Science meets art: my experience as a scientific illustrator

An essential part of any scientific journey is communicating your findings to other scientists and to the public, sparking into them a tiny bit of the passion that inspired you throughout your research. I have always been fond of visual communication and since 2020 I have been combining my scientific education with my love for drawing in the creation of unconventional, science-inspired illustrations

As a molecular biologist, I am fascinated by the mechanisms underlying cell function. As a scientific illustrator, I love to imagine these mechanisms and bring them to life with unusual images and colours, aiming to find novel, engaging ways to communicate biology.

BIO

Marzia did her undergraduate degree in Biology and her Master's degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology at Sapienza University. She graduated in 2015 with a master thesis on long non-coding RNAs in neuronal development. Then, she worked as a Research Assistant in Richard Gregory's lab at the Boston Children's hospital, where she investigated the molecular mechanisms of RNA decay in mouse Embryonic Stem Cells. In 2016, she joined Greg Hannon's lab at the University of Cambridge for her PhD, during which she investigated the mechanisms of transposon silencing mediated by small RNAs in the fly ovary. Since September 2020, she is a postdoctoral fellow in Jamie Hackett's group at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Rome, where she studies mammalian oocyte epigenetics. 

In parallel with her activity as a scientist, since 2020 she is also a scientific illustrator. She created cover arts and illustrations for leading journals and laboratories worldwide.