Stem cells stay put

This draft illustration depicts how surface proteins on stem cells can be used to both immobilize the cells on a functionalized polymer surface (literally making them stay put), and to send signals to the nucleus that keep the cells from differentiating (figuratively staying put). This is one of the projects I'm working on today, and right now it's the signals to the nucleus bit that I'm trying to incorporate. This is one of those that presents the challenge of showing two very different scales in one still image (angstroms to microns here). Here I'm using the old stand-by of the inset. Another way is to draw a magnifying glass over a region, but I'm usually also striving for simplicity. Maybe this is why I like animation so much, since panning in and out solves that problem easily. In fact, I'm working on an animation for this same client that does just that, and will post that soon!