SciArt Profile: Wen Lu

In this SciArt profile, we meet Wen Lu, a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The eight pieces shown in this profile show how Wen uses different visual styles and tools to highlight the beauty of biology, communicate scientific concepts, and promote research and scientific events.

Can you tell us about your background and what you work on now?

My name is Wen Lu, and I am a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. I received my bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Peking University and my PhD in Genetics from the University of Chicago.

My research focuses on how the cytoskeleton is organized and regulated by molecular motors in neurons and oocytes, which are among the longest and largest cells in animals, respectively. I use Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, as a model organism, and combine genetics, optogenetics, pharmacological perturbations, and high-resolution microscopy to address these questions.

Outside the lab, I also work as a freelance designer, helping with logo design, graphic illustration, and other visual communication projects.

Were you always going to be a scientist?

From a very young age, I was curious, good with my hands, and always trying to solve puzzles. I enjoyed finding my own way to approach different problems, which I now realize are useful qualities for a scientist.

Besides dreaming of becoming a scientist, I also dreamed of becoming a farmer. In a funny way, raising hundreds of thousands of fruit flies in the lab has fulfilled that childhood dream too. I suppose I did become a farmer after all — a Drosophila farmer.

And what about art – have you always enjoyed it?

I would call myself a microscopy enthusiast, which means that anything beautiful captured through a microscope can make me excited. I also enjoy arranging and montaging microscopy images into visually appealing pieces that highlight the beauty of biology.

Beyond microscopy, I am also interested in graphic design. I enjoy creating logos, flyers, scientific illustrations, and other visual materials, especially when they help promote scientific research and make science more engaging and accessible to a broader audience.

What or who are your most important artistic influences?

My artistic influences come from a somewhat unusual mix of styles. I have always been drawn to the elegance, simplicity, and expressive lines of traditional Chinese painting, as well as the softness and fluidity of watercolor. At the same time, I also love the bold colors, playful energy, and visual storytelling of pop art and animation.

It may sound like an odd combination, but I think that contrast often leads to interesting artwork. In my SciArt pieces, I enjoy bringing these influences together to make biological subjects feel both beautiful and approachable.

How do you make your art?

I mainly use Adobe Illustrator for 2D artwork and Blender for 3D artwork. For videos and animations, I use Filmora for editing and assembling the final pieces.

Most of these tools are self-taught. I learned them gradually through YouTube tutorials, online resources, and a lot of trial and error. Often, I start with a scientific idea, microscopy image, or biological structure, and then explore how to translate it into a visual form that feels clear, engaging, and aesthetically pleasing. Depending on the project, the final piece may be a clean vector illustration, a 3D-rendered scene, a microscopy montage, or a short video designed for science communication.

Does your science influence your art at all, or vice versa, or are they separate worlds?

For me, science and art are deeply connected, but the art often serves as a way to communicate and promote the science. Many of my artistic ideas start from my research, especially microscopy images, cellular structures, or biological concepts that I find visually beautiful or scientifically exciting.

I see art as a bridge between scientific discovery and broader audiences. A microscopy image may be meaningful to scientists because of the data behind it, but with thoughtful visual presentation, it can also capture the curiosity of people outside the field. In that sense, my art helps me share not only what I study, but also why I find biology so fascinating.

At the same time, making art has also influenced how I think about science. It trains me to look more carefully, pay attention to visual patterns, and think about clarity, composition, and storytelling. So while my art is often created in service of science communication, the creative process also feeds back into how I observe and present my scientific work.

What are you thinking of working on next?

I would like to continue creating microscopy-based artwork that reveals the beauty of biology, while also becoming more involved in the SciArt community and using visual art to promote Drosophila research. Fruit flies are such a powerful model system, but they are not always perceived as visually appealing by the broader public. I hope my work can help change that by showing how beautiful, elegant, and scientifically valuable they are.

More specifically, I am currently working on a piece featuring two Drosophila brains. The microscopy images themselves are already visually stunning, so my goal is to build on that natural beauty and transform them into an artwork that feels even more striking and emotionally engaging. Looking ahead, I would also love to create more pieces that combine microscopy, illustration, animation, and storytelling to make developmental biology more accessible to a broader audience.

How/ where can people find more about you?

People can find more about my previous work on my portfolio website:
https://wlu7da7.myportfolio.com/

I also regularly share new microscopy images, SciArt pieces, research updates, and announcements about scientific events on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wenlu2023/