A still image from “Susceptible” (2020) by pioneering BioArtist Anna Dumitriu.

Susceptible is a data-driven interactive digital artwork based on cutting-edge research from CRyPTIC, an international consortium led by the University of Oxford. CRyPTIC’s research analysed thousands of images of the tuberculosis (TB) bacteria growing in the presence of different antibiotics. Researchers then combined that data with information about the whole genome sequences of those bacteria, in order to predict, for the first time, which of the four first-line antibiotic medicines (isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol or pyrazinamide) will be effective in treating a patient with tuberculosis based on the DNA sequence of the bacteria infecting them. CRyPTIC brought together 10,290 M. tuberculosis samples, representing all major strain lineages, obtained from people in sixteen different countries across six continents, along with a knowledge base of M. tuberculosis genome mutations that are associated with resistance or susceptibility to the four drugs.

In the interactive artwork TB bacillus swarm around the bronchi and alveoli of the lung. The four antibiotics are represented by four different coloured cloud-like elements. The TB bacteria each represent a different sample, which, if they are susceptible to one of the four drugs are attracted to it and destroyed. The artwork is richly layered with time-based origin and destination data from London Gatwick from before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period in the form of contrail-like threads which cross the images. It shows explicitly the massive reduction in flights that occurred during the 2020 pandemic and highlights how health is a global issue which needs global solutions and collaboration.

In collaboration with Alex May and the University of Oxford.

Exhibited at venues including Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo in Santa Marta, Colombia, Centrul Cultural Clujean in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Cairotronica 2025. Nominated for the S+T+ARTS Prize 2022.