Justin Kumar is a professor of biology and an accidental artist.
He has been researching flies, specifically Drosophila melanogaster, or the common fruit fly, since his undergraduate years. He didn’t realize then that his research photographs would take on an artistic life of their own. But the art speaks for itself.
In much of his current research, Professor Kumar’s lab has been researching cell specification – how some cells become an eye instead of, say, a liver.
"So, we’re able to use the flies as a model system to not only understand eye development in general, but also to hopefully gain some inroads into human retinal disease. There are a number of human retinal disorders that have parallel phenotypes in mutant Drosophila."
Using a compound fluorescent microscope, Professor Kumar’s photography of selected proteins or molecular markers in fly eyes has become his best tool for sharing his research and encouraging the next generation of scientists to embrace the art in their science.
Kumar has been involved in research since the second week of his undergraduate career at the University of California, Riverside, which began in the fall of 1987.
“I was an undergraduate, graduate student, and post-doctoral fellow in three different labs dedicated to using the fly eye as an experimental model system. I’ve been here at IU since 2002, and I continue to use the fly eye to study interesting topics in developmental biology.”
Kumar cites his graduate advisor at Purdue University, Professor Donald Ready, as the biggest influence on his research and how he presents his work. In fact, Dr. Ready’s research papers drew Kumar to his lab in the first place. “When I was an undergraduate I read his papers, and the way he wrote was so appealing. Most scientists write very short, terse sentences to get the scientific point through, whereas he used much more artsy, flowery language. Reading his papers was like reading a story or poem.”
Dr. Ready’s papers inspired Kumar to use art and prose in his research to draw people in and make his work accessible. “I wanted to learn to write like he did. And while I’ve never mastered it to his degree, I try to get there as much as I can.”
Kumar has come to see art as a gateway to understanding science research. “The way I think about it is if you can excite someone with an image, they will be interested in the work that you do and want to find out more about it.”
His photos start with viewing a fly through a microscope and assigning a color to the protein or marker he’s interested in. As he looks at more genetic variables the colors multiply, creating a mosaic of information that can be decoded with his research.
The images inside the scientific journals that publish his research have very little processing applied, other than color application, Kumar explains, to ensure that people reading the articles can see the science. It also ensures that there aren’t any worries about data manipulations or misleading edits applied to his photography.
When posting images for journal covers or the Kumar Lab website, he will apply filters “that give things a little bit more of an artistic view.” He also posts those photos on his Twitter and Facebook accounts to share with his colleagues at other universities and institutions.
Taking a holistic view of the arts and sciences, Kumar has shown many students that refining skill sets in the arts can make a better scientific researcher, who in turn produces better, more accessible, science.
The Kumar Lab trains and works with multiple undergraduate and graduate students, giving them research experience and opportunities to contribute to research publications. Kumar advises each graduate student in his lab – five currently – through the research process and helps them select the best image to convey their results.
Having benefitted so profoundly from Professor Ready’s mentorship, he is committed to giving his students the same degree of encouragement and support. “I’m trying to show them that when you take the science and write creatively and take the images and display them artistically, it can add so much value to the work.”
From post-graduate to high school students, Kumar’s lab is an incubator for young scholars who are learning as much about the artistic merits of science as they are scientific processes and research itself. Their work in his lab, fostering and merging their scientific and creative abilities, is preparing them for a future in which both of these skills are very much in demand.
Kumar acknowledges that sometimes research can be technical for general audiences to wrap their heads around. Photography is the medium he uses to bridge the gap between the researcher and reader, encouraging increased comprehension and engagement with research. Drosophila research-turned-art has enabled Kumar to share his research and show a wider audience that the arts and sciences work better together.
"There’s a lot of jargon used in science and there can be tremendous amounts of technical details. I’m focused on how to convey the science to the general public so that anybody could understand what I’m doing, why it’s important, and how it could benefit human health and general interest in science."
