As a kid, Luísa Amado, now a neuroscience graduate student at the University of Coimbra, always had a sketch pen in her hand. “I have a bunch of childhood photos of me drawing in the living room,” said Amado.
Luísa Amado is a neuroscience graduate student at the University of Coimbra.
Luísa Amado
Growing up, she continued dabbling in drawing as she ventured into the world of biology for her education. As a master’s student at VIB-KU Leuven, Amado would often sketch everyday situations she observed in the lab. After completing her degree, she gifted her drawings to her lab mates, who nudged her to share her work with a broader audience.
With this encouragement, Amado launched an Instagram page called Quirky Luisa, a series of sketches that chronicle the life of scientists in a fun and relatable manner while also highlighting the intricacies of academic culture. Over time, the project has grown as a science communication platform, with Amado also collaborating with institutions to create science illustrations.
However, when she started out, Amado did not intend to use Quirky Luisa to communicate science. In the beginning, she used her drawings to portray quirky lab experiences. “With time, I started to realize [that] this could be a bit more than just funny strips, and [decided to] make it useful,” she said.
So, she started communicating concepts like basic versus translational research and the scientific method. She also illustrated the challenges of life in the lab, like working for days at a time on an experiment and it going wrong at the last stage. With these projects, Quirky Luisa’s Instagram page grew to nearly 6,000 followers from all across the globe, leaving Amado surprised about how many people have connected with the series.
Quirky Luisa chronicles researchers’ life in the lab.
Luísa Amado
She believes this highlights an important aspect of academia. “I feel like the struggles are the same,” remarked Amado. In fact, the comments under her posts often turn into conversations, with strangers becoming a support group for each other.
Going forward, she hopes to create more sketches that convey the human aspect of science. “I would like to…have this representation of the common scientist [who] is not super smart, [who] doesn’t live in a basement, and doesn’t produce weird viruses.”
She believes this is particularly important given the public perception of science at the moment. “We really need to…make the scientist look like a trustworthy figure,” said Amado. “And it can start with very small conversations and…these funny things to just lighten the mood and allow for a more honest discussion.”