Monoclonal antibody production by hybridoma technique explained

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I shall explain the hybridoma technique used in production of monoclonal antibodies in a simplified way.

An antigen (unless it is a small peptide) is a complex molecule with several antigenic determinants (or epitopes). When the immune system encounters such an antigen, it is usually processed to result in several fragments. Humoral (antibody-mediated) response may occur against some of these fragments. There are multiple clones of B cell, each against a specific epitope; resulting in production of antibodies against several epitopes. Such a response is said to be polyclonal. This is what that happens when our body encounters a microbial antigen following infection or immunization.

There are situations when it becomes necessary to have antibodies against a single antigenic determinant produced by a single clone of B cell. Such a response is said to be monoclonal. In order to produce monoclonal antibody, it is necessary to possess a purified antigen.

Hybridoma technique was developed by Georges Kolher and Cesar Milstein in 1975, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize. The chief participants of this technique are the B cells and the myeloma cells. The B cells are obtained from the mouse which has been immunized with the antigen of choice. Myeloma cells are malignant B cells that are immortal and multiply continuously. Myeloma cells that have lost the ability to produce antibodies are chosen for this technique. In addition, these cells lack the ability to produce hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT-) and thymidine kinase (TK-) enzymes through an induced mutation. Normal B cells have functional enzymes (HGPRT+ and TK+) and are able to produce antibodies. However, their life span is not beyond two weeks. Hybridoma technique involves physical fusion of both these cells so that the resulting hybrid (called hybridoma) has the features of both these cell types.

The first step towards the production of monoclonal antibodies is the immunization of the animal by antigen of choice. Mouse is the commonly used animal, but rat or hamster too can be used. Following repeated immunization (booster doses) the blood of the animal is tested for antibodies against the immunized antigen. Once it is determined that the animal has produced sufficient antibodies, it is killed and its spleen removed. The spleen is rich in B cells and would contain B cells specific to the immunized antigen among B cells of other specificities. The B-cells are separated from other cells and cultured. They are then mixed with cultured myeloma cells and allowed to fuse. Fusions of the cells are aided by polyethylene glycol (PEG). Not all cells fuse; present in the reaction mixture are unfused B cells, unfused myeloma cells and fused hybridoma cells. The next step involves separation of hybridoma cells from the unfused cells using a special selective medium.

In order to understand the functioning of selective medium, one must be aware of the following facts. Multiplying cells need to produce their DNA. Most cells produce their purines nucleotides and thymidylate (both precursors of DNA) utilizing tetrahydrofolates by a De-Novo pathway. This can be blocked using anti-folate drugs such as Aminopterin. The cells can then adopt Salvage pathway to synthesize DNA if hypoxanthine and thymidine are exogenously supplied. Purine nucleotides are produced from hypoxanthine using hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase enzyme and thymidylate is produced from thymidine using thymidine kinase. The selective medium (HAT medium) used to select the hybridoma contains aminopterin, hypoxanthine and thymidine. Amiopterin inhibits the De-Novo pathway and presence of hypoxanthine and thymidine facilitates salvage pathway.

Normal unfused B cells can’t produce DNA by De-Novo pathway because of aminopterin but are able to undertake salvage pathway. This is because they contain functional enzymes (HGPRT+ and TK+). However, since they are mortal, they die after few multiplications. Unfused myeloma cells too can’t use De-Novo pathway because of aminopterin. They are unable to utilize the salvage pathway either because of deficient enzymes (HGPRT- and TK-). These cells die despite being immortal. However, fused hybridoma cells receive (HGPRT+ and TK+) trait from normal B cells and immortality from myeloma cells. These cells can utilize salvage pathway for DNA synthesis and yet be immortal. After two weeks, only the hybridoma cells survive in the selective medium.

The surviving hybridoma cells would have formed against different epitopes. The next step is to select the hybridoma produced against the desired antigen. The cultures are diluted to such an extent that only a single cell gets transferred to the wells of microtitre plate. The cells are allowed to multiply. These cells produce antibodies that can be readily detected in their supernatant fluids. Supernatant fluids from all the wells are tested for antibodies against the antigen of choice and the well that contains desired antibodies is selected and the rest may be discarded. Finally, a hybridoma cell producing antibodies against the epitope of choice is available.

These hybridoma cells may be lyophilized, cultured in vitro or injected intra-peritoneally into a mouse and monoclonal antibodies raised whenever required.

Humoral immunity

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Humoral immunity: How does the antibody production occur?

Depending on the nature of the antigen and the physiology of the individual, the immune response of the body to a foreign antigen may include only antibody production or a cellular response (T cell) or even both. It is still not very clear how the body makes this choice. Some antigens induce only an antibody response while others induce both humoral and cell mediated immunity. Sometimes, there are no apparent responses at all, yet in some cases these responses become exaggerated and harmful.

I shall concentrate only on humoral (antibody-mediated) response. Body responds to different kinds of antigens differently even with antibody production. Antibody production may be quick in some cases and delayed in other cases. Immune system may retain memory cells towards some antigen and none in case of some other antigens. Although the primary antibody response is IgM, some people produce IgE or IgG class of antibodies. It all depends on the body’s constitution and the immune response genes.

The cells that actually produce are the B cells and their derivatives, the plasma cells. In fact, most of the antibody production is by plasma cells and B cells produce only little. Plasma cells are derived from B-cell only after appropriate stimulation and activation of B cells. B cells are predominantly located in lymphoid organs such as bone marrow, spleen and lymph nodes. They may also be found in circulation, but their numbers are less compared to T cells.

Antigens can be classified into two types (T-independent antigens and T-dependent antigens) based on their ability to induce B-cell activation.

Some antigens have multiple repeating identical units; such antigens can bind to several receptors on the B-cell surface and effectively cross link them. B lymphocytes are not perfectly spherical cells as is often depicted; in fact their surfaces have long projections and have 106 numbers of receptors on their surface. These surface receptors are either monomeric IgM or IgG immunoglobulins. Their role is to bind with the antigenic epitopes. When an antigen such as flagellin, which has multiple repeating identical units, binds to many of the surface receptors, the receptors are said to be cross-linked. This is the first signal in B-cell activation. Apart from antigens cross linking the surface receptors, B cells have another mechanism of cross-linking surface receptors that involves immunoglobulin receptor and complement receptor. If an antigen that has C3d bound to it binds to surface immunoglobulin, another receptor (CR2) can bind with the deposited C3d on the antigen. This process too can cross link the surface receptors and activate the B cell. Upon activation by these signals, B cells undergo proliferation and start producing antibodies. Since there is no involvement of T cells in antibody production, these antigens are said to be T-independent. Antibody response to non-protein antigens, such as polysaccharides and lipids do not need participation of antigen-specific helper T cells. Since T cells have role here, the antibody production is typically quicker. An unfortunate effect of this response is that the immune system does not retain any memory of antibody production. Antibodies to T-independent antigens are mainly of low-affinity and responses are simple and mainly consist of IgG and IgM.

Humoral immune response to protein antigens is more complex; these antigens are said to be T-dependent as it requires participation of T cells for B-cell activation. Since the CD4 T lymphocytes stimulate B cells, they are called helper T cells. Antigen-specific CD4+ T cells recognize a protein antigen only when it is presented by antigen presenting cell (B cell, macrophage, dendritic cell etc) along with MHC class II molecules. B cells are also capable of antigen presentation to T cells. When an antigen binds to a specific B-cell through the surface immunoglobulin receptor, it is endocytosed by a receptor mediated endocytosis process. The processed antigen is then presented on its surface coupled with MHC II molecules for recognition by specific T cell. The initial encounter between the antigen-specific T cell and B-cell occur at the interface of the primary follicles and T cell area. Following this initial binding and the binding of other co-receptors (such as B7 of B-cell and CD28 of T cell, CD40 of B-cell and CD40L of T cell), the T cell also gets activated. Cytokines such as IL-2, IL4 and IL-5, which are secreted by activated helper T cell acts on B-cell to induce B-cell proliferation. Many of these B cell clones transform into effector cells called plasma cells and start producing antibodies. Within the lymphoid tissue, antibody secreting cells are found mainly in extrafollicular sites, such as red pulp of spleen and medulla of lymph node. These cells also migrate to bone marrow at 2-3 weeks after antigen exposure, and bone marrow becomes the principal site of antibody production. Antibody secreting cells do not circulate actively. Some of the Antibody producing cells that migrate to the bone marrow and live for several years, where they continue to produce antibodies even when antigen has been eliminated
The secreted antibodies have same specificity to the surface Ig receptor that captured the antigen. The antibodies that are secreted initially are predominantly of the heavy chain µ (IgM) isotype. In response to CD40 engagement and cytokines, some of the progeny of activated B cells undergo the process of heavy chain isotype switch. This leads to production of antibodies with heavy chains of different classes such as ? (IgG), ? (IgA) and ? (IgE).
Some of the antigen-activated B cells do not develop into antibody secretors. Instead, they acquire the ability to survive for long periods without antigenic stimulation. These memory cells are capable of mounting rapid antibody responses to subsequent introduction of antigen.

Conference Report: ‘Contemporary Medical Science and Technology as a Challenge to Museums’, 15th Bi-Annual EAMHMS Congress, Copenhagen

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For medical museums, whose collections are typically composed of evocative historical objects, developments in contemporary biomedicine offer a twofold challenge to collecting and exhibiting. The first challenge is the nature of contemporary biomedical equipment: large, expensive, and without immediately obvious function (think fMRI scanner). Where a display of surgeons’ tools can be both instructive and chilling, a collection of grey-box scanners and robotic surgical suites is likely to offer both historians and visitors less. The second challenge is more fundamental: medical investigation and treatment now operates beyond the limits of the visible, at the level of genes and proteins, a scale which it is hard to relate to our own bodies and lived experience. Even the beautifully-limned image of an SEMmed protein can’t offer the visceral thrill of corporeal recognition that a pickled heart in a jar does...

For the curious among you: The Wellcome Collection's Danny Birchall has written a very nice conference report--as excerpted above--about last month's ‘Contemporary Medical Science and Technology as a Challenge to Museums’ EAMHMS Congress in Copenhagen.

Click here to read full report on Danny's blog "Museum Cultures."

Image: Installation view of Medical Museion, the host institution in Copenhagen.

Lecture: "Anatomical Venuses, The Slashed Beauty, and Fetuses Dancing a Jig," University College London, Thursday October 7, 6:00 PM

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For all you Londoner's out there: on Thursday, October 7th at 6:00 PM, I will be giving a free lecture at University College London about anatomical museums and their curious denizens, heavily illustrated with many photographs I have been collecting over the years, such as those seen above.

The lecture is free and open-to-the-public. Full details follow; hope to see you there!

Anatomical Venuses, The Slashed Beauty, and Fetuses Dancing a Jig:
A Journey into the Curious World of the Medical Museum
Date: Thursday, October 7th
Time: 6 PM
Location: UCL, Department of History of Art
20 Gordon Square, WC1E 6BT London, Room 3-4 (first floor)

Tonight's lecture will introduce you to the the Medical Museum and its curious denizens, from the Anatomical Venus (see above) to the Slashed Beauty, the allegorical fetal skeleton tableau to the taxidermied bearded lady, the flayed horseman of the apocalypse to the three fetuses dancing a jig. The lecture will contextualize these artifacts by situating them within their historical context via a discussion of the history of medical modeling, a survey of the great artists of the genre, and an examination of the other death-related diversions which made up the cultural landscape at the time that these objects were originally created, collected, and exhibited.

You can download an invitation to the event by clicking here.

All Images From The Secret Museum Exhibition;" Top to bottom:

  1. Anatomical Venuses," Wax Models with human hair in rosewood and Venetian glass cases,The Josephinum, Workshop of Clemente Susini of Florence circa 1780s, Vienna, Austria
  2. Wax Model of Eye Surgery, Musée Orfila, Paris. Courtesy Université Paris Descartes
  3. Fetal Skeleton Tableau, 17th Century, University Backroom, Paris

Drottningholm Court Theatre, 1764-1766, Stockholm

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Today I visited one of the most incredible spaces I have ever had the honor to momentarily inhabit: the Drottningholm Court Theatre, a former royal summer theatre at the Drottningholm Royal Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Drottningholm Court Theatre was described memorably by our tour guide as "an intact baroque theater unique for never having been restored." This intactness includes not just paint, chandeliers, stage, and viewing boxes but also extends--astoundingly!--to the stage machinery and special effects, which are not only original but also still used in productions! The sets and "side flats" are not original, but are utterly convincing and painstaking reproductions in canvas and wood from originals found under a meter of dust when the theatre was rediscovered in 1921. The theatre also has--and continues to use!--machinery for lowering a person from the ceiling, as in the case of a goddess descending on a cloud, as well and a trap door to be used in such cases as "drowning heroines or sudden appearances."

During the summer, the Drottningholm Court Theatre stages 18th Century operas and ballets using these replica sets and the original stage machinery to create a completely immersive 18th Century theatre experience; unfortunately for me, the productions had already ended for the season before I arrived, so I had to content myself with volunteering to operate the "gale machine" (a wooden wheel whirled around inside a tight canvas strip producing with its friction a sound remarkably like howling winds) while my volunteer-partner worked the thunder machine--a box of rocks tossed this way and that by the pull of a rope.

The video above helps give a sense of the charm and wonder of these wonderful antique sets and machineries in motion where my words fail; both the video and a visit to this really fantastic--in ever sense of the word--theatre are highly recommended! I am already fantasizing about a return trip just to see The Magic Flute in this environment.

To find out more about the Drottningholm Court Theatre, click here.

Thanks so much to friend, friend-0f-the-blog, and author of the wonderful book Death, Modernity, and the Body: Sweden 1870-1940 Eva Åhrén for telling me about this incredible place, and for all her other wonderful Sweden tips as well.

Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory, Open Studios, This Saturday, October 2nd, 12-6

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This Saturday, October 2, please join the Morbid Anatomy Library (as seen above) and sister space Observatory as we open our spaces to the public as part of the 14th annual Gowanus Artists Studio Tour, or "A.G.A.S.T." There will be snacks, beverages, art, artifacts, and, of course, books.

Following are the full details; Very much hope to see you there!

14th annual Gowanus Artists Studio Tour (A.G.A.S.T.)
Saturday October 2nd
12-6 PM
543 Union Street at Nevins, Brooklyn
Free and Open to the Public

Directions: Enter the Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory via Proteus Gowanus Gallery

R or M train to Union Street in Brooklyn: Walk two long blocks on Union (towards the Gowanus Canal) to Nevins Street. 543 Union Street is the large red brick building on right. Go right on Nevins and left down alley through large black gates. Gallery is the second door on the left.

F or G train to Carroll Street: Walk one block to Union. Turn right, walk two long blocks on Union towards the Gowanus Canal, cross the bridge, take left on Nevins, go down the alley to the second door on the left.

For more about the Morbid Anatomy Library, click here. You can find out more information about A.G.A.S.T., and get a full list of participants, by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory and the exhibition now on view by clicking here.

Beautiful Irish Medical Photographs, The Burns Archive, 1870s

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The photographs above, dating from the 1870s, picture patients who were operated upon by 19th Century surgeon Edward Stamer O’Grady; these photos, all drawn from the incredible Burns Archive, were featured--paired with their original case histories!--in the most recent issue of Scope Medicine in Focus.

Full story can be found here; you can see a PDF of the article--with additional images--by clicking here.

All images ©2010 The Burns Archive; From top to bottom:

  1. Patient of Edward Stamer O'Grady
  2. A 50-Year-Old Laborer "MM," Admitted Feb 17, 187
  3. Once the 27 Ounce Tumor Was Removed, the Patient "Went Home Quite Well."

“Memento Mori: The Birth and Resurrection of Postmortem Photography,” Merchant's House Museum with the Burns Archive, New York, Through November 29th

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The New York Times blog just ran a brief story on a new exhibit I have been dying (sic) to see: “Memento Mori: The Birth and Resurrection of Postmortem Photography,” an exhibition exploring memorial photography then and now, curated in a collaboration between Eva Ulz and the incomparable Burns Archive of New York.

The exhibition--on view at the Merchant's House Museum in lower Manhattan until November 29th--features a collection of antique memorial photography drawn from the incredible Burns Archive curated alongside similarly-themed photographs by contemporary artists such as Joel-Peter Witkin, Sally Mann, Hal Hirshorn, Marian St. Laurent and Sarah Lohman. This intriguing looking exhibition takes as its theme the role of post-mortem photographs at different cultural moments.

As the article explains:

“People dealt with death differently in the 19th century,” says Eva Ulz, the curator of “Memento Mori: The Birth and Resurrection of Postmortem Photography” at the Merchant’s House Museum. “People looked forward to a reunion in heaven. Creating portraits was considered a precursor to that heavenly reunion. They shouldn’t be thought of as creepy.”

As much as it is about religious belief, the show — which was organized in conjunction with the Burns Archive and includes some 145 postmortem images and ephemera taken between the 1840s and the early 1900s — takes as its main subject the role of photography in everyday life, then and now. As the 20th century began to unfold and photography became much more common, Ulz says, postmortem images were sapped of their ritualistic importance.

To help put that shift in context, Ulz asked five contemporary shooters, including Sally Mann, Joel-Peter Witkin, Hal Shirshorn and Sarah Lohman, to contribute their own take on the postmortem photograph. The photographer Marian St. Laurent, who created an actual coffin called “Our Darling: A Memorial of Photography,” sees the exhibit as “a remembrance of photo negatives in the digital age. As we push the limits of advanced seeing in technology, we’ve never been more blind to the power of images.”

Ulz hopes “Momento Mori” will create in viewers a deeper understanding of their relationship with photography today. “I hope they get an idea of where they and their images fit in the cycle of life,” she says. “If you had to choose, which one picture would you want to represent you for all eternity?”

The show--which celebrates the publication of the Burns Archives’ latest book Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography: The Children--is on view at the Merchant's House Museum until November 29; you can find out more about the exhibition by clicking here. You can find out more about the new book Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography: The Children--which joins its predecessors Sleeping Beauty I and II--by clicking here. To find out more about The Burns Archive, click here; to check out its new and wonderful blog, click here. You can read this NY Times Blog post in its entirety by clicking here.

Thanks to Jim Edmonson of the Dittrick Museum for drawing my attention to this article!

All images from Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography the Children/Stanley B. Burns, MD, as found on the article website.

"Paradiso Contrapasso," Upcoming Exhibition at Observatory, Call for Works, Deadline October 5

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Hi All! Sorry for the silence; I am on the road, and the internet has been scarce!

I break the silence with an exciting announcement; the next Observatory exhibition is in the works, and the curators--Gerry Newland of Observatory along with friend of Morbid Anatomy Lord Whimsy and his wife Susan--have put out a call for works! You can find out more about the show--wonderfully entitled "Paradiso Contrapasso,"--and all the specifications for submissions below; hope to see your work in the show, or, if not, than to see you at the opening party on Thursday October 14th!

Full call for works follows:

A Call To Artists: Observatory presents: Paradiso Contrapasso

Submissions due: October 5, 2010
Pieces Due: October 11, 2010
Exhibition dates: October 14 - November 28th, 2010

To compliment the recent opening of Paradise, a year long event at Proteus Gowanus, Observatory explores the theme: Paradiso Contrapasso. In Dante's Inferno, Paradiso Contrapasso distinguishes each sinner by making his or
her punishment uniquely appropriate to the committed sin, so that every soul inhabits a Hell all its own.

For example, consider the story of Paolo and Francesca:
An unlikely marriage is proposed between the beautiful Francesca and the rich, but ugly Gianciotto. Paolo, the handsome brother of Gianciotto seduces the young bride and they become lovers. When Gianciotto discovers their indiscretion, he murders them both. In Hell, Paolo and Francesca are fused together in an eternal embrace, wishing only to be separated.

As Dante journeys through Purgatorio and Paradisio, he does not revisit this technique of contrapasso. For our event, however, Observatory encourages artists to consider divine comedic retribution in all of its possible representations, and from sources such as the Bible and religious and esoteric cosmologies, the ethical
philosophies of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, Symbolist poetry, the works of Roald Dahl, the Wizard of Oz, Cautionary Tales, Folklore and Fairy Stories, the Twilight Zone, Modern Dystopias, etc. The emphasis should be on "Divine" and "Comedy", and on our superstitious fear of getting what we wish for!

G.F. Newland, co-founder of Observatory Gallery, and Allen and Susan Crawford of Plankton Art Co. will co-curate.

Eligibility: All artists working in any media. (There is limited space for sculptural and free-standing works.)

Submissions: (Please include all information. Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered.)

  1. Up to 5 images. Digital file submissions will be accepted via email. Digital files must be in JPEG or PDF format, resolution set to 72 dpi. Please number images to correspond to Image List.
  2. Image list. Numbered to correspond with your image submissions. Include image #, your name, title, date of work, medium, size and price. You may also include a brief description for each image, however this isn’t required.
  3. A one page résumé. Please include a three line bio, your contact information and an email address.
  4. An artist’s statement. No longer than 300 words.

Fees: NO FEE TO ENTER

Deadline: Submissions must be received by October 5; All pieces must be received no later than October 11th, 2010.

Gallery commission for sold art: 30%

Return of Submission Materials: Include a SASE if you want your materials to be returned. Make sure there is sufficient postage. Materials without postage will not be returned.

Drop Off: Drop off of accepted artwork will be October 11th and 12th noon to 2pm. Mailed artwork must arrive by October 11th and include return shipping label/postage/etc.

Pick Up: Artists are responsible for picking up artwork on TBA. Return of mailed artwork with return postage will begin on November 28th.

Email submissions to: gfnewland@gmail.com.
By post: Observatory 543 Union St #1E, Brooklyn, NY 11215

See below for full details; for more information or to submit work, email Gerry Newland at gfnewland@gmail.com.

Image: The Souls of Paola and Francesca from Gustave Doré's Illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy

"The Wunderkammer," Installation by Georg Laue, Me Collectors Room, Berlin

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I just came across a rather interesting looking new exhibition at a gallery called the Me Collectors Room in Berlin. Entitled "The Wunderkammer," this new permanent installation is the work of antique dealer/cabinetist Georg Laue, proprietor of the famed Kunstkammer Georg Laue in Munich, Germany, and seems--as you can see in the images above--to include a pretty astounding collection of fine memento mori, ivory Anatomical Venuses, and turned ivory wonders.

From the website:

THE WUNDERKAMMER

ASTONISHMENT
The WUNDERKAMMER rekindles the tradition of the Kunst- and Wunderkammer of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It imparts an insight into the world view and the standard of knowledge of past centuries and does just what a Wunderkammer was able to do between 200 and 500 years ago: transport the visitor into a realm of sheer astonishment — whether by means of the legendary unicorn, exposed latterly by the cognoscenti as the tusk of a narwhal, an amber mirror flooded with light, or cabinets that only reveal their mysteries to the observant viewer.

DISCOVERY
The quality of the exhibits, numbering in excess of 150, is unique and makes the WUNDERKAMMER one of the most significant private collections of its kind. The juxtaposition of works from different cultures generates its very own effect. The permanent collection places an emphasis on Vanitas (“Consider the fact that you will die”). In the Baroque period, death was already staged with a mixture of devotion, interest, and humour. The scope for interpretation of this topic is manifested by an anatomical model dating from the second half of the 17th century. The organs and the foetus of the laid out body of a pregnant woman can be removed and prompt one to indulge in a playful handling of this miniature.

UNDERSTANDING
The objects in the WUNDERKAMMER exert an incredible fascination and will captivate the curious with a vision of a small, encyclopaedic, unique universe, which ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of the correlations between art, nature, and science.

This exhibition definitely looks worth a visit! And, for the more curious among you, theme-specific tours of the collection are also available in which, as the website explains, "existential themes such as Eros, death, and transience, as well as the genesis of the collection, form the central focus."

You can find out more about Georg Laue and his Munich shop clicking here. You can find out about more about the exhibit by clicking here.

Found via Wunderkammer. All images from the Me Collectors Room Berlin website.

Seeking Private Collections in Scandinavia, Great Britain, and Germany for "Private Cabinets" Photography Project

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As alluded to in a few recent posts [1, 2], a week from tomorrow I will be embarking on a trip to Scandinavia and Great Britain with perhaps (time depending) a touch of Germany along the way.

Regular readers might recall that I currently at work on a long-term project exploring extraordinary private collectors and collections, working title: Private Cabinets (more here); while on my travels, I have scheduled to visit and photograph a few more private collections for inclusion in this series and am on the lookout for yet more.

If any Morbid Anatomy readers out there know of any private wunderkammern or extraordinary private collections featuring medical museum type artifacts, waxworks, human remains, scientific models, old natural history, carnival/circus/sideshow or marvels or curiosities of any sort in these parts of the world, or have, perhaps, such a collection of their own they would like to share, please email me at morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Museum and attraction suggestions in the same topic areas also greatly appreciated!

To find out more about the ongoing "Private Cabinet" series, click here. All images above are from the epic private collection of Tim Knox and Todd Longstaffe-Gowan Collection of London, England as featured in my recent Secret Museum exhibition. Click on images to see much larger, finer images, and click here to see the complete Secret Museum collection.

‘Contemporary Medical Science and Technology as a Challenge to Museums’, 15th Bi-Annual EAMHMS Congress, Copenhagen, September 16-18

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In a few weeks--from September 16th through 18th--the 15th biannual conference of the European Association of Museums for the History of Medical Sciences--to be hosted by the Medical Museion--will be in full effect at the Medical Museion of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The topic of this year's congress--"Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge to museums"--will be debated and discussed by a variety of museum practitioners and enthusiasts, from curators to museum directors to artists to bloggers such as myself. I will be presenting my paper--"The private, curious, and niche collection: what they can teach us about exhibiting new medicine"-- on Thursday the 16th. Other participants will include New York based artist and SVA professor Suzanne Anker, the Wellcome Collection's Ken Arnold, and friend-of-Morbid-Anatomy James Edmonson of the Dittrick Museum.

This is sure to be a thought provoking and fascinating congress. Hope very much to see you there!

Full schedule follows:

THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER

  • Thomas Söderqvist: Why this conference now?
  • Kim Sawchuk: Biotourism and biomediation
  • Kerstin Hulter Åsberg: Uppsala Biomedical Center: A mirror of modern medical history – how can it be displayed?
  • Wendy Atkinson and René Mornex: A major health museum in Lyon
  • Robert Martensen: Integrating the physical and the virtual in exhibitions, archives, and historical research at the National Institutes of Health
  • Ramunas Kondratas: The use of new media in medical history museums
  • Danny Birchall: ‘Medical London’, Flickr, and the photography of everyday medicine
  • Joanna Ebenstein: The private, curious, and niche collection: what they can teach us about exhibiting new medicine

FRIDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER

  • Judy M. Chelnick: The challenges of collecting contemporary medical science and technology at the Smithsonian Institution
  • James Edmonson: Collection plan for endoscopy, documenting the period 1996-2011
  • John Durant: Preserving the material culture of contemporary life science and technology
  • Stella Mason: Medical museums, contemporary medicine and the casual visitor
  • Alex Tyrell: New voices: what can co-curation bring to a contemporary medical gallery?
  • Jan Eric Olsén: The portable clinic: healthcare gadgets for home use
  • Yin Chung Au: Seeing is communicating: possible roles of Med-Art in communicating contemporary scientific process with the general public in digital age
  • Nina Czegledy: At the intersection of art and medicine
  • Lucy Lyons: What am I looking at?
  • Henrik Treimo: Invisible World
  • Victoria Höög: The optic invasion of the body. Epistemic approaches to current biomedical images
  • Ken Arnold and Thomas Söderqvist: A manifesto for making science, technology and medicine museums

SATURDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER

  • Morten Skydsgaard: The exhibition ‘The Incomplete Child’: boundaries of the body and the guest
  • Sniff Andersen Nexø: Showing fetal realities: visibility, display, performance
  • Suzanne Anker: Inside/Out: fetal specimens through a 21st Century lens
  • Yves Thomas and Catherine Cuenca: Multimedia contributions to contemporary medical museology
  • Nurin Veis: How do we tell the story of the cochlear implant?
  • Jim Garretts: Bringing William Astbury into the 21st Century: the Thackray Museum and the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology in partnership
  • Adam Bencard: Being molecular
  • Roger Cooter and Claudia Stein: Visual things and universal meanings: aids posters, the politics of globalization, and history
  • Karen Ingham: Medicine, materiality and museology: collaborations between art, medicine and the museum space
  • Silvia Casini: Curating the biomedical archive-fever
  • Thomas Schnalke: Dissolving matters. The end of all medical museums’ games?

You can find out more about the congress by clicking here. You can read more about the Medical Museion via a few recent blog posts, the first being the Dittrick Museum's (here) and the other being that of The Sterile Eye (here).

Image: From The Sterile Eye; Caption: Copy of écorché statue by Theobald Stein. Original from 1869.

Amazing Medical Woodblock Prints, Japan, 19th Century

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Just came across this really fantastic and unusual collection of 19th Century Japanese medical woodblock prints on the Pink Tentacle website, which sourced them from the extensive University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Japanese Woodblock Print Collection website.

As the UCSF website explains:

The UCSF Japanese Woodblock Print Collection consists of four hundred Japanese woodblock prints on health-related themes. Of those, more than half are colorfully illustrated in the ukiyo-e manner, the remainder being printed single-sheet texts. From the treatment and prevention of diseases like smallpox, measles, and cholera, to the stages of pregnancy and drug advertisements, these prints offer a unique window into traditional Japanese attitudes toward health and illness.

The majority of the prints date to the mid- to late nineteenth century, when Japan was opening to the West after almost two hundred and fifty years of self-imposed isolation. Thus, they provide valuable pictorial evidence for the effect of Western medical science on traditional beliefs and practices.

Five subject areas broadly define the collection. The treatment and prevention of three contagious diseases; smallpox, measles, and cholera; are topics for eighty of the prints. A related category includes prints in which Buddhist or Shinto deities intervene to ensure a cure. Pregnancy and women's health issues form a distinct theme, including several images of the stages of gestation. Because foreigners were thought to carry disease to Japan, the collection also includes several maps of Nagasaki, where the Dutch were confined during the Edo period, as well as prints depicting foreigners and their ships. Drug advertisements from the nineteenth century make up the largest category...

The woodblock prints in this collection offer a fascinating visual account of Japanese medical knowledge in the late Edo and Meiji periods. Collectively, they record a gradual shift, by the late nineteenth century, from the reliance on gods and charms for succor from disease, to the adoption of Western, scientific principles as the basis for medical knowledge. They show the introduction of imported drugs and vaccines and increased use of printed advertisements to promote new medicinal products.

You can view the entire collection on the UCSF website--arranged by the themes Contagious Disease, Drug Advertisements, Foreigners & Disease, Religion & Health and Women’s Health--by clicking here.

I HIGHLY recommend clicking on each image to view larger, richer, and more detailed image.

Image captions top to bottom:

  1. Shinto god from Izumo province for preventing measles -- Taiso Yoshitoshi, 1862
  2. Pregnancy guide -- Hamano Teisuke, 1880
  3. Illustrated guide to parental obligations -- Utagawa Yoshitora, 1880
  4. Pregnant women playing in summer heat (5 heads, 10 bodies) -- Utagawa Kunitoshi, 1881
  5. Chasing measles away -- Utagawa Yoshimori, 1862

From Pink Tentacle via Ellettrogenica.

Seeking Private, Curious, Arcane and Overlooked Scandinavian Museums, Collections, Sights and Curiosities

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Greetings folks.

I am in the midst of planning a trip to Scandinavia around the upcoming Congress for the European Association of Museums for the History of Medical Sciences on the theme of ‘Contemporary medical science and technology as a challenge to museums' to be held at Medical Museion in Copenhangen, September 16-18.

More on that conference--at which I will be delivering a paper--soon (though the impatient among you can see the full line up here); for now, I mention it only as an excuse for soliciting suggestions from Morbid Anatomy readers regarding private, curious, arcane, and overlooked museums, collections, sights and curiosities that one shouldn't miss in this part of the world, of which I know frightfully little.

Any suggestions very much appreciated! Suggesters can leave comments on this post or email me at morbidanatomy@gmail.com.

Thanks so much!

Image: The Biologiska Museet, Stockholm--which is very much on my list!--from Picasa user Traci Brandon.

This Tuesday at Observatory: “Behind the Scenes and Under the Skin” or, “The Body at Blythe," with Lisa O’Sullivan, Medicine Curator of Science Museum

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Next Tuesday at Observatory please join Morbid Anatomy for “Behind the Scenes and Under the Skin” or, “The Body at Blythe” an illustrated lecture by Lisa O'Sullivan, Senior Curator of Medicine at the Science Museum of London. As many of you no doubt know, the Science Museum houses the incredible collection of 100,000 or so of the artifacs amassed by Henry Wellcome, tiny glimpses of which you see above; the collection will be discussed and pictured at much greater length in Tuesday's lecture.

Hope very much to see you there.

“Behind the Scenes and Under the Skin” or, “The Body at Blythe”
An illustrated talk by Lisa O’Sullivan, Senior Curator of Medicine at the Science Museum, London
Date: Tuesday, September 7th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

Join Lisa O’Sullivan, Senior Curator of Medicine at the Science Museum, London for a behind-the-scenes look at the Museum stores. As is the case for many large museums, only about 5% of the Science Museum’s objects are ever on display. This is an opportunity to see some of the other 95% - as photographed by Morbid Anatomy’s Joanna Ebenstein on a recent visit.

The Museum’s ‘small objects’, all 203,000 of them, are stored at Blythe house, an early 20th century office building (larger objects live in aircraft hangars in the West of England). Over 100,000 of these artefacts are medical, the majority from the Wellcome collection. Over 30 rooms hold objects from Roman votives to mediaeval saints, x-ray machines to. The collection displays the breadth of Henry Wellcome’s collecting, and vision of medicine.

Lisa will conduct a virtual tour of some of the rooms, highlight some of her – anatomical – favourites amongst the objects, and take questions about life ‘backstage’ at the Museum.

Lisa O’Sullivan is the Senior Curator of Medicine at the Science Museum in London, where she curates the Wellcome collections. She is responsible for the anatomical collections, and all issues relating to human remains in the museum. Lisa’s doctorate looked at the construction of nostalgia as a clinical category in nineteenth-century France. In addition she has degrees in medical anthropology, history and literature. In 2010, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sydney.

You can find out more about this presentation by clicking here. To find out more, see this recent post, from which the above images were drawn.You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library (more on that here)--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.

The Edward Gorey House Museum, Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts

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My boyfriend and I finally made a much-anticiated pilgrimage to the wonderful Edward Gorey Museum in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts a few weeks ago. We were far from disappointed by what we found!

The museum (see photos above) is located in the home of the recently deceased author/illustrator/eccentric Edward Gorey. The home has, sadly, largely been cleared of Gorey's legendary clutter--though a few tantalizing fragments from his private collection can be found scattered about--and transformed into a compact house-museum dedicated to the man's life and work.

Part of me wishes they had simply left the place as it was at Gorey's death, and allowed visitors the opportunity to wander around the famously idiosyncratic environment in which the man produced so many of his iconic works. However, I was quickly won over by the museum's small-town- quirky charm, and the pretty great displays, which included original drawings and half-finished inked works, reproductions of his sketchbooks, amazing ephemera and souvenirs from Mystery and his Broadway production of Dracula, one of his raccoon fur coats, many of his Doubleday book covers, a number of his handmade stuffed animals, many coveted rare works such as his fantastic peepshow, and scores of other artifacts. The gift-shop was also seriously incredible--with scores of Gorey-themed souvenirs I had never seen before--and the folks running the museum were lovely to talk to, knowledgeable and passionately devoted to the man and his work.

In all, the museum really managed to capture the atmosphere and spirit of Edward Gorey's peculiar and alluring universe, with all its whimsy, quirkiness, and elegance; one gets the feeling that Edward Gorey himself might almost have approved, if he had been capable of approving of any museum devoted to his own life and work.

If you are a fan of Mr. Gorey, I cannot more highly recommend making a pilgrimage of your own to the Edward Gorey House Museum. You can find out more about it--including hours and directions--by clicking here; you can visit their awesome gift shop by clicking here. If you would like to make a virtual visit, you can view the full set of photos documenting my own trip--from which the sample above is drawn--by clicking here.

Tomorrow Night at Observatory: "Documenting the Invisible: Spiritualism, Lily Dale, and Talking to the Dead," Illustrated Lecture by Shannon Taggart

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Tomorrow night at Observatory! Hope very much to see you there.

Documenting the Invisible: Spiritualism, Lily Dale, and Talking to the Dead
An illustrated lecture by photographer Shannon Taggart
Date: Tuesday, August 31
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

Spiritualism is a loosely organized religion based primarily on a belief in the ability to communicate with spirits of the dead. The movement began in upstate New York in 1848 when two young girls named Margaret and Kate Fox claimed to be in contact with the spirit of a dead peddler buried beneath their home. Photographer Shannon Taggart first became aware of Spiritualism as a teenager when her cousin received a reading in Lily Dale, NY, The World’s Largest Spiritualist Community. A medium there revealed a strange family secret about the death of their grandfather that proved to be true. Taggart became deeply curious about how someone could possibly know such a thing.

Thus began a five year photography project focused on Modern Spiritualism. During her image making she immersed myself in the history and philosophy of Spiritualism, had more readings than she can count, experienced spiritual healings, took part in séances, attended a psychic college and sat in a medium’s cabinet, all with her camera. Despite this exposure she finds herself no closer to any definitive answer of what it all means. She feels as if she has peered into a mystery.

Shannon Taggart is a freelance photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA in Applied Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her images have appeared in numerous publications including Blind Spot, Tokion, TIME and Newsweek. Her work has been recognized by the Inge Morath Foundation, American Photography, the International Photography Awards, Photo District News and the Alexia Foundation for World Peace, among others. Her photographs have been shown at Photoworks in Brighton, England, The Photographic Resource Center in Boston, Redux Pictures in New York, the Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles and most recently at FotoFest 2010 in Houston. For more about Shannon Taggart, visit http://www.shannontaggart.com.

You can find out more about this event here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library (more on that here)--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.

Image: Ron with the Fox Sisters, Founders of Spiritualism; Lily Dale, NY © Shannon Taggart

'Skin,' Wellcome Collection, Through September 26, 2010

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The last decade has revealed a burgeoning interest and fascination with human skin, particularly among philosophers, writers, artists and designers. Meanwhile, regenerative medicine has seen major advances in the development of artificial skin designed to improve the structure, function and appearance of the body surface that has been damaged by disease, injury or ageing. So there couldn't be a better time to get under the surface of this subject.--Lucy Shanahan, Wellcome Collection Curator and co-curator of 'Skin'

I have been hearing excellent reports from scores of people about the new Wellcome Collection exhibition entitled, simply, 'Skin.' Sadly, I will not be able to see it in person (as it closes on September 2th), but the images above--most drawn from the exhibition website--and the web exhibition text make it clear that the Wellcome has done it again: a thoughtful, broadly considered, and lovely investigation and survey into the science, meaning, art, and implications of the notion of 'skin.'

More about the show, from the press release:

The skin is our largest organ. It gives us a vital protective layer, is crucial for our sense of touch and provides us with a highly sensitive and visible interface between our inner body and the outside world. Spots, scars, moles, wrinkles, tans and tattoos: the look of skin can reveal much about an individual's lifestyle, health, age and personality, as well as their cultural and religious background. The skin is also remarkable for its ability to regenerate and repair itself.

The multidisciplinary exhibition 'Skin' takes a predominantly historical approach, beginning with early anatomical thought in the 16th and 17th centuries, when, for anatomists, the skin was simply something to be removed and discarded in order to study the internal organs. The story continues through the 18th and 19th centuries and approaches its conclusion in the 20th century, by which time the skin was considered to be of much greater significance and studied as an organ in its own right.

The exhibition will incorporate early medical drawings, 19th-century paintings, anatomical models and cultural artefacts juxtaposed with sculpture, photography and film works by artists including Damien Hirst, Helen Chadwick and Wim Delvoye.

The 'Skin' exhibition will be complemented by the 'Skin Lab', which features artistic responses to developments in plastic surgery, scar treatments and synthetic skin technologies, including two newly commissioned works by the artists Rhian Solomon and Gemma Anderson. Visitors are invited to participate in an interactive and sensory experience - experimenting with skin-flap models used in plastic surgery, trying on latex skin-suits or studying biological jewelery.

For more about the exhibition including hours and visiting information, visit the Wellcome Collection website by clicking here. You can visit the image galleries--from which most of the above images were pulled and which contain many more riches--by clicking here.; Credits and captions for images follow. Also, if you are, like me, a fan of the Wellcome and its work, you won't want to miss tonight's lecture at Observatory featuring Wellcome Collection curator Kate Forde; click here for more on that.

Images:

  1. Wax Model, Tiña favosa generalizada (Widespread tinea favosa), c. 1881, by Enrique Zofío Dávila, courtesy of Olavide Museum, Madrid
  2. Xteriors VIII' by Desiree Dolron, 2001-08. Reminiscent of Dutch Old Master painting, this ethereal photograph seamlessly blends the everyday with the historical and the mythical. It creates an atmosphere of melancholy associated with death, which is implied in the gaunt form and ghostly pallor of the child's skin, though the true narrative remains a mystery.
  3. Superficial blood vessels of the head and neck. Coloured mezzotint by J F Gautier d'Agoty, 1748. In some écorché drawings, the skin is only partially removed.
  4. Vertebral column with dissections of nerves and blood vessels, with skin in the background, and (left) the figure of a man representing Ecclesiastes. After Johann Georg Pintz, 1731.
  5. Vagina, perineum and anus, from 'Nouvelles Demonstrations d'Accouchemens'. Jacques-Pierre Maygrier, 1822-25.
  6. Human skin hanging in a frame. Thomas Bartholin, 1651.
  7. Démence Précoce Catatonique Dermographisme. L Trepsat, 1893. From 'Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpêtrière', 1904. During the second hald of the 19th century, the belief spread that the phenomenon of dermatographism (or 'dermographism', or 'skin writing') was linked to hysteria and other mental or nervous disorders. Here a female patient at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris has had her diagnosis 'Démence précoce' (dementia praecox) 'written' on
    her back.
  8. Areas of psoriasis on the back of a 30-year-old man, c. 1905.
  9. A notebook allegedly covered in human skin, c. 1770-1850. The label reads: "The cover of this book is made of Tanned skin of the Negro whose Execution caused the War of Independence". This presumably refers to Crispus Attucks, who was the only black victim of the Boston Massacre of 1770, and who was immediately celebrated as an American hero. In 1888 a memorial to him was erected on Boston Common. If authentic, this exhibit might therefore, somewhat couterintuitively, suggest an act of honour and acclaim. Close examination suggests that the cover is probably not made of human skin.
  10. A selection of tattoos on human skin. Anonymous, 1850-1920. Selected from over 300 examples of human skin collected by Henry Wellcome, these specimens are most likely to be French in origin and date from 1850 to1920. The tattoos were bought in Paris in June 1929 by Peter Johnston-Saint, one of Wellcome's purchasing agents. The seller was osteologist and anatomist, La Vallete, who had obtained some of his collection of specimens through his work at Parisian military establishments and prisons. The crude designs in this selection are mainly of nude female figures, which were often worn by prostitutes as markers of their trade, but were also popular among seamen, soldiers and prisoners as reminders of a woman left behind, or as general sexual fantasies.

Tonight at Observatory: "The W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum – A Brief History" A virtual tour by Chris Smith, Curator of the W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum

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Tonight at Observatory! Hope to see you there.

It’s Scotland Jim, But Not As We Know it: The W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum - A Brief History
An illustrated lecture and virtual tour by Chris Smith, Curator of the W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Date: Friday, August 27
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

Tonight, Chris Smith, curator of the W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, will give a brief history of the Museum, its collections and the role it plays today. As part of the southern-most Medical School in the world, this isolation can be both a hindrance as well as of benefit; but with its foundation built upon a strong Scottish heritage, the traditions of Anatomical Teaching have been sustained and continue to strengthen in this proud institution. From the early plaster, wax and papier-mâché through to todays technologies of 3D imaging and plastination, you will be given a whirlwind tour of this collection and some of the personalities responsible for its creation and development over the last 135 years.

Chris Smith is a trained Secondary School Teacher with 10 years experience in teaching and education and a passion for the collection, teaching and preservation of history. Chris changed gears in 2005 to take up the role as Anatomy Museum Curator and Anatomy Department Photographer at the University of Otago. In this role Chris has maintained and further developed the use of anatomical specimens, both historic and modern, for teaching and research, as well as increasing public awareness of the collection and the history of the museum and department. In 2007 and 2008 he traveled to Thailand as part of the Bio-archaeology team to excavate and photograph human remains at Ban Non Wat (Origins of Angkor Project), a prehistoric Neolithic to Iron Age site. He regularly attends conferences within New Zealand and neighboring Australia, visiting institutions and collections and in 2008 received a Queen Elizabeth the 2nd (QEII) Technicians’ Study Award, which enabled him to visit institutions and collections in United Kingdom and attend the European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Science Congress held that year in Edinburgh. It was at this event that he and Joanna crossed paths and as such with a visit to meet new family in the US in 2010 and making contact with Joanna, he has been put in this privileged position of being able to share a little about ‘his’ museum.

You can find out more about this presentation here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library (more on that here)--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.