The series came directly from a conversation with Dr. Mark DeCoster, who was researching cancer growth and treatment through the use of nanotechnology. He tended to be the only person in his office and lab very late at night, and so most of the lights in the building were scheduled to be off, which gave our conversations the right ambience.

One night he said “I want to interrogate the nervous system,” and I just could not get that out of my head. I immediately pictured him in his darkly lit lab, rather than a private eye in an inconspicuous car, watching his suspect night after night. It gave me a theme to attach to their work, an analogy, which is something both science and art require.

Film noir was the perfect idea for me, because the villains in this genre are often cruel, ambivalent and strange … which to me are the perfect words to describe cancer.