"Lynn Fellman offers an alternative way of coming to a practical understanding of our genomes and the richness of the information contained in them.

Her art flows with the same vibrancy we see in nature. Her art reflects the dynamic quality of life."

— Perry Hackett, Professor of Genetics, University of Minnesota

When The Society for Arts in Healthcare called for papers for their national conference, I submitted an abstract for a presentation. It was accepted as a poster, and so I began developing the art the poster would reference. The poster would explain the science and how the art was developed.

Professor Perry Hackett, University of Minnesota Geneticist, agreed to collaborate with me, providing reading material and explanations of his research. His lab invented the Sleeping Beauty (SB) system for gene therapy which became an important biomedical tool.

The dimensional art work was on display at the conference along side the poster. The project was later developed as a talk that Professor Hackett and I gave at Hennes Art Gallery. This is text from the poster:

Title: Waking Sleeping Beauty: Exploring the pathways of molecules to therapies in current biomedical research through art.

About the work of art: Waking Sleeping Beauty was inspired by genetic research from the University of Minnesota. It’s a bench-to-bedside story that began with the reawakening of an ancient fossil gene. Once awakened from an evolutionary sleep, the gene was developed as a biomedical tool and is undergoing further development.

The art work shown here investigates another development from the genome — an innovative therapy for medical genetics. Genetics in medicine has compelling stories that engage us on many levels. An example is the ”Sleeping Beauty Transposon System” developed by Professor Hackett’s Lab.