Celebrating Beauty in Science and Nature
Tommie McCarthy and Louis' Tattoo
Tommie McCarthy is a Professor in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UCC. His main area of research expertise is human molecular genetics.
Louis’ Tattoo
Tommie McCarthy
Louis is a PhD student in Biochemistry and kindly agreed to allow me to photograph his amazing tattoo. This tattoo depicts a classical ABC transporter protein sitting in a lipid membrane surrounded by water. These proteins transport a wide variety of chemicals and molecules into and out of our cells. The protein (light blue and yellow) is embedded in a cell membrane (crimson heads and tails) and surrounded by water molecules.
The tattoo: The contents of each cell in the body are enclosed in a type of bag called the cell membrane. This membrane is made of lipid (fat) molecules (the tails attached to the red balls) with phosphate heads (the red balls). Each cell has to transport many different types of molecules into and out of the bag. Transport of most items into and out of the cell is via transporters. The ABC transporter (the blue and yellow ribbon structure) is one such transporter and sits in the cell membrane where it transports certain molecules into and out of the cell. Water is a main part of the cell. Water is not your average liquid and molecules in a volume of water are highly organised. The dot work (black dots and lines) honeycomb-like shapes represent the hydrogen bonding pattern of icosaoidal water cluster models. At the top, the hexagons (thick black lines) represent the hydrogen bonding pattern of ice.
When: Louis’ tattoo was done in three parts between 2008 and 2011 over three tattoo sessions. The total time was approximately eleven hours.
About Louis: Louis completed a BSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology in Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in Canada and a Masters Degree in Oceanography at Université du Québec à Rimouski, both in Québec Province, Canada. His Master's degree was on ABC transporters in marine microalgae. The properties of water have always interested Louis as well as the structure and function of proteins. So, in a word, a love of his favourite protein and water inspired him to get this tattoo.
Louis has just completed his PhD work in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UCC under the direction of Professor Dave Sheehan. Louis’ thesis explores the impact of pollutants on a small freshwater crustacean, the water flea (Daphnia magna). His work largely focused on using redox-proteomics to look at the proteins within the water flea to see how they are oxidised by various conditions and how this relates to pollutants in water. This stems from his interest in assessing the impact of pollutants (such as silver, silver nanoparticles, copper and paraquat) on water fleas in order to better understand how the compounds we release in the environment affect our ecosystems.
