I trace the fold : fluidity and flux in the terrain vague

The terrain vague is the interstitial fabric of city life. It is the space between and around the inhabited city – abandoned urban space that constantly shifts in form and function. The terrain vague is found in empty buildings, former factories, parking lots, along the train tracks, and in unclaimed alleyways. In these still and quiet places, a fragmented narrative emerges from the pattern of urban color, texture, and light. I record these patterns in the structure of the textile. Warp and weft interweave in layers of experience. The curtain captures both the substance of our collective memory and the immediacy of light in space. It is a fluid threshold which contains these competing forces along a single surface. These curtains are a meditation on fluidity and flux within the terrain vague. They posit a flexible and democratic space

Aret: a novel regulator of alternative splicing in the flight muscle transcripts in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a model organism for understanding muscle development. Drosophila flight and jump muscles are distinct functionally and biochemically. This distinction is due to differentially expressed genes and differentially spliced mRNA transcripts. The exact mechanism of alternative splicing in somatic muscles is not well characterized. Aret was previously shown to be a transcriptional repressor, and has been implicated in splicing regulation based upon literature analysis and preliminary work. This study aims to define the regulatory role of Aret and the impact of alternative splicing on determining muscle diversification and fiber choice. We indicate the importance of Aret in determining flight muscle structure and function. Without this protein, the animal exhibits molecular and structural changes within the flight muscles. The CELF family proteins are mammalian orthologs of Aret and are involved in regulation of alternative splicing, which suggests the function is evolutionarily conserved between Drosophila and mammals. An incorrect dosage of CELF leads to cardiomyopathies and myotonic dystrophies reinforcing the functional relevance of this family of proteins and Aret