Wishing you a Merry Christmas and all the very best in the year to come !

I have been writing up articles for Protein Spotlight for the past 13 years, doing my best to inject both a human touch and a little bit of art into each one. Earlier this month, I received for the very first time, something with just this mixture from a scientist who had been inspired by one of my recent articles - On Sex, Drugs and Satisfaction - all about neuropeptide F, the lack of sex and Drosophila melanogaster who is prone to turn to the benefits of alcohol if the act of mating has been denied him. It all has to do with a very complex reward system, which seems to be orchestrated - in part - by neuropeptide F.

Clément Bordier is a Swiss scientist whose first love was for membrane proteins. He carries around a book of bound watercolour paper, in which he draws things that have appealed to him one way or another. Upon reading "On Sex, Drugs and Satisfaction", he drew this lovely watercolour, followed by an exchange between himself and the lady who shares his life.

by Clément Bordier

courtesy of the artist, and scientist

A translation:

Neuropeptide F, 36 amino acids

Clément Bordier : "I read that when male Drosophila are rejected by their female counterparts, they head straight for alcohol."

Béa : "No wonder, it looks like a corkscrew!"

Clément Bordier is currently head of a niche biotech company that produces laboratory reagents for the diagnosis of parasitic infections.