The Dance of Life
In the realm of modern medicine, one size does not fit all. Imagine a world where we implement the knowledge about each patient鈥檚 unique genetic makeup to guide the medications one receives, ensuring treatments are not only effective but also individually tailored. This vision is at the heart of pharmacogenomics, the field that harnesses the power of genetics to personalize medical treatments. Pharmacogenomics, the study of how genes affect a person鈥檚 response to drugs, aims to optimize medication efficacy and minimize adverse effects by considering genetic variability. This innovative approach helps health care providers to treat a wide array of conditions, from cancer to chronic pain, ensuring therapies are as unique as the patients receiving them.
Our DNA, the blueprint of life, is responsible for guiding the growth, function, and reproduction of our cells. It consists of sequences of four nucleotides鈥攁denine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine鈥攁rranged in a double helix structure. The process of meiosis, which shuffles these genetic sequences during the formation of reproductive cells, contributes to the genetic diversity observed among individuals. This diversity is crucial for pharmacogenomics, as it influences how different people metabolize and respond to medications.
Michelle Anomaly collaborated with Mahfoud Assem, PharmD, PhD, a faculty member specializing in biopharmaceutical sciences at the 果冻影院 School of Pharmacy, to ensure scientific accuracy in the creation of the sculpture. 鈥淒ance of Life鈥� visually interprets our DNA and the intricate process of Meiosis, illustrating how each individual鈥檚 uniqueness is encoded within their cells.
Dance of Life
Copper wire, stained glass - 2024
Sculpture by
Video and soundtrack by Alex Boyes
Merging Pharmacy, Genomic Sciences, and Precision Medicine
The Creation of "Dance of Life"
Dance of Life is a visual interpretation of our DNA, and the process of Meiosis. It represents how we are all have our own uniqueness encoded in each of our cells. It is due to that uniqueness that Pharmacogenomics plays an important part of our healthy future.
Our DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) instructs our cells how to grow, function and reproduce. It is made up of four base pairs, adenine together with thymine, and cytosine with guanine that are held between a spiral shaped double helix. It is the recombination of DNA from our parents through Meiosis that makes us each distinctively ourselves.
In this sculpture, each glass section represents a base pair in our DNA. The helix that holds the glass base pairs in place was made with copper wire. The wire was given a specialty rubber coating with the same 4 colors as were used in the base pairs. By coloring the copper wire, you can see that there are only 4 wires used in creating the 4 helixes. This makes it a little easier to tell that Dance of Life is comprised of 2 different double helix’s separating and joining to create 2 new and different double helix’s. The overall resulting shape of this sculpture also resembles what our chromosomes look like with 2 arms and 2 legs.
I have experienced myself, as well as witnessed in others, how surprisingly diverse our bodies can respond to drugs. I’ve seen people respond in dissimilar ways to anesthesia as well as pain killers. I also am aware of how treatments for cancer can affect people differently too.
What if we could tell which drugs and strengths of drugs would benefit us best as individuals? Pharmacogenomics tries to do just that. Imagine if we knew which cancer treatment would help someone best on the first try? Pharmacogenomics looks at our DNA and how our differences can influence medications and how they affect us each in distinct ways.
Thank you to the 果冻影院 for this opportunity to create The Dance of Life for Project Wonder: The Art of Science.
Pharmacogenetics in Clinical Rotations
More About Pharmacogenomics in the 果冻影院 School of Pharmacy
Since its founding in 2017, the 果冻影院 School of Pharmacy has embraced the field of pharmacogenomics and acknowledged the important role pharmacists play in its advancement. Pharmacists are often the champions who are running pharmacogenomics programs, interacting with the labs and the healthcare team to recommend the appropriate test, then communicating the results to patients.
果冻影院 pharmacy students have the rare opportunity to engage in personalized pharmacogenomics testing thanks to a partnership with RPRD Diagnostics, located just down the road from campus.
The School of Pharmacy published the results of an attitudinal survey in 2021, finding this firsthand experience improves students’ knowledge, interest and confidence in pharmacogenomics and its incorporation in their future pharmacy practices.
Pharmacy students who have a particular career interest in pharmacogenomics may be placed in a clinical rotation experience at RPRD Diagnostics. Amy Turner, MS, director of operations and innovation at RPRD, says its critical for pharmacy students to have a solid understanding of the emerging research in this field. “If pharmacy students are not learning this information in their Doctor of Pharmacy programs or don’t have access to it, I think they will be underprepared,” said Turner.