Ant head and mandibles, photomacrography

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

A single enteropathogenic E. coli in the intestine

Woodlouse, SEM

Head louse clinging to strand of human hair, SEM

Louse (Pediculus humanus humanus)

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False-coloured scanning electron micrograph of a head louse clinging to a strand of human hair. Head lice (Pediculus) feed on human blood and live in close proximity to the scalp. They lay eggs (nits) in sacs which firmly attach to individual strands of hair near the base of the shaft. Width of image is 1 mm.

"1000 Handshakes" is a performance piece during which the artist shakes hands with as many people as possible, gradually changing the invisible microbial community in the palm of his hand. Periodically, assistants take a swab from the skin, and the samples are analyzed in the lab to reveal how our contact with others shapes the microbes between us. This ongoing project has been performed in different cities around the world (including Copenhagen, Montreal, San Francisco, Perth, Berlin and Baltimore) as a way to map our collective microbiome using scientific data.



Production of the 'microbiome selfies' involved many different steps. Following the collection of the microbiome samples, bacterial DNA was extracted, amplified and sequenced to create the bioinformatic data shown in this series. The nodes of the networks represent bacterial DNA sequences, and two nodes are connected by an edge (line) when the bacterial DNA sequences have more than 95% similarity. The different colours correspond to distinct samples collected at every 50th handshake, from 0 to 1001. 



This image corresponds to the 12th image in this 21-part series, showing the extensive microbiome resulting from 550 handshakes.

"1000 Handshakes" is a performance piece during which the artist shakes hands with as many people as possible, gradually changing the invisible microbial community in the palm of his hand. Periodically, assistants take a swab from the skin, and the samples are analyzed in the lab to reveal how our contact with others shapes the microbes between us. This ongoing project has been performed in different cities around the world (including Copenhagen, Montreal, San Francisco, Perth, Berlin and Baltimore) as a way to map our collective microbiome using scientific data.



Production of the 'microbiome selfies' involved many different steps. Following the collection of the microbiome samples, bacterial DNA was extracted, amplified and sequenced to create the bioinformatic data shown in this series. The nodes of the networks represent bacterial DNA sequences, and two nodes are connected by an edge (line) when the bacterial DNA sequences have more than 95% similarity. The different colours correspond to distinct samples collected at every 50th handshake, from 0 to 1001. 



This image corresponds to the 10th image in this 21-part series, showing the extensive microbiome resulting from 450 handshakes.

False-coloured scanning electron micrograph of a drosophila tarsus, the part of an insect's leg furthest away from its body. Two hooks or claws visible in the centre of the image are used for attaching to rough surfaces. Below the claws lie the tarsal pads (pulvilli) which are covered in hairs (tenet setae). An adhesive substance is secreted through these hairs, which allows the fly to attach to smooth surfaces. <I>Drosophila melanogaster</I> (also known as the fruit fly) is commonly used in scientific research, particularly in the fields of developmental biology and genetics. Horizontal width of image is 103 micrometres.

Drosophila leg, tarsus, SEM

"1000 Handshakes" is a performance piece during which the artist shakes hands with as many people as possible, gradually changing the invisible microbial community in the palm of his hand. Periodically, assistants take a swab from the skin, and the samples are analyzed in the lab to reveal how our contact with others shapes the microbes between us. This ongoing project has been performed in different cities around the world (including Copenhagen, Montreal, San Francisco, Perth, Berlin and Baltimore) as a way to map our collective microbiome using scientific data.



Production of the 'microbiome selfies' involved many different steps. Following the collection of the microbiome samples, bacterial DNA was extracted, amplified and sequenced to create the bioinformatic data shown in this series. The nodes of the networks represent bacterial DNA sequences, and two nodes are connected by an edge (line) when the bacterial DNA sequences have more than 95% similarity. The different colours correspond to distinct samples collected at every 50th handshake, from 0 to 1001. 



This image corresponds to the 2nd image in this 21-part series, showing the extensive microbiome resulting from 50 handshakes.

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Images

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Head louse clinging to strand of human hair, SEM

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

Drosophila leg, tarsus, SEM

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

Today’s opening times

Wellcome uses cookies.

Bug

Images

Works

Head louse clinging to strand of human hair, SEM

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

Drosophila leg, tarsus, SEM

Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment

Wellcome Collection

Today’s opening times