Illustrating the Natural History of Influenza A Viruses through Art

jorie) and I were walking the path along the remnants of Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO world heritage site near the border between England and Scotland. The Romans began building this wall—which extends from the banks of the river Tyne on the west coast to Solvay Firth on the east coast of England—ostensibly to keep the “barbarian” Scots from plundering their English territory. During lunch in a local pub, we discovered in a local publication a picture of a wonderful stained glass window depicting a dragon. We arranged to visit the artist, Jenny Hammond, at her nearby farm in Highgreenleycleugh, Northumberland, England, where we viewed her stained glass works firsthand and commissioned her to create a unique stained glass window that would detail the natural history of influenza. After we returned to our home in Memphis, Tennessee, we sent Hammond several review articles and electron micrographs to provide her some background on influenza A viruses. Hammond, in turn, shared her ideas through penciled sketches and over