Fragile Microbiology

Luke Jerram has designed these extremely beautiful representations of some of man's deadliest enemies, ranging from H1N1 to HIV. I think smaller versions of these would look wonderful on my Christmas tree!

It's great to be exploring the edges of scientific understanding and visualization of a virus. Scientists aren't able to answer many of the questions I ask them, such as how the RNA is exactly fitted within the Capsid? At the moment, camera technology can't answer these questions either. I'm also pushing the boundaries of glassblowing. Some of my designs simply can't be created in glass. Some are simply too fragile and gravity would cause them to collapse under their own weight. So there's a very careful balancing act that needs to take place, between exploring current scientific knowledge and the limitations of glassblowing techniques.