Complex Chemistry

SOWMITHREE RAGOTHAMAN Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Class of 2021

This piece was based on a recent article by Yoon et al. in The Journal of Neuroscience, titled “Blocking the Thrombin Receptor Promotes Repair of Demyelinated Lesions in the Adult Brain”. The study investigated the ability of an existing drug, vorapaxar, to reverse the myelin sheath degeneration present in diseases like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. However, a key limitation of the study was that vorapaxar is not able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in humans. I found this detail interesting as it highlights the difficulties still faced by scientists in accessing the brain for therapeutic purposes, and titled the piece “Complex Chemistry” as a result. The piece depicts a bright red-and-white pill (representing vorapaxar) being unable to squeeze through the BBB junctions (shown in dark red and orange) to reach the neurons (bright blue). I used bright colours and gradients to create a sense of direction, and contrasted this with the increasingly dark purple background to symbolize neuron degeneration and death. I hope that this piece helps viewers understand the intricacy of the human brain, and inspires them to learn something more about the topic!