Rainbow Trypanosomes

Parasite mobile

Rainbow Trypanosomes (2015) mobiles by Angela Mehlert

Knitted wool and mixed media

This is based on a journal cover by a former colleague, Mick Urbaniak (ACS Chemical Biology 2008 3 625-634) with added knitting accoutrements from various donors. The rainbow illustrates the switching of the major protein on the outside of the trypanosome parasite which causes African sleeping sickness. Switching the coat protein means that the parasite can evade the host immune system, any antibodies made to the old version of the protein being ineffective against the new variant. This can happen many times and is the reason the disease is cyclical.