<input type="checkbox" id="egg" style="display:none;"><label for="egg" class="easter-label"></label> I’m a medical professional with over 5 years of experience in lab medicine and pharmacy. I'm a former **Medical Lab Assistant** and current **Registered Pharmacy Technician** with expectations to advance my talent as a Certified Pharmacy Technician ([CPhT](https://ptcb.org/credentials/certification/certified-pharmacy-technician)). Between studies and work you can find me pulling a journal paper to read, enjoying an evening fire with friends, taking on a hard-to-beat hike and biking in the city. <br> <iframe src="https://3dproteinimaging.com/protein-imager/?projectId=A1gyzuA2R0QEk1iXjRsK&isUserProject=1&gui=transparent&animate=spin" width="100%" height="300" loading="lazy"></iframe> # Science Visualization Combining art with data has become a deeply satisfying way to decipher our unseeable architecture. I turn to the art of **science visualization** to make complex experimental data shared from researchers worldwide accessible and accurate—**representing the natural world as it actually appears at scales invisible to the eye**. Truly unseeable things are up and dancing to make it all work. > ### Flash-freezing life's nanometer toolkit and casting its shadow by electron beam is called cryo-electron microscopy, or [cryo-EM](https://youtu.be/qc2PbmI5qMw?si=HOvVoLZL2QZKv-PD), and I'm set to lead a career in solving the core architecture of the cell. > --- > ==**WHY?**== > This is my quarter-century problem to develop and define questions that ultimately link a cell's shape to their success globally. > > Essentially, this is an opportunity to dive deep into creating actionable insights behind three biocentric pillars of the 21st century: > - **Illness and Disease**<br>Reducing morbidities and mortalities > <br> > - **Boosting World Ecology**<br>Long-term strategy for natural and environmental disaster > <br> > - **Realizing Human Welfare**<br>Arguing life first and it's adversity <br> By creating visualizations that get to the point across without rolling up your sleeves I help advance transparency and reproducibility in the natural sciences.^[Wilkinson MD, Dumontier M, Aalbersberg IJ, Appleton G, Axton M, Baak A, Blomberg N, Boiten JW, da Silva Santos LB, Bourne PE, Bouwman J. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific data. 2016 Mar 15;3(1):1-9. doi: 10.1038/sdata.2016.18] Learning new ways to spot patterns in real world data should be accessible to anyone, regardless of who they are. Much of my work focuses on how proteins form complex shapes and band together to sustain processes that underlie all life.^[Bustamante C. Molecular machines one molecule at a time. Protein science: a publication of the Protein Society. 2017 Jun 20;26(7):1245. doi: 10.1002/pro.3205] # Insulin Hexagons for Storage ![[lemasterdj_insulin_storage_figure.png]] To better understand the organization of human insulin storage when matched with zinc and calcium ions I created the figure above. In the body, and before insulin can work as normal they first associate to form dimers, or two molecules that bond together. This is the insulin that we need to regular blood sugar called **active insulin**. To prepare insulin to be stored away for later our bodies further associate three of these insulin dimers into a more large, compact 6-piece storage form called an **insulin hexamer** when zinc and calcium are involved in its center. This hexamer is a highly efficient packing pattern inside pancreatic β-cells (beta-cells) and stabilize insulin for short-term storage. Obtaining data from the RCSB Protein Data Bank,^[Berman HM, Burley SK. Protein Data Bank (PDB): Fifty-three years young and having a transformative impact on science and society. Quarterly reviews of biophysics. 2025 Jan;58:e9. doi: 10.1017/S0033583525000034] this is just one example of why I visualize a cell's dynamic nature and how they rearrange what's on the inside to assume different functions. Giving a deeper context to data by eye that's valuable for educational, translational, and clinical communication has been a truly exciting endeavor.^[Ayan E, Engilberge S, Yokoi S, Orlans J, de Sanctis D, Basu S, Rive‐Mathieu E, Kepceoglu A, Mitsutake A, Demirci H. Triple Calcium Binding Stoichiometry in the Monoclinic Crystal Form of Protracted Insulin. Small Structures. 2025 Dec;6(12):e202500398. doi: 10.1002/sstr.202500398] # Contact Got a burning question? Think we'd work well together? Reach out. --- **David LeMaster** Visualizing life's nano-toolkit. **[email protected]** [**(614) 604-2565**](tel:6146042565) [**ORCID**](https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3548-3303) [**LinkedIn**](https://linkedin.com/in/lemasterdj) [**Instagram**](https://instagram.com/lemasterdj) [**Zotero**](https://www.zotero.org/lemasterdj/item-list)