Supersizing Science: On Building Large-Scale Research Projects in Biology

The illustration on the cover, 'Spiral IV', is made by Kenneth Eward. I am grateful for his permission to use his work which stayed with me after I first saw it in the Science Visualization Challenge 2004, where it received an honourable mention: If you could climb the twisted ladder of a DNA molecule and look down, you might see something like the image above. Kenneth Eward, a science artist at BioGrafx Scientific & Medical Images in Ovid, Michigan, used x-ray crystallographic data from DNA molecules to paint a unique portrait of the double helix. The image omits the chemical bonds that crisscross the center of the molecule, so that the structural features of the helix can be seen more easily. To me 'Spiral IV' does not only picture a vital part of modern biology, but it also represents the process of growing bigger. This idea, in turn, formed the basis for the cover design. I want to thank Jan van Beusekom for giving this Vermeulen book its cover.