Blending art and science: Microbiologist illuminates the hidden world of fish parasites

Das has always been fascinated by tiny details. She spent her childhood exploring the beaches of the Jersey Shore. Her family lived an hour away but took frequent trips to the seaside. They often strolled along the boardwalks and made a day of it. Her siblings were more interested in swimming.

"Oddly enough, I had a little bit of fear of the unknown when the water was cloudy," Das said. "I find I prefer the water to be clear so I know what's around me. Instead of swimming, I spent most of my time looking at the shell piles during low tide to see what I could find.

"You can find quite a bit, she said — provided you look closely enough. I was introduced to marine biology through beachcombing," said Das. "I remember just collecting shells, finding different shells fascinating and exciting. There's a dopamine rush that comes with finding something beautiful on the beach."

She eventually started looking under the microscope.

"There's this huge diversity of organisms that you can explore. They look like intricate, ornate aliens. They're beautiful. I love that about Oregon."

"I've always been someone who likes to collect things or go beachcombing or look at the diversity of life," she said. "Seeing this whole other realm under the microscope and also knowing these microbes are everywhere in aquatic environments and pose this risk to fish populations made it really fascinating to study."

Her first-grade teacher helped her explore further, answering all her early questions. From that point on, she said, she knew she wanted to be a marine biologist.

"It was an inherent interest that I followed," said Das. "I could never imagine myself doing anything else all through elementary, middle and high school and college. I was hyper-fixated on becoming a marine biologist, and it ultimately worked out."

After receiving her bachelor's degree in marine sciences from Stockton University, she worked as an assistant aquatic disease marine biologist for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. She solved the mysteries behind dying fish populations in hatcheries, backyard ponds and fishing holes. "That was the first time I interacted with fish pathogens," she said. "We did investigative work to narrow down the possibilities of what they could have died from."

There were plenty of suspects with a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi.

"Looking at some of these organisms under the microscope was fascinating for me because they are just so diverse in their morphology but also the impacts they can have," Das said. "Knowing that there are so many unknowns in terms of different pathogens, I figured out that's what I wanted to do in graduate school.”

Coming to Oregon State, she began working in the PHIn (Parasite-Host Interactions) Lab. Jerri Bartholomew was the principal investigator of the PHIn Lab at the time, a prolific glass artist in addition to being a distinguished microbiologist.

"I was inspired by her ability to translate her work on fish parasites to art for the general public," Das said. "She helped start the PRAx fellowship, funded by many different departments on campus."

Blending art and science was not new for Das. "I've always really enjoyed sculpting on a very small scale — like figurines of animals that I like," she said. She creates her parasite models with tracing paper and reed, the same material used for weaving baskets. "That was extremely helpful in trying to figure out how to make them light weight enough to suspend from the ceiling," she said.

"With the tracing paper being so translucent, it's exactly how these microorganisms appear under the microscope," she added. "They're too small to have any color most of the time. However, they often have extremely unique reflective structures inside."

Using tracing paper and trying to illustrate some of the organelles and internal structures of the parasites was a fun challenge, Das said. "I also wanted to show people how cool and intricate they look under the microscope," she added.

"I start by playing around with the reed," said Das. "These forms often have a lot of curvature, and the reed can be a little bit brittle at times. It's a matter of running your hands along the length of this reed and making little bends and curving it over time. It can take hours to get a straight piece of reed to curve into the simplest circle."

She used hot glue to join pieces of reed together. That had its pros and cons, she said. "It doesn't always hold the wood together very well. However, it also means that if I didn't like the way I joined a piece, I could take it apart easily."

After she created this structure, and decided it reflected the shape of the microbe, she solidified the joints with an epoxy adhesive.

Tracing paper is extremely fragile and creases easily. However, she coated both sides with a layer of polyurethane varnish to enhance the translucency and make it more resistant to tearing or creasing.

She then cut each piece to the exact shape to fit the reed framework. Each piece averages more than 50 sheets of paper. She worked on nine of them simultaneously.

"If I sat down in one place to do one piece, it would probably take me something like 30 hours," Das said. "It was a process that took more than six months."

She completed all the work in her livingroom. "I took over the space, and there were these piles of giant reed structures in one corner that often got in the way of my roommates, who were extremely flexible," she said.

The pieces now sit in an office in Nash Hall, waiting for their next exhibit.

She basically created the process for building the models as she went along, Das said. "That's been exciting. I don't feel I'm following any rules or historical traditions of art, just finding whatever materials I think will work well. It's fun to experiment and discover new methods."

Oregon offers a wealth of artistic inspiration, she said, especially in its tide pools. "It's another world where you'll never know what you'll find. There's this huge diversity of organisms that you can explore. They look like intricate, ornate aliens. They're beautiful. I love that about Oregon."

Das, now in the third year of her doctoral program, works primarily with salmon and trout hatcheries on the McKenzie River and other Oregon waterways. As part of the Hallett Lab, she diagnoses the range of pathogens hatcheries are facing instead of one specific parasite. The lab focuses on one particular group of microscopic obligate parasites, myxozoans. Over 2000 of these metazonas are found in fish world-wide and although most do not harm their hosts, there are several that cause serious diseases in the Pacific Northwest.

When she completes her doctorate, Das said she could work as a research biologist at a state or federal agency or continue in academia. "I'm not entirely sure, but I'm interested in continuing to research fish ecology and doing diagnostics, which is what lets me interact with all these different microbes," she said.

Das hopes to see continued investment in science that represents all communities and identities — and support for researchers tackling the world’s most pressing challenges through inclusive, equitable approaches.

“Programs that support equity have made it possible for people like me to pursue science that matters — both to our communities and to the environment,” she said. “They open the door for innovative ideas and for scientists from all backgrounds to make a difference.”

Das said she’ll continue doing her part — blending art and science in ways that reflect her values. Her work may be displayed soon in some galleries in Bend.

In addition, she and a group of artists in Washington state and a deep-sea coral and sponge biologist in Sweden are hoping for a group exhibit on deep-sea organisms.

She also participates in the OSU club Seminarium. During the COVID pandemic, students started Seminarium for students, faculty, staff and community members to discuss and celebrate art and science.

Although the times are scary, Das said, they're also wonderful. "It's exciting to know there's interest in seeing more of the microbial world."