My artwork revolves around the concept of the recently discovered D-amino acids. Amino acids, monomers that form peptide chains, exist in either a D or an L configuration, depending on the chirality. It was once believed that all naturally occurring amino acids existed in only one form of its enantiomers: L-amino acid. However, it has now been proven that D-amino acids are found in various living organisms, such as: mammals, amphibians, crustaceans, rodents, and many invertebrates. I have focused on a characteristic of D-amino acids that fascinates me: their capacity in defense mechanisms. I did a lot of research to understand the reasons as to why they are so effective against most immune systems. Since the victim's defense system is used to only having to attack L-amino acids (which is the most common form of proteins), once it faces D-amino acids, they are not as effective. Though not everybody agrees that D-amino acids are solely beneficial, I undertook a positive point of view, and represented D-amino acid as Super-D. I inspired myself on the famous character Superman, who goes around saving the world. That character is extremely well known, and I wanted to pick a super-hero that would be easily recognized by anyone from ages five to ninety. Superman seemed to be the perfect choice for my artwork. On a big poster, I drew Superman as we know him: blue suit from head to toe; red boots, shorts, cape, and logo; yellow belt and logo. I tried to be as faithful as possible to the real Superman with only one alteration: the logo. Instead of the famous "S", I drew a "D" instead. I turned Superman into Super-D (D stands for Defense)! Another reason as to why I picked Superman was because he has very intense colors on his clothes: red, blue and yellow. I wanted to explore my artistic side and decided to do a collage. Every piece of clothing was a new "layer", making it look a little like three dimensions. I glued the final product on a black poster so as to maximize the effect of the bright colors. Super-D is the biggest part of my artwork, but it is not all. To the right of his head, a quote is written: "Fear not, D-amino acid is here!" This quote is very famous in cartoons where superheroes come and save the day. Once again, I wanted to pick a quote that would be easily recognized by everyone. Because of their resemblances, Super-D can be confused with Superman; therefore, the importance of this quote was crucial to the understanding of the poster. The quote also reinforces the superhero image I am giving to the D-amino acids.

Super-D, on the poster, is standing on the names of certain diseases: cancer, Alzheimer, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and ischemia. The symbolism of Super-D crashing them represents the hope that D-amino acids might be able to cure these diseases, and non-literally "crash" them down. Because these amino acids were unknown to us in the past, there is a lot of hope when it comes to eventually finding a cure to the aforementioned. After all, it is certain that D-amino acids are linked to those diseases in one-way or the other.

Finally, glued beside Super-D, are a few pictures of animals. I have carefully picked those animals for their defense mechanisms. In fact, all of them express D-amino acids in their venoms/defense mechanisms. They were also the first animals where D-amino acids were detected on, way before mammals. They consist of: spiders, snails, frogs, crabs, and snakes. It is fascinating to see the effect of stereochemistry in our everyday lives. Because the D form of the amino acid is rare in nature, it has an advantage over the defense mechanisms of animals that are used to attacking the L form of the enantiomer. A simple mirror image of the L enantiomer may revolutionize science and cure many fatal diseases that remain uncured to this day! All in all, I wanted to do a fun and entertaining artwork containing some important information about D-amino acids and, through the concept of superheroes, relating to a fun period of people's lives - their childhoods.