As promised some description of the subject of the thesis.
(I got the abstract of his thesis, plus all abstracts of the
chapters etc. 23 pages in all. I haven't had time to read
them all yet, if I find anything additional and useful I will
report later)

title of the thesis: Connexin40 gene variations and human
cardiovascular pathophysiology

subject:
( I hope he does not kill me for missing the important
points)
Various variants of genes are present in the population.
As long as they do not cause a (known) disease these are
called polymorphisms. They might modify the susceptibility
for certain diseases however. In the thesis various polymorphisms
are studied of the connexin40 gap junctions.
Gap junctions are hexagonal pores between (in this case)
cardiac cells. They play an important role in spreading the
electrical activation over the heart. Connexins come in
different variations which one is present depends on the
type of tissue. The Cx40 is present in a.o. the atria of
the heart whereas in the ventricles we mainly have Cx43.
Six Cx40 molecules combine to one hemichannel and match
to another hemichannel of the adjacent cell to form a functional
channel.
In the gene for Cx40 various polymorphisms are known.
Some are in the coding parts and some are in non coding
parts close to the gene.
the influence of these polymorphisms on various heart
diseases in investigated. Even some polymorphisms
in the non coding part can have some influence.
One of the mechanisms proposed is that these polymorphisms
make it possible that proteins or other molecules attach
to these regions and prevent physically the correct
transcription of the Cx40 gene.
(for other mechanisms I will have to read the abstracts)

Possible subjects for an image:
- the heart
- the gene (DNA) and its polymorphisms
- the cell and connexin molecules
- a possible mechanism. One of the thing we discussed
was the idea of two chairs where a fat person makes
it impossible for another to sit on its legitimate
chair.
- something in Lego. Lego is an ideal material
for abstractions of polymorphisms. It may even be
possible to model some lego man on existing
persons like the professor and the PhD student
himself.

Note: some relation between the image and the subject of
the thesis is required, but if you find a interesting
way of visualizing polymorphisms using a couple of
solar systems and Julia fractals, that's fine.

I have opened for this 'contest' an e-mail address at
mehran*mccl.nl

It is not necessary to say in advance that you want to
enter, but if you do I would appreciate you telling me.
We have a deadline and if I fear we will not succeed
because of lack of entries I may have to cancel the
contest and find another way to do the cover.
Also I can keep you updated on new developments if
necessary.

Good luck to everybody

	Andrel

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