Highly detailed and realistic oil painting on panel of three green glowing mice in a strawberry patch underneath a starry night sky The scene was inspired by actual glowing mice created by Stanford engineers who inserted bioluminescent jellyfish DNA into the rodents

Detail of one of the three glowing mice in Transgenic Mice

Detail of s bundle of wild strawberries underneath the starry night sky in Transgenic Mice

Close up of the center of Transgenic Mice

Isabella Kirkland American, b. 1954

Transgenic Mice, 2018

oil, alkyd, and phosphorescent pigment on panel

12 x 16 in
30.5 x 40.6 cm

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In 1974 scientists created the first genetically modified mammal by inserting a DNA into a mouse embryo… but those mice did not pass that gene to their offspring. In the 1980’s the technique was refined and it became possible to make genetic manipulations, which were passed to subsequent generations—the first “transgenic creatures.” The transgenic glow-in-the-dark mice in Isabella Kirkland’s painting have had their genetic code spliced with that of phosphorescent jellyfish.