The composition depicts a new chapter in the epic battle between the Titans of the sea (the biofouling marine organism) and the titanic antifouling measures deployed by man. Witnessed at a cellular level the intricacy of this Titanomachy is comparable only to the grandeur of the cosmos.

“Titanomachy: Battle of the Titans” taken from a lost epic, Titanomachia, by the blind Thracian bard Thamyris. Fluorescent micrographs showing the Hemocytes (immune cells) of Eastern Oyster Crassostrea virginica undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death) after interacting with a novel biopolymer. Hemocytes labeled with fluorescent indicators of apoptosis and cytoskeleton depict the progression of programmed cell death and cytoskeletal deterioration. The fluorescent micrographs are combined with parts of a Hubble telescope image of the Carina nebula. The complexities of the infinitely large and the complexities of infinitely small are brought together in this composition. The composition communicates the grandeur inherent at the cellular level in marine invertebrates like the Eastern Oyster. The entry celebrates the collaborative spirit of scientific discovery and represents a multidisciplinary solution to an intractable biological problem such as marine biofouling.

Funding sources for research represented by the image:
United States Office of Naval Research: Coatings and Biofouling Program.

Background Image Credit:
Carina Nebula Details: The Caterpillar: Used with Permission from N.Smith.
Credit : NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Credit for CTIO Image: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF