Covid, Immunology and Jewellery
I thought I’d share a window display that I did just at the beginning of Lock down in Toronto. Little did I know when I agreed to do the display that it would be relevant to the current situation, so I thought I’d talk today about where you can find some information that might better help you understand how your body fights infections, like COVID-19, as well as a bit about the genesis of my collection.
As you may know (or not), I have a PhD in immunology, the very important part of physiology that protects the body (or “host”) against infection, and some diseases. As I’m sure you’ll agree, in our current crisis, it’s particularly relevant to the concerns on everyone’s mind about COVID-19. I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail about information about the immune system here, there are a lot of good pages like this Canada.ca webpage that will give you give information. Or the British Society for Immunology has this great series of pages called “Bite sized Immunology” which breaks a lot of different concepts into understandable sections with some colourful graphics to help make things more comprehensible.
Basically, the immune system is your own personal army that protects the body (to the best of its ability!) against infection (among other things). At its most basic, you can think of it being composed of two parts, the initial, less specific response that is immediate and a delayed response that is much more specific for an individual infectious agent, but it takes a while to kick in. It is the latter response that is what vaccination takes advantage of to confer protection against productive infection. Once you’ve been vaccinated, your immune system effectively goes straight to the specific response for that invader, quickly and effectively killing it off before it is able to exponentially reproduce in the body (or, if you like, stopping it in its tracks!).
One of the interesting things about cells in general, and immune cells in particular, is that you can stain them with coloured dyes that make the smaller structures in the cell more visible. This allows visibility, and identification by shape, stain colour, and appearance:
A blood smear stained with two dyes, the light red cells are, not surprisingly, red blood cells (with their characteristic “donut” appearance). The violet and purple cells are cells of the immune system.
Different kinds of immune cells
I’ve always been fascinated by the shapes of stained blood cells, I find them visually interesting, as well as artistically inspiring. About 10 years ago, I first had my inspiration for the current collection of different jewellery pieces. I was at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, working as a Research Fellow, and the Veterinary School wanted to put on an art show. I wanted to participate, since it combined my two passions (art and science!), and after alot of sketching, I had a whole host of ideas. Ultimately, the exhibition didn’t happen, but the ideas never went away!
Fast forward to last year, and I started seriously working on new pieces combining my love of immune cells and my love of textiles! If you were out and about in April, you might have seen a selection of pieces on display. It’s not on anymore, so you’ll have to be satisfied with my pictures!
Window with “L” series jewellery
(The “L” stands for lymphocyte)
Centre piece: “Defense of Life” combines both “M” and “L” units. Made out of sterling silver with a central 10kt yellow gold ring with rubies and an orange sapphire, and orange and red needle felt, this piece was originally designed to be an exhibition piece. Many of my other pieces are composed of elements that make up this special showpiece.
Window with “M” series jewellery
(The M stands for macrophage)
Visit my shop page to see more of the pieces that are available for sale, or contact me to talk about a design just for you!
Of course, I’m not a Public Health person, but I can help with questions about immunology in general, or point you in the direction of where to find good, reliable information about the pandemic, you just need to ask! I always find that information helps to lessen panic and fear, which we could all do with less of in this situation (panic and fear, not information!).
So, stay safe, stay healthy, and hope to see you soon!
-Robin.
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