1. 5/13/12 3:55 PMScientist, artist collaborate on exhibit about spinal cord injuries - troyrecord.com
Page 1 of 4http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/05/12/news/doc4fae0b051e2d7155280958.txt
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Serving Troy and its surrounding communities
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Scientist, artist collaborate on exhibit about spinal
cord injuries
Published: Saturday, May 12, 2012
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By Andrew Beam
abeam@troyrecord.com
Twitter.com/beam_record
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TROY — A professor and scientist from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a visiting professor of art
from the College of Saint Rose were both taken out of their comfort zones to create artistic and educational
works based on research being conducted into stem cell technologies and the repair of spinal cord injuries.
The exhibit, titled “A Walk Through the Nervous System: Artists’ View of Nerves and Spinal Cord Injury”
opened Friday with the hope of making it easier for the community at large to better comprehend not only
how nerves work but also how injures affect the spinal cord.
Dr. Ryan Gilbert, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at RPI, received a
$500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, $10,000 to $20,000 of which is earmarked for
community awareness and outreach. The remainder of the grant funds the research Gilbert and his

2. 5/13/12 3:55 PMScientist, artist collaborate on exhibit about spinal cord injuries - troyrecord.com
Page 2 of 4http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/05/12/news/doc4fae0b051e2d7155280958.txt
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colleagues are conducting in the department’s laboratories.
Gilbert said the department is working with biomaterials on both a nano and micro scale, and in the future
hopes to implant them into the spinal cord to regenerate it. Currently, Gilbert explained, when someone
injures his or her spinal cord, there is not only the potential for paralysis, but also for permanent damage, as
no cure exists yet.
To show exactly what materials Gilbert and his colleagues are
working with, department head Deepak Vashishth reached out to
Washington, a visiting assistant professor of art at the College
of Saint Rose, and his colleagues to help create pieces of art to
represent them.
Washington said he spoke with Gilbert about the project. After
listening to Gilbert explain some of the materials he was
working with and realizing the interest he had in what he was
doing, Washington himself became more interested in the
project.
“It’s very interesting and sexy work,” Washington said.
The collaboration began last June, when Gilbert and his
department started sending images of the materials they were
working with as well as some of the information and data they
had collected to Washington. There was a bit of a learning
curve for Washington and his crew, but after Gilbert explained
things a few times, Washington said he was able to start
understanding it.
“This collaboration was well beyond anything I’ve ever done,”
Washington said.
Three different pieces were created from this unique partnership. The first is an inflatable sculpture of a
ganglion knot, which, according to a press release issued for the exhibit’s opening, is a mass of
interconnected nerve cells that communicate with each other within the nervous system. The second shows
damaged nerve cells in the spinal cord as a result of an injury, while the third lets visitors walk around a
three-dimensional, human-scale version of an astrocyte, a human spinal cord cell. There is also a projection
which shows the regeneration of a spinal cord. Continued...
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3. 5/13/12 3:55 PMScientist, artist collaborate on exhibit about spinal cord injuries - troyrecord.com
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4. 5/13/12 3:55 PMScientist, artist collaborate on exhibit about spinal cord injuries - troyrecord.com
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