Dana Simmons is a neuroscientist, science-artist, and medical writer in Chicago. While at the university, Dana transformed Purkinje neurons into art by testing the limits of confocal microscopy and adding an artistic touch. She is endlessly fascinated by the beauty in the brain and the patterns that are ever-present throughout microscopic and macroscopic nature. In 2016 she received the Passion in Science: Arts & Creativity award from the New England Biolabs.
Giuliana Mazzoni is Professor of Psychology, University of Hull. Human memory represents her main research interest, and more specifically the study on how personal memories are remembered in normal people and in those whose ability to remember is exceptional. Her work on memory has been featured in newspapers and magazines in the UK (among many, The Sunday Times) and around the world (among many,The Washington Post).
Matthew MacKisack is a cultural historian and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School. He has published numerous articles in intellectual and cultural history, focusing on how imagining and imagination have been employed and understood.
Canadian multidisciplinary artist Stéphanie Morissette’s works reflect on human behavior and the use of technologies in our quotidian life as well as in the geopolitical sphere; on conflicts and their psychological impact on the different participating actors.
In this exclusive interview she discusses her project, ‘Shadows in a Labyrinth’ (with co-collaborator Dale Einarson), which reflects on the complexity, the flaws and ephemeral aspects of our brain and memory, as well as on the medium and technologies, drawing parallels with mental illness and disease like Alzheimer.
“Cellular Kinesics is an exploration of the communication methods of cells during a spinal cord injury. Heavily influenced by the research data, videos, and imaging of neuroscientist Andrew Greenhalgh, this work is a collaborative effort of science and art.”
Rosi Maria Di Meglio has recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Concordia University. Her artistic practice focuses on space and memory, on real life experiences and transformation. She considers herself a poetic abstract expressionist artist. Her philosophy is founded on the ideas that art has the power to move people whether they are observing or creating.
Josefina Maranzano is mostly a self-taught artist. She studied medicine in La Plata and worked for a few years in Argentina as a general practitioner and a radiologist. At present, Josefina shares her life between painting and exploring new techniques in visual arts and conducting brain imaging medical research. She very recently submitted her Ph.D. thesis in neuroscience (with a focus in multiple sclerosis) at McGill University.
“I create drawings that offer an interpretation on mental processes to reveal the nature of human consciousness and the process of thought, bridging the connection between the mysterious three pound macroscopic brain and the microscopic behaviour of neurons.”
Artist, writer and Editor of Interalia Magazine, Richard Bright, has addressed the relationship between art, science and consciousness for over 30 years.
Amanpreet Badhwar is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Université de Montréal , where she works on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias. Her research combines structural and functional imaging with clinical and genetic assessments to relate variations in brain connectivity to clinical status, and to develop early markers of AD pathology. She is also an artist. In this exclusive interview she discusses her relationship between art and neuroscience.
Shima Rastegarnia has a B.Sc. in computer science. She was always interested in art and uses different mediums in her paintings. Shima is also interested in graphic design, 3D modeling, and in making video games.