Herpes Simplex Virus
Dayana Hristova
The Science
The Herpes Simplex virus is an infectious agent causing painful blisters on various body parts and is spread among humans through direct contact. The virus core component is the DNA, storing the viral genetic information. Host cells detect the viral DNA serving as a "danger signal" to activate the immune response. The core is wrapped in several protective protein layers, the outermost proteins stick out of the surface and help the virus enter the target cell. The virus structure is simple, yet it serves its natural purpose and there is some beauty to its symmetrical arrangement, highlighted in this piece made from felt paper and pom-poms. The Herpes Simplex virus can only survive inside human cells and hijacks the cellular machinery to multiply. My poem “The Cell Factory”, published in the first issue of Consilience, recreates the mechanisms happening within the cell.
The Artist
Dayana Hristova is from Sofia, Bulgaria. She did her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Manchester and is currently a third-year PhD student at the University of Cambridge, in the Department of Pathology. Her project focuses on the innate immune response to virus infection in human cells. Dayana has a strong passion for science communication, always looking for creative and artistic ways to engage the wider public and make science more accessible. You can connect with her on Instagram @dayanahri.science or on YouTube (Rhymes and Scribbles).
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license