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I covered my eyes with my hands, at first too afraid to look. “That is so gorgeous,” I heard Jessica Mark Welch say.

Mark Welch is a microbiologist who uses fluorescent probes to generate images of bacteria, such as those on our teeth. These images help her investigate the structure and composition of human microbiomes, a growing research area in biology. Slowly peeking through my fingers, I looked at the computer to see, well, a picture of the inside of my mouth.

And, yes, the image truly was gorgeous.

Mark Welch conducts her research at the  Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass., where I had the opportunity to attend the University of Chicago’s new , “Visualization and Biology: Science, Culture, and Representation.” In this History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science and Medicine (HIPS) course, my classmates and I explored the question: “How do scientific images get made?” Through ethnographic and archival research—as well as hands-on excursions with faculty experts—we unpacked this seemingly simple question, even producing scientific images of our own. 

"Visualization and Biology" is the first HIPS course at the MBL. The remainder of the September courses at MBL are upper-level biology electives. The new Spring Quarter at MBL is also now accepting applications. Deadline: December 1, 2019. See  for more information.

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