Showcasing the Beauty of Basic Science

In January of this year, Yale School of Medicine’s (YSM) Program for Art in Public Spaces (PAPS) launched its “Beauty of Science 2025” exhibit. Located on the first floor of Sterling Hall of Medicine, the display highlights the striking and sometimes unexpected images generated across many disciplines in basic science.

“What I love about this exhibit is the hidden beauty, these gorgeous surprises, that those of us who don’t work in basic science might otherwise never see,” says Anna Reisman, MD, director of the Program for Humanities in Medicine and co-director of PAPS.

“The exhibit is the invisible made visible—researchers are constantly looking through these magic devices whether it’s a microscope or CT scan,” says Terry Dagradi, coordinator for PAPS. “Every once in a while, their eyes see something really beautiful, and the idea is to help them share that beauty and that excitement.”

YSM formed the Program for Art in Public Spaces in 2018 to promote imagery in common spaces reflective of the school’s mission, history, and diversity of the community. This year, it received 105 submissions for its latest exhibit, and it selected 28 to be displayed.

The goal of “Beauty of Science,” says Darin Latimore, MD, deputy dean for collaborative excellence and co-director of PAPS, is to get viewers excited about science and to showcase the work of basic scientists. “We want people to see extraordinarily beautiful images that draw them in,” he says. “The goal here, for me, was to make lots of different kinds of science accessible in the most basic way—which is through an emotional response.”

The exhibit will remain available in Sterling Hall of Medicine until January 2026. All images can also be viewed digitally. Below is a sneak peek.

Justin “Jay” Bader, MD, a surgery resident at YSM interested in surgical oncology and lung cancer, envisions our immune cells as heroic warriors against cancerous invaders.

In the bottom left corner of the image, the enemy is a tumor that has established itself in the lung tissue. The pink dots inside the tumor are our own immune cells, called T cells, trying to fight the cancer off. The multi-colored specks surrounding the tumor are another type of immune cell called B cells. These cells offer reinforcements by creating tumor-reactive antibodies that help destroy the cancer.

An aspect of the image that is especially intriguing to Bader is the contrast between the cancer and healthy lung tissue. “In the bottom left, you have that very thick, dense mass,” he says. “And then you see these nice, symmetrical black areas on the other side. This is healthy lung tissue that holds air.”

Much of Bader’s research focuses on immunotherapy, which is a treatment that allows one’s own body to activate its immune system to fight off cancer. “A lot of my research is looking at the interface of the tumor and healthy lung and trying to understand why immune cells might not be invading,” he says. “This picture captures a lot of what my research looks like.”

According to Harvey Kliman, MD, PhD, research scientist in obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, the placenta is a highly overlooked organ. “Most people don’t care about it—they throw it away and think it’s unimportant,” he says.

Kliman is one of the few world experts on the placenta. He was among the first to discover that placentas from children with autism have abnormal growths. “That circle you see in the green whirlpool is the marker,” Kliman says.

Known as the trophoblast inclusion, scientists first identified the genetic abnormality in the 1800s, but they did not understand its importance. Over the past 25 years, Kliman has been trying to better understand its significance as a marker for autism and other developmental disabilities like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“Trophoblastic inclusions are like a check engine light,” he says. “This picture is a beautiful trophoblastic inclusion in a placenta that has its check engine light on.”

When infants are born, they lack the ability to make coordinated movements. Over time, neurons—the cells in the brain that make us who we are—and muscles form connections that drive the development of our motor skills.

Antoneta Gavoci, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate in neuroscience at YSM. The image she submitted is from her research as a PhD candidate at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich on the development of the neuromuscular junction—the place where a neuron communicates with muscle to cause movement. Her image of a neuromuscular junction from a baby mouse reminds her of flowers in bloom.

“I submitted this image because it’s not only visually striking but also deeply meaningful,” Gavoci says. “It reflects my fascination with the biological mechanisms underlying how connections are formed and maintained. Discovering that the cytoskeleton shapes both this process and overall neuronal health is what continues to drive my research at Yale."