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The wall of polio

15 June 2013

Polio wall of fameThe Polio Wall of Fame (pictured) is a set of fifteen sculptured busts of 17 individuals who made important contributions to understanding and preventing poliomyelitis. The busts are mounted on an exterior wall of Founder’s Hall at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation in Warm Springs, Georgia, USA.

In my laboratory we have a slightly different wall – we call it The Wall of Polio. It consists of a collection of six-well cell culture plates that have been used to measure the concentration of polioviruses in various samples by plaque assay.

The plaque assay is one of the most important procedures in virology for measuring the virus titer – the concentration of viruses in a sample. This technique was first developed to calculate the titers of bacteriophage stocks. Renato Dulbecco modified this procedure in 1952 for use in animal virology, and it has since been used for reliable determination of the titers of many different viruses.

We love the plaque assay so much that we cannot bear to throw away the plates after they have been counted. They reside in various nooks and crannies in the laboratory, but one creative use has been to construct a wall – think of Legos using cell culture plates. When a visitor comes to the lab, I photograph them in front of the Wall of Polio (sign inspired by Pink Floyd). When you visit don’t be surprised when I ask to photograph you in front of the Wall of Polio.

Update from my postdoctoral scientist Rea: The wall has >1000 plates, stands over 6 ft tall, and contains data from only one experiment which took me almost 4 months to do. Credit goes to Brenda Raud for the sign, construction and design, and some plates too!

Early wall attempt
Early wall attempt
My lab at the wall
My lab at the wall
Vincent
Vincent
Harmit Malik
Harmit Malik
Zhilong
Zhilong
Talita
Talita
Rich Condit
Rich Condit
Katie
Katie
Karen
Karen
Erika
Erika
Eugene
Eugene
Ashley
Ashley
Laila
Laila
Samantha
Samantha
Leor
Leor
Alexandra
Alexandra
Isabel
Isabel
Alan Dove
Alan Dove
Beatrice Hahn
Beatrice Hahn
Anita
Anita
Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Billy Goldberg
Billy Goldberg
Jennifer
Jennifer
Xuanyi
Xuanyi
Randi Kaye, CNN
Randi Kaye, CNN
Anne, CNN
Anne, CNN
Thomas Kristie
Thomas Kristie
Karen
Karen (2nd visit)
Celine
Celine
Leila
Leila
Roshawn
Roshawn
Yana
Yana
Christian
Christian
Brigette
Brigette
Calliope
Calliope
Christian
Christian
Dickson Despommier
Dickson Despommier
Jalish
Jalish
Loxley
Loxley
Rea
Rea
Ricardo
Ricardo
Robert
Robert
Sydney
Sydney
Shella
Shella
Peter L Salk
Peter L Salk
Chris Condayan
Chris Condayan
Nayan
Nayan
Oladayo
Oladayo
Georgia
Georgia
TBN
Miriam
Miriam
Caroline
Caroline
Melissa
Melissa
Mia
Mia
Diane
Diane
Brianna
Brianna
Megan
Megan
Mihoko
Mihoko
Fall of the Wall
On 17 July 2014 the Wall of Polio came down. Due to an air conditioning failure, the heat melted the tape holding the plates together.
Fall of the Wall
The Wall of Polio falls on 17 July 2014.
Eric
High school intern Eric rebuilds the Wall the same day it fell.
Vincent and Devin
Vincent and son Devin
Alexey and Semen
Alexey and Semen
Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel
Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel
Wall of Polio
Starting to rebuild the wall, with glue, in my office. 8 January 2015.
Wall of Polio
The Wall grows. 28 January 2015.
Emily
Emily (Wall rebuild in progress)
Wall of Polio
27 February 2015.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anne-Marie says

    15 June 2013 at 12:24 pm

    Love it. I want to visit the Wall!

  2. Mahoney says

    15 June 2013 at 12:29 pm

    You guys play rough. You had to break Condit’s arm to get him to pose in front of the wall!

  3. Bryant says

    15 June 2013 at 10:30 pm

    I wish we had thought of the wall idea. I work at a major pharmaceutical company and we just completed a screen of nearly two million compounds in a viral cytopathic effect assay. We ended up using almost 5 thousand 384 well plates.

  4. Ola says

    15 August 2013 at 2:59 pm

    wow! that’s amazing! That definitely would build a massive pyramid…..I’m getting ideas 🙂

  5. Susan says

    19 August 2013 at 3:17 am

    Your “Wall of Polio” has more artistic integrity than the “official” wall of polio at the Founder’s Hall (apologies to the artist/s: I’m sure it’s a worthy memorial to some very intelligent and dedicated individuals). Yours is so authentic and a thing of beauty indeed. Damien Hirst would be green with envy. Perhaps you could auction your Wall to raise funds for your next research project instead of slaving away at yet another research grant….although you might find art dealers almost as (insert appropriaye word here) as the funding bureaucrats

  6. Adewole Phoenix Adekola says

    11 August 2014 at 10:00 pm

    Pretty awesome, would definitely think of an idea like this for my lab too…maybe a coloured glass slide mosaic #winks

  7. Ra says

    15 October 2014 at 2:33 pm

    The real wall of polio lacks integrity because it lacks one key name, Henrietta Lack.

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by Vincent Racaniello

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ME/CFS
Inside a BSL-4
The Wall of Polio
Microbe Art
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