Overview: The Genetic Auralization Project (GAP) involves a novel collaboration of biological scientists and musical composers interested in the creation of a general system for the “auralization” of multivariate data. To facilitate this, researchers from the Center for Creative Studies will be studying the interaction between scientists and artists involved in this project. This will allow us to examine and explore the limits of our understanding. Questions we seek to address include: “How do scientists and artists achieve a common understanding of problems normally associated with areas well outside their own fields?” “How much information can an untrained ear process, and how quickly?” “Does auralization aid in the processing of multivariate statistical data?” “What are the limits to cross-disciplinary collaboration?” “What personality types are best suited to cross-disciplinary interaction?”  The potential of the Genetic Auralization Project is immense. GAP allows for the realization of two of UMKC’s mission areas, to lead in the life and health sciences and to deepen and expand the visual and performing arts through an innovative collaboration, while advancing scientific and artistic research through the generation of new ideas.

Statement of Possibility: The Genetic Auralization Project (GAP) will create a computerized analytical tool that uses multivariate statistical data from comparative genomics and converts it into sound, thus providing “sonic representations” of changes between species at the molecular level. Focusing specifically on patterns found in DNA, this process will facilitate researchers in generating more relevant scientific results, while decreasing data processing time by developing musical analogs that reflect deviations between KA/KS rates and other variables gathered among 16,000 gene pairs currently under study. Once developed, a benefit of this tool will be the ability to convert raw data from any academic field utilizing multivariate data, into sound.

Innovation of the Project: The confluence of art and science would seem a natural fit. Although artists and to a lesser degree, musicians, have turned to science for inspiration in creating new works, scientists have rarely turned to artists to solve problems to assist them with their research. GAP provides a unique opportunity for both scientists and musicians, specifically geneticists and composers, to create new strategies that can assist genetic researchers through the ‘auralization’ of a variety of multivariate data, and offers musicians, an innovative methodology for teaching and composing. By incorporating a second sense for conducting data analysis, namely “hearing” through the aural conversion of statistical data, researchers will be better positioned to capture a more complete reading of their multivariate data that is often lost through “visualization” of data in charts and graphs alone, because the majority of individuals cannot visualize more than three dimensions of data simultaneously. This innovative approach of adding sound as an analytical tool for researchers has broad implications for going beyond the analysis of genomic data into other academic fields which utilize multivariate data as its primary “raw material” such as economics and network traffic analysis. From an artistic perspective, depending on the type of mapping used to convert raw data into sound, musical compositions can be created that showcase this process in research, highlighting the differences between individuals or species while engaging both electronic and acoustic musicians in artistic works based on these techniques. And, from a commercial standpoint, several innovative new products can be realized: A module or “plugin” for existing commercial software packages such as MacClade, Sequencher, or the venerable Wisconsin Package could allow for the sonic visualization of patterns among comparative genomic sequence data. This could be extended to work with software such as Excel, Minitab and others to assist users looking for patterns in data in more than three dimensions or discriminant function analysis such as bioinformatics/proteomics. Outside the scientific arena, new products could be developed that create distinctive, personalized sound, such as a “plugin” for ITunes which can take a person’s DNA and play it, or be adjusted and applied to cell phone rings, personal identification alarm systems, etc.

Intended Outcomes of the Project: The Genetic Auralization Project (GAP) will provide an analytical tool for researchers to track the deviations, primarily the contrary and oblique motion between KA/KS rates between species at the molecular level. By marrying this rate of change statistic with other information about protein expression, gene location, and function, it is possible to identify genes which are behaving in an interesting way evolutionarily; either because they are evolving very rapidly, or are evolving too slowly compared with their peers. By being able to aurally recognize when these multivariate patterns are out of sync, researchers can better determine which genes should be targeted for further bioinformatics research and eventually examined at the bench. This will improve the quality of research being conducted in life science labs throughout our campus and beyond. Success of this project will be measured twofold: by the creation of a usable tool for the aural analysis of multivariate patterns and through scientific publications. Primary outcomes of the project from a musical standpoint will be measured by 1) creating mapping strategies that enable a scientist to hear significant changes without additional musical training; 2) incorporating these data mapping strategies into the classroom within the course CON.534B (Computer Programming for Musicians); and 3) through the development of an interdisciplinary course on collaboration between scientists and musicians. Additional secondary outcomes will be the creation of musical compositions based on these data mapping strategies. Primary outcomes from a biological standpoint will be measured by the identification of sets of genes which are evolving in novel ways during human evolution and the publication of papers regarding those genes and the novel data-mining techniques developed as a result of this grant. And lastly, this project will provide opportunities for studying and documenting the creative process through an innovative cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Contribution to the Strategic Direction of UMKC: Scientists and musicians are two groups often separated by a common language. Differing assumptions and definitions of like terminology lead to misunderstandings that often block fruitful collaboration. This project seeks to break down these barriers and to find a common ground upon which significant contributions can be made to both scientists and composers. Through GAP, an analytical tool for researchers will be created while providing musicians an opportunity to draw from scientific data in the creation of new musical compositions. This dual approach, from science to art, and art to science addresses two of UMKC’s mission areas: Lead in the Life and Health Sciences and to Deepen and Expand the Visual and Performing Arts. A third mission area, Create a Vibrant Learning and Campus Life Experience is realized through the involvement of faculty, research assistants, students and staff from two Academic Units and a Center through experimentation, risk-taking, creativity and innovation. 

Collaboration: Biologists and composers both exercise creative problem solving in their respective fields, but rarely do these two streams of creativity and innovation merge into a single project. The Center for Creative Studies provides opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement of faculty to explore new experiences in support of their research and teaching. GAP seeks to tap both disciplines to improve data processing capabilities, and reveal sources for compositional inspiration and innovation. This project will improve the ability of primary scientists engaged in basic biological research to visualize and interpret the mass data coming from modern genomic studies while increasing opportunities for musicians to experiment with new methodologies in creating musical compositions. GAP is a model of collaboration, engaging two radically different Academic Units and a Center: The School of Biological Sciences, The Conservatory of Music, and the Center for Creative Studies. Its focus provides new opportunities for learning for both faculty and students, while providing new avenues in research, creativity and interdisciplinary cooperation. It embraces differences in learning styles and ideas and encourages honest and candid communication among participants. All parties involved in this project, from faculty to students, have already been confronted with the limits of their own education, assumptions and body of knowledge and understanding: we are all learning to view our disciplines from differing angles. This has already lead to innovative approaches and discoveries for both the composers (Dr. Paul Rudy, Jay Batzner, and David McIntire) and biologists (Dr. Gerald Wyckoff) including radical changes to data order within the comparative genome strings which is already improving the ability of Dr. Wyckoff to identify genes of interest within his data.

The Genetic Auralization Project (GAP) is facilitated by the Center for Creative Studies.