iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Dr. Chiara E. Geyer's PhD thesis, finally in my hands. Molecular therapeutics over a classic anatomical drawing of the lungs. Both vintage and modern, like science: new discoveries are built on decades (centuries!) of research. #thesisdesign

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

A PhD thesis about friendship? Yes! 🎊 This was different from the cells and molecules I'm used to drawing. Esther had a super clear vision for the cover: an illustration of her friends, and lots of pink! 🩷 #proefschrift #phdone #utrechtuniversity #friends #coverillustration

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

New thesis in my collection 📘 The front cover captures the academic side. The constellations in the back reveal the personal side. A reminder that every PhD is more than just the research. #phdthesis #amsterdamumc #phdlife #proefschrift #sciart #neuroscience #bbb #brainbarriers

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

🟡 A while back, I created the visual identity for CircBioCare, an international research consortium to find circulating biomarkers for early osteoarthritis care. Better diagnosis means better care and quality of life for patients. #brandidentity #research #osteoarthritis #maastrichtuniversity

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

The evolution of drafts towards a final figure. A sneak peak at the process of an infographic showing @fleabrained.bsky.social main lines of work. With each iteration, we wanted to keep a clean design while adding important information. #neuroscience #infographic #scientificillustration #ucsd

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

(Now) Dr. Geyer had a clear idea for her PhD thesis cover: an anatomical hand drawing of a human lung. 🫁She wanted to show the transition from a sick to a healthy lung through blue and pink shades. #SciArt #ScientificIllustration #Lungs #PhDthesis

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

🔄 2. A graphical abstract on the transmission pathways. 🔗Check out the paper @microbiologysociety.org: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #Ebola #GraphicalAbstract #Microbiology #SciArt

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

The JMM profile on the Ebola virus is finally published! I created two scientific illustrations: 🪱 1. The viral structure.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

📔 So happy to get this #PhDthesis in my hands! A scientific and visual summary of years of research on one cover. 🎨 I really enjoyed bringing (now Dr.) Kop's idea to life. Inspired by classic #ScientificIllustrations and cyanotypes, with a figure legend on the back, referencing each item. #sciart

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

The landscape is inspired by Davide's passion for travelling to mountains and remote places. Can't wait to see the printed book! 📘 📩 Do you want a personalised #PhDcover reflecting your unique journey? Get in touch! #PhDthesis #CoverIllustration #SciArt

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

3️⃣ After (many) iterations, we landed on the final cover. A symbolic landscape with many layers. ✨ Stars illuminate exciting discoveries happening below, forming constellations shaped like key research elements (SnaiI gene, #microglia, #DNA repair).

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

2️⃣ Once I find the right visual metaphor, I start sketching ✏️ #WIP #Brain #SciArt

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

1️⃣ I like to start with a mind map 🧠 What are the key concepts? How can I visually represent them? #MindMap #Brain #NeuroInflammation #Alzheimers #BBB

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

A #PhD cover is more than just an illustration: It's a symbol of your research and of YOU as a researcher. For this design, I worked closely with Davide Vacondio to create an image that captures both his scientific journey and his vision of what research is: an exploration. 👇 More about the process

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

🧵 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 🧠 🔬 Last month, it was all about the dance between brain barriers and the immune system. Let’s go! 👇 #BBB #Neuroscience #Neuroimmunology (1/11)

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Sometimes, I take photos just because I like the colour combinations. I often use them as a base for the colour palette of my illustrations. 🍃 Nature knows best! #ColourPalette #NatureInspiration

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

From sketch to final: visualising lymphoma-on-chip research I created this infographic with Dr. Lotte de Winde to help communicate her #OrganOnChip model of the lymphoma tumour microenvironment to medical specialists, patients, students and other researchers. Take a look at the process 👇

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

🧠Today is World MS Day 💙 Re-sharing one of my first infographics to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis and its many invisible symptoms. #WorldMSDay #MultipleSclerosis #MSAwareness

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

👁 Vision 🫁 The research findings of SPACETIME aim to aid in clinical decision-making, ultimately benefiting patients with lung cancer. #lungcancer #missiononcancer #eumissions #nsclc #sciart #research #grant #scientificillustration #lungs #oncology

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

🧭 Strategy 🫁 The SPACETIME consortium will focus on cellular communities (SPACE) and tumour-host co-evolution (TIME) using single-cell spatial "omics" technologies, innovative disease models, and machine learning. #lungcancer #missiononcancer #eumissions #brandidentity #amsterdamumc #lumc

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

🚀 Mission 🫁 SPACETIME is an EU consortium with a mission: To recognise and understand therapy resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. #lungcancer #missiononcancer #eumissions #nsclc #sciart #grant #scientificillustration #lungs #oncology #brandidentity

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

4️⃣ 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲. In most scientific figures, less is more. Let your manuscript or presentation add the details—your visual should be clear at a glance.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

3️⃣ 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. Visual alignment is candy for the brain. Imagine an invisible grid and try to align everything to something—don’t just place elements randomly.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

2️⃣ 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗻𝘁𝘀. Stick to them. Use simple fonts for main labels, and get creative with titles and headers.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

1️⃣ 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲. Two main colours, one accent, and one dark tone work well. Avoid combining highly saturated colours—they compete instead of complement.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Here are 4 quick design tips to instantly improve your scientific figures 🎨👇 #SciComm #ScientificIllustration #PhDlife

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

These dots... Relaxing when I'm calm, overwhelming when I'm nervous! 🙈 Can you guess what structure I’m drawing? Hint: It’s part of the respiratory system! #IllustrationProcess #SciArt

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

🧵 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 🧠🔬 February brought some fascinating discoveries in brain barriers! Glycocalyx erosion with age, unique astrocytes at the brain’s surface, and the amphibian BBB. Dive in! 👇 #BrainBarriers #Neuroscience #BBB (1/12)

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

🌳 A different kind of project: I illustrated the thesis of now Dr. Freya Zinovieff, "Activist Listening". Freya envisioned a banyan tree—with its aerial roots—as a symbol of colonial processes. I framed it in the style of an old colonial map. #coverillustration #phdthesis #simonfraseruniversity

An illustration of a banyan tree in the style of an old colonial map.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

🧵 December & January highlights in #BrainBarriers research 🧠🔬 Ending 2024 and beginning 2025, I’ve collected my favourite articles on brain barriers. Meninges, mechanical forces at the BBB, and the choroid plexus too! Let’s go! 👇 #BBB #Neuroscience #Neuroimmunology (1/12)

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

🛣️ Generating guidelines for the design of a spatial signature test 🫁 This is the third illustration for the research projects of the SPACETIME EU consortium. #LungCancer #MissionOnCancer #SciArt

Illustration of a windy road among trees that look like lungs.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

🌳🫁 Placing the tumour microenvironment within the context of the host 🏞️🐠 Another of a series of illustrations for the visual identity of the SPACETIME European consortium. #EUresearch #CancerResearch #LungCancer #SciArt #ScientificIllustration

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

🥀 From cancer initiation to progression 🫁 I made this illustration as part of the visual identity for the lung cancer SPACETIME EU consortium. #SciArt #VisualIdentity #CancerResearch #LungCancer

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

A peek at the doodling process to make sense of a study linking #neutrophil priming in the #meninges and behavioural adaptation. 🔗 Read more in Neuron @cellpress.bsky.social : www.cell.com/neuron/abstr... #BrainBarriers #Neuroimmunology #Meninges #Behaviour

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

🐁Two mouse studies reveal a connection between meningeal #Immunity and #SocialBehaviour: 2️⃣ Neutrophils in the dura mater regulate behaviour remotely via neuronal inhibition. Here’s a quick sketch I made to break down the study. #Neuroimmunology #Behavior (6/12)

Sketch of a graphical abstract for a paper on how meningeal neutrophils influence adaptation to socially cued threats.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

🧵 November highlights in #BrainBarriers research 🧠🔬 From ageing to behaviour and from the BBB to the meninges: brain barriers influence key vital functions. Last month’s papers are fascinating—let’s go! 👇 #BBB #Neuroscience #Neuroimmunology (1/12)

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

After many turns, this is where we landed – the final logo! 🖌️✨ #LogoDesign #CreativeProcess #ScienceBranding

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

✏️ How a logo comes to life: sketching out ideas💡 #logo #sciart #sketching

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

🫁👨🏿‍🔬 How do you visually represent cutting-edge lung cancer research? For SPACETIME EU research consortium, the brand identity combines a data-driven approach with the organic complexity of the lungs.

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

🧵 October highlights in #BrainBarriers research 🧠🔬 From immune privilege and lymphatics to skull stem cells and microvessel isolation — exciting findings! Dive in 🧵👇 #BBB #Neuroscience #NeuroImmunology (1/10)

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Sabela DeScience @sabeladescience.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

🌟 Thrilled that Dr. Cillero-Pastor’s grant application was successful! I had the pleasure of creating this illustration to help bring the project to life. Looking to enhance your next grant with a custom visual summary? Let’s collaborate! 🎨 #ScienceIllustration #GrantWriting #SciComm

A graphical abstract for a grant application. It shows the rationale, three steps (identify biomarkers, develop assays and prepare implementation), and the impact into patients and healthcare stakeholders.

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