Richmond students are known for embracing the opportunities a liberal arts education provides. Take senior Shaina D'Souza, who blended two of her passions to prove that more than bacteria can grow in a lab.

D'Souza, ’18, is an international student majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, mixed with a love of art. As part of Dr. Laura Runyen-Janecky’s microbiology lab, she and others study the symbiotic bacteria living in tsetse flies. But D’Souza looked beyond the biology and saw artistic possibilities in the bacteria.

Tapping into her creative side, D’Souza regularly dyes the jelly-like agar in which her lab grows bacteria, streaking the bacteria with something akin to a sterile paintbrush. After a day or two of incubation, images begin to emerge. She’s created our Spider logo, an American flag for July 4, and even saw an opportunity to update the lab’s website banner with her agar art.

“Science is so beautiful,” she says on her Instagram account, @microbesbyshaina, “and after working in a microbiology lab, I've realized that microbes can be beautiful, too! Sure, sometimes they're pathogenic and I find the term ‘anti-microbial’ thrown around a lot, but aren't they also wonderful?”

Anyone who knows Richmond knows that the same kind of intellectual creativity found in the biology lab is woven throughout campus. Spiders are constantly uncovering new passions — and we’re proud to share their discoveries!