conceptual works: dreams of major histocompatibility complex binding sites

// from 1993 to 1995, i worked at a biohazard level 3 lab where we were trying to predict pieces of proteins (peptides) to use in vaccines based solely on those proteins' primary structure (i.e., their linear sequence of amino acids).

// i helped write algorithms to do this--and part of the process was visualizing antigen binding sites, and how peptides generated from different amino acid sequences would best interact with those binding sites.

// last night, i was listening to (not watching, but listening to) the very first episode of carl sagan's "cosmos" television show from 1980, and in a fit of automatic drawing, i drew this--which, to me, is indelibly reminiscent of a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) binding site.

// i believe that carl was trying to tell me something from across the æther. across the gulf of space and time that separates him from us.

// thank you, carl.

gabe