Emily Fong Studio

g-lands: an out-of-body experience

A Sci-Art collaboration between Dr Elaine Emmerson and Emily Fong, Artist in Residence at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM,) in partnership with ASCUS Art and Science and a multitude of healthcare professionals from NHS Lothian and Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

This project is proudly supported by The Throat Cancer Foundation and the RCSE Surgeons’ Hall Museums with funding from the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP) and CRM.

Osiris under fluorescence microscope: Emmerson Lab CRM

Background

Despite being a lifesaving treatment for patients with head and neck cancer, a side-effect of radiotherapy is damage to salivary glands, leading to the chronic condition Xerostomia, or dry mouth. This can severely affect a patient’s quality of life, with existing treatments concentrating only on short-term relief of such side-effects. The work of Dr Elaine Emmerson aims to develop a regenerative strategy to restore salivary function.

Whilst viewing a salivary gland in the Emmerson Lab at CRM, artist Emily Fong raised questions about the patient now living without it. How incredible it is that a surgeon, scientist, artist or member of the public can engage with someone else’s body part.

About the Project

Emily Fong will observe the journey taken by the salivary gland, from the time it is removed from the patient through to the research taking place in Dr. Elaine Emmerson’s laboratory. She will meet with patients, surgeons, oncologists, pathologists and research scientists, capturing the different perspectives of those who interact with salivary gland. These interactions and observations will be documented through drawing and sculpture.

Entries in Dry Mouth (1)

Thursday

Feb062020

Visual storytelling above and below the skin

Thursday, February 6, 2020 at 10:23PM

Microscopic skin studies from the Emmerson Lab, CRM | © Emily Fong 2020

As an artist in the laboratory and hospital it has taken some time to become comfortable with the new surroundings and for those surroundings to adapt to me in them. On this particular occasion in the Emmerson Lab at CRM, I felt very excited to be trusted with a sample of skin in section to observe in my own way and time under the microscope. I’m delighted to discover this epithelial landscape and it appears that this organ enveloping the body is designed to help things rise to the surface and shed when the time is right. Recently I learned that the mouth is considered an ‘external environment’ in the medical and scientific realm. This took me a while to wrap my head around as to me it feels very much like an intimate and internal place in my own body. However the path from the mouth to the anus really is the site of an external journey that our food and drink ‘walks’ every day. Daily we are filtering the environment around us with the air we breathe, the conversations we engage in and the meals we prepare and share. Amazing, no? The salivary glands aid in the smooth transition of this digestive journey and if the body were a building they help to maintain a healthy and welcoming front door. These special glands are the driver of this art-science conversation, where we are spending time to be grateful for them, questioning what life is like without them and exploring what the possibilities are for their eventual return to the body. Join me in exploring the journey the salivary gland specimen takes from patient to laboratory and beyond. I’m not sure how it has taken me 30 odd years to discover that science is amazing but I am glad I am here now and that through my creative practice I can share what I’m seeing with you. I wonder what stories your skin could share, both from above and below the surface.

Thanks for reading,

Emily

You can contact/find me at:

emilyfongstudio@gmail.com

@emilyfongstudio

To discover more about Dr Elaine Emmerson’s research you can visit http://crm.ed.ac.uk/research/group/manipulating-stem-cell-niche-promote-regeneration

For support or more information about head and neck cancer, or to make a donation, you can visit the Throat Cancer Foundation website at https://www.throatcancerfoundation.org

To get hands on and creative with the tools of science, you can drop into an open session at the ASCUS Lab at Summerhall in Edinburgh, Scotland’s publicly accessible laboratory. You can find out about their many courses and opportunities here http://www.ascus.org.uk