SONS DES CELLULES : IMMUNOLOGIE, CANCER, ET SOINS

CELL SOUNDS: IMMUNOLOGY, CANCER, AND CARE

   

 

Transdisciplinary projects initiated under the 2024-2025 Chair of Research-Creation with the IMéRA Institute of Advanced Study and the Institut Cancer et Immunologie, Aix-Marseille Université, exploring sonic, visual, and kinesthetic-somesthetic dimensions of cellular life, immunology, cancer, and care through data sonification, sound art, biomedical imaging and more.

The objectives include translation, reimagining, and remodeling of immunological, oncological, and therapeutic research through immersive and participatory formats, for the purpose of scientific and therapeutic advancement and social engagement.

Selection of example sketches (more to be added soon)…

PROJECT INTRO

PORTRAITS WITH/OUT CANCER
An original composition created with the voice of a cancer survivor sharing his journey, and focused on bringing dignity to the emotional resonance of his lived experience. [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

SPATIAL TRANSCRIPTOMICS SONIFIED
Sonification mapping gene expression in tumor microenvironment using spatial transcriptomic data (Multi omics analysis revealing transition to invasive breast cancer, Lin et al., GEO, 2025). [This STOMICS piece is designed to also play in tandem with Cytotoxicity Interactive Sound Installation, as heard in Cytoxicity video further below.] [CLICK FOR DETAILS] Click anywhere in the timeline to immediately hear different gene expressions…

CYTOTOXICITY: INTERACTIVE SOUND INSTALLATION
Participatory Sound-Movement Installation. [This cytotoxicity piece is designed to also play simultaneously with the STOMICS piece as heard at end of video below.] [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

BODY of DATA
A choral and organ translation of correspondence with a data-protection officer, treating our two voices and the system’s metadata as an institutional ‘body’ managing exposure and protection… [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

HIV
Rhythmically and visually remixing a 2005 dance-performance video collaboration (with Matthew DeGumbia) exploring HIV serodiversity, together with time-lapse fluorescence microscopy (showing an immune cell engulfing HIV-1-infected Jurkat T cells in Baxter et al., 2014). [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

CYTOTOXIC MEDICINE: TRADITION & SCIENCE
Data translation and inspiration in an audiovisual composition bridging Mediterranean folk songs, remedies, and cancer biochemistry. Provençal songs are performed on Arundo Donax reeds combined with layers of electroacoustic composition and DNA/RNA transcriptional sonifications of traditional medicinal ingredients (e.g., Arundo Donax, wine yeast, honey, endophytes). The piece opens with a codon-based sonification of Arundo donax’s nucleotide sequence. These sounds are presented with thermal imagery that reflect the biophysical transformation of materials. [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

VIBROACOUSTIC DILATANT DATA
A series of vibroacoustic explorations of data-driven sonification-cymatification-haptification. This series uses dilatant (shear-thickening) fluids to visualize and physically manifest data from biology and neuroscience. Vibrations driven by sonified cellular motion, molecular force measurements, and brain activity generate dynamic cymatic patterns—transforming data into audible, visible, and tactile phenomena. With collaborations involve scientists across immunology, nanophysics, and sleep research, these pieces propose a visceral bridge between body, data, and matter. [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

PART I: INTRO
Musical vibrations drive dilatant fluid into expressive, elastic motion—revealing its responsiveness and “body-like” organic quality of movement… [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

PART II: CELL MOTION
Nanoscale imaging of zebrafish immune cell motion is translated into frequencies to animate dilatant fluid motion as a macroscopic visual and haptic analogue to cell motion… [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

PART III: AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy)
Acoustic signals derived from nanomechanical force measurements of unbinding events are translated to drive patterns that mimic nanoscale tension and release… [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

PART IV: EEG
Brainwave data from Slow Wave Sleep is scaled to sonic frequencies that ripple across the fluid surface—visualizing the rhythms of sleep and cellular repair…. [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

COVID: AFM & DNA
Projects in collaboration w/ Felix Rico & Claire Valotteau (DyNaMo Lab), Atomic Force Microscopy audification of COVID protein spike bonding-rupture events combined with sonification of the COVID protein spike genomic transcription… [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

MARINE IMMUNITIES & ECOLOGIES (EAR in a SHELL)
This system integrated genomic sonifications of mollusk, Vibrio tapetis, and Mediterranean coral DNA with environmental recordings captured via hydrophone and geophone in the Mediterranean. Developed with input from CNRS researchers Christine Paillard and Jeremie Brugidou, within the larger Conceptual Transplants project, this system explores microbial intimacy, immunological permeability, and ecological fragility through breath-controlled synthesis, real-time DNA mapping, and spectral/granular audio processing. DNA and microbial sequences were layered alongside processed field recordings to construct an immersive oceanic texture, making audible the entanglements of species, systems, and environments. The system was utilized in a collaborative performance with Diemo Schwarz (visual synthesis via CoCAVS, digital and spatial audio; IRCAM), Olympia Boule (voice and percussion), Aline Pénitot (multichannel audio), and Nils Raymond (audio engineering and technical system coordination), which was presented by the Conceptual Transplants Collective at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. [click here for more info.]

BIO-LUMI-SOUNDS
Bioluminescence sonifications (projects in collaboration w/ Jeremie Brugidou, IMéRA, CNRS). There are several conceptual links to cancer research I aimed to make here. Light plays a paradoxical role in cancer—causing mutations (UV radiation) yet enabling imaging and treatment (fluorescence-guided surgery, radiation therapy). The luxA gene, responsible for bacterial bioluminescence, evolved to neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS), the same molecules that drive both cancer progression and treatments like radiation therapy. In these interactive installation proof-of-concept examples, I sonify luxA’s RNA sequence and modulate it using real-time bioluminescence, triggered by movement-driven oxidation. The process mirrors how oxygen interacts with cancer biology—both fueling damage and serving as a therapeutic tool. It explores light as a force of both survival and destruction, from microbial adaptation to modern oncology. Finally, the visual of the disturbed and activated bioluminescence evokes for me the  recordings of nanoscale 3D imaging of immune cell motion. 

GLIAL
This audiovisual piece emerges from research generously shared by the GlioME team and from on-site recordings they graciously made with me. It weaves together sounds from the lab, microscopy videos, transcriptomic imagery, immune profiling data, and the voices of researchers. These materials are engaged to explore resonance and relationships between cells, images, instruments, and language. The piece reflects a shared space of attention shaped by both scientific inquiry and artistic exploration. [Examples to be added soon.] [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

EEG: REST & REPAIR
An interactive installation and data interpretation tool, developed in collaboration with Peter Simor (Université Libre de Bruxelles & Budapest Laboratory of Sleep and Cognition), exploring sonification, visualization, and haptification of multichannel EEG recordings across the full human sleep cycle. Each of 20 EEG channels is streamed and transformed into a continuously modulated tone, allowing real-time interactive exploration — users can adjust volume, timbre, or mute individual channels to compare signals and discover spatial and temporal neural patterns. Evolving from downsampled melodic mappings to high-resolution frequency modulation, the system produces a tightly coupled choir of EEG voices for auditory and multimodal pattern recognition and immersive neurophenomenological insight. [Examples to be added soon.] [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

IMMUNOTHERAPY
Programming sonification systems to translate data into sound and music…

CURIOSITY & PLEASURE
Curiosity is at the heart of transdisciplinary research-creation. In a project with neuropsychologist Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells and colleagues, I was curious to sonify data from their study, in which participants self-rated either pleasure or curiosity during two live performances of a piece by Arvo Pärt. Initially, I created a sonification designed to accompany the original work. Later, I removed Pärt’s music and adjusted the tempo to see whether the data-driven piece could stand on its own. One of several intriguing questions raised is whether music generated from responses to music could evoke predictably similar or different affective responses in its listeners. [Examples to be added soon.] [CLICK FOR DETAILS]

Chair, Research-Creation
Institut Cancer & Immunologie, IMéRA Institute for Advanced Study,
Aix-Marseille Université