Client: Philadelphia Magazine
Art Direction: Jamie Leary
Author: Wynne Parry
Opener illustration and infographics for an article about how gene therapy can fight diseases such as blood cancer, hemophilia, and COVID-19.
(Above) How COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines Work:
(1) mRNA, packaged inside fatty spheres, enters the body. (2) The packages deliver the mRNA into cells, (3) which use it to make a protein from the coronavirus. (4) The immune system learns to recognize the protein and (5) produces Y-shaped antibodies that can fight the real virus.
(Above) How CAR-T Fights Blood Cancer:
(1) Immune cells called T cells are removed from the patient. (2) Empty shells of viruses deliver copies of a new gene to the T cells. (3) The gene instructs the cells to make a protein, called a CAR, designed to kill cancer cells. (4) The altered T cells are replicated, then (5) returned to the patient.
(Above) How Hemophilia Treatments Compensate for Defective Genes:
(1) A gene for a missing blood-clotting protein is ferried to the liver within the empty shells of viruses, which (2) deliver the gene to the liver cells. (3) The gene directs the production of the protein, (4) which is secreted into the blood.
