Exploring the Complexity of Protein Structures with Artwork
How a curious chemist turned his love of protein structures into beautiful works of art.
In 1998, a curious undergraduate chemist, Roger Armen, scribbled away for hours in his sketchbook to understand protein structures of viruses.
“The 1919 influenza outbreak was memorable for our family, as my great grandfather became a doctor that year. Though I never asked him about his experience, I was curious about the virus, its impact and how to stop it. Understanding protein structures was the key to answering those questions,” says Dr. Armen, who is a now an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the college of pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University.
As he perfected the structures, eraser shavings and discarded drawings decorated his room. Scribbles in graphite slowly became smooth brush strokes in ink, acrylic paint and watercolor. Like scientific calligraphy, his ink drawings were becoming works of art. He’d spend hours drawing the same protein structure over and over. Lines, curves, loops and squiggles magically made the structures dance across the page. With every iteration, the abstract drawings were becoming an intriguing collision of art and science.
“I thought to myself, with all of the different proteins and protein structures, I’m never going to be bored for the rest of my life,” says Dr. Armen. He continued drawing viral protein structures, such as Influenza and HIV, outside of his biochemistry classes in an independent study studio art course. Sometimes, he’d draw a structure 30 times from the same angle. If he didn’t like it, he would try another angle. He would free flow brush strokes to abstractly map the unique folds, loops, coils and overall fluidity of protein structure.
“My studio art professors discussed my drawings in group critiques and suggested I present them in the art exhibit that year,” Dr. Armen states. His professor’s encouragement helped him to create a solo show exhibition called “Biological Abstraction”. Through this collection, he showcased several viral protein structures including Influenza hemagglutinin, the viral protein notoriously involved in spreading the influenza virus. He branched out from using standard pencils, pens and ink and expanded his mediums to charcoal, watercolors, acrylics, printmaking and more.
“With something as horrific as the influenza outbreak, a key focus of my thoughts became the mystery behind how a small-molecule drug might bind to a large protein structure and inhibit its function. This drove my curiosity as much as it drove my creativity,” says Dr. Armen.
With his art, Dr. Armen conveyed how unique and specific protein-drug interactions were. He wanted to understand how drug design could improve protein-drug interactions and ultimately make stronger, more effective drugs.
Dr. Armen's artwork artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylics.
Dr. Roger Armen with his collection, "Biological Abstractions."
Each medium was unique and purposeful. For drugs, he used a pop of red to indicate how they may have been interacting with proteins. With watercolors, he abstractly drew protein structures to dance across the canvas.
“These proteins aren’t static, they’re dynamic, always moving. I wanted to capture that with watercolor,” says Dr. Armen.
Alternatively, he used charcoal and black ink paintings to mimic still versions of the protein, as if someone was taking a photograph, giving it time to “smile” for the camera.
“I was always going between realism and abstraction. I was interested in discovering the structures, but I wanted to communicate the art and fluidity behind them,” says Dr. Armen.
Dr. Armen’s artwork was the opener for his undergraduate art exhibit and gave scientists and artists something to show how interconnected science and art were after all.
Dr. Armen's artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics.
Dr. Armen's artwork collection "Biological Abstractions." Different mediums used include black ink, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics.
Since then, Dr. Armen’s artwork has fueled his curiosity enough to open his own lab to study protein structure scientifically. Dr. Armen’s lab at Jefferson is dedicated to understanding protein structures to solve design problems in medicinal chemistry.
At the height of the pandemic, his lab worked to understand COVID through the investigation of the SARS-CoV-2 protein structure. In the midst of these efforts, he went back to his drawings from 1998.
“I thought about the SARS-CoV-2 structure so much, when I went back to the old drawings, it was remarkable how my hand-drawn artwork of the Influenza hemagglutinin protein from 1998 was similar to the actual structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein scientists found 26 years later,” says Dr. Armen.
Dr. Armen’s calligraphy-like ink drawing in 1998 (left) of Influenza hemagglutinin compared to Armen’s scientifically accurate ribbon structure of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein in 2024 (right).
The Armen lab continues to work hard to understand how drug structures interact with protein structures. Recently, they published work towards understanding how a drug, Clofazimine, interacts with SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. These studies are in the same direction as the goal of the artwork in 1998, to intellectually explore viral protein structure itself and how drugs might bind to it. The comparison of the two bodies of work is an interesting illustration of how similar the process of abstract art and science truly are.
