17-Jan-2002 Press Release

RUTGERS NEWS
Office of Media Relations
and Communications

Contact: Joseph Blumberg
732/932-7084, extension 652
E-mail: blumberg@ur.rutgers.edu
http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel

Jan. 17, 2002

EDITOR'S NOTE:  ATTENTION ART, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY,  ASSIGNMENT EDITORS,
an image of protein-based art may be downloaded from
http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/photos/art/protein-art.jpg.

TO THE POINT:  Rutgers presents art show based on protein images

NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. - "The Art of Science - from the
Protein Data Bank," an exhibit of artwork based on molecular
structures, will open Monday (Jan. 21) at The Gallery in the Busch
Campus Center, 604 Bartholomew Road, Piscataway.  The exhibit is free
and open to the public, as is a reception scheduled Wednesday
(Jan. 23) from 4 to 6 p.m.

"The exhibit looks at the beauty inherent in the three-dimensional
structures of proteins," said Christine Zardecki, research assistant at
the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and curator of the exhibit.  "While these
structures are smaller than the wavelength of light, they have a very
strong visual component."

The images presented are taken from the Protein Data Bank housed at
Rutgers, one of the world's most critical resources for solving the
mysteries of human disease and designing new pharmaceutical drugs as
cures.  The PDB is an Internet-accessible atlas of 3-D models of
biological structures determined by scientists using the most modern
experimental methods and managed by Board of Governors Professor Helen
Berman.

The images of the protein molecules were created by David S. Goodsell,
assistant professor of molecular biology at Scripps Research Institute,
La Jolla, Calif., using computer visualization tools.

The exhibit will be open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays
and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., and will run through Saturday, Feb. 9.