career…” Her strong artistic side and desire to blend art and science in an education setting drew her to get a degree in International Museum Studies at the University of Gothenberg in Sweden. I remember Nina being hesitant, wondering if it was the right move to make. Leaving home, living abroad, leaving science. She took the leap of faith and spent two years absorbing the culture of museum design and curation. She visited 40 different museums, all the while thinking about how she could innovate and improve upon existing science museums of today.
She has returned to Seattle and is now back in the lab at the Institute for Systems Biology but this time she is working on Desulfovibrio vulgaris, an extremophile sulfur-reducing bacteria, which can only survive in anaerobic conditions. She mentors students in the summers, and is also focusing on her new entrepreneurial adventure in creating a non-profit Pop-Up Science museum!
Nina is a perfect example of a woman striving to successfully blend all of her interests of the right-brain and left-brain into a fulfilling career even when traditionally art and science have not gone together. She has a unique artistic style and show cases her work and other artists as inspirations on her website.
This beautiful image was created by Arie van ‘t Riet using x-Ray radiography. See more beautiful images and Learn more about his work here: http://www.x-rays.nl/index.htm
To read more about Nina and her projects check out her website!
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