Fractals are intricate geometric patterns that repeat infinitely. The fascinating aspect of them lies in how they are fractional dimensions or not whole numbers. This challenges our conventional understanding of space such as 2D, 3D, and 4D. I chose to classify this concept in this piece by utilizing both 2D and 3D components.

Meanwhile, vasculogenesis is the process by which blood vessels are formed de novo, or from scratch. Angiogenesis is when new blood vessels form from pre-existing vasculature. In my tissue engineering class (BME 474), we grew microvasculature in 3D-engineered tissue constructs. To do this, we cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and normal human lung fibroblasts (NHLFs), encapsulated them in fibrin gels, fixed the co-cultures, and fluorescently stained them for visualization. The cultures were imaged using confocal fluorescence microscopy. The blue regions indicate DAPI (to visualize nuclei), green for phalloidin (to see actin filaments) and red is UEA (to show sugar residues on endothelial cells).

The two-dimensional painted surface is referenced from an image that my lab group and I took for the class. The three-dimensional blood vessels extending from the canvas represent angiogenesis occurring. This was generated with a recursive sequence in Python through Rhino’s Grasshopper extension and 3D-printed in black resin. The whole piece was painted in acrylic and glow-in-the-dark paint.