PeerJ have again teamed up with the Visualizing biological data (VIZBI) workshop series to offer two PeerJ Awards for Best Scientific Posters. VIZBI 2023 – the 13th international meeting on this topic – took place March 28–31 at EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany. It featured talks from 21 world-leading researchers showcasing visualizations transforming how life scientists view data, and driving key advances in molecular biology, systems biology, biomedical science, and ecology.

We recently talked to one of the Best Scientific Poster winners Mol Mir to hear more about their research.

 

Mol Mir Science Visualization Specialist, Stowers Institute for Medical Research. 

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your research interests?

I have a bachelor’s degree in Interactive Arts, during which I focused on creating interactive educational objects, such as coloring books, puzzles, and interactive models using 3D printing and mold-making/casting processes. Most of these projects were inspired by the cell. I’ve been working in the Sánchez Alvarado lab since they adopted me in 2018. A good portion of my work involves exploring serial block face scanning electron microscopy data (SBF-SEM) to visualize cells at a high resolution and in the context of an animal. I have a particular interest in cell types and their differing morphologies, especially in how these biological units work together to create a living organism, as well as an interest in education through tactile and visual methods.

You also won the Best Scientific Poster at VIZBI 2022; is this work an expansion on what you presented last year?

This year, I crafted my poster around the same subject as my poster from last year: pages from the book I’m developing. As someone with non-traditional training, I’m always looking to discover where my blind spots are in biology. Poster presentations have been a great way to receive direct feedback from my peers with expertise in different areas. My poster this year centered on the concept of using metaphor and novelty to craft educational visuals that are both simple to understand and engaging to look at.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to simply explain cellular basics to an audience with limited science training – in a way that isn’t misleading and that leaves plenty of space to be built upon. I ask questions like “Why are diagrams of the cell cycle not easy to understand?,” “What do golgi look like in 3D?,” and “Has the phrase ‘mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell’ outlived its usefulness?” I mean seriously – when was the last time you heard the word “powerhouse” used outside of this phrase? I enjoy thinking of new and better ways to communicate what we know about biology.

How will you continue to build on this work?

The way I’m tackling my book project may be a bit unconventional. I’ve (mostly) finished a prototype where the pages consist of illustrations without text. I brought a tiny version of this to share with people who came to visit my poster. The point of this stage was to figure out the order I want to present information in and to decide which topics will need a full page. I started with visuals because to me, they come first, but I’m also attempting to avoid spending hours on illustrations that will just wind up being cut from the final product. Well-crafted visuals also typically require less text, so drawing is a natural place for me to start. The next step is the most challenging for me: writing. After my text is edited (and edited and edited and edited and finalized) I can work on creating the final illustrations!

You can see more of Mol’s work by visiting molmir.com