In a compact laboratory within her Plateau apartment, a Montreal scientist is revealing a hidden universe to an audience of millions. Chloé Savard, a 32-year-old microbiologist, has turned her fascination with the microscopic world into a full-time profession, amassing over one million followers on Instagram with videos and images that transform scientific samples into captivating art.
From Pandemic Hobby to Global Phenomenon
What began as a personal project during the pandemic has evolved into a sustainable career for Savard, known online as @Tardibabe. Her work, which she describes as exploring the "microverse," involves examining a vast array of samples under her microscope. From human tears and menstrual blood to animal feces and pond water, nothing is off-limits in her quest to uncover beauty at the smallest scale.
Using an iPhone mounted on an Olympus microscope, Savard captures images with a 3D effect, often enhanced by colourful filters. Her content resonates because it allows people to see the unseen, she explains. "People love to see what they can’t see," Savard said. "And I think I can also create art from something we never thought could be art."
The Science Behind the Spectacle
Savard's process is both artistic and rigorously scientific. A single video can take between 12 to 24 hours to produce, from concept to final edit. She meticulously pairs imagery with sound to create a flowing, meditative experience for viewers. While she once composed her own music for the videos, the demands of her growing career led her to stop.
Her most viral video to date features her own tears drying under the lens, garnering 77 million views and 4.4 million likes. The footage reveals the formation of salts and lipids. Another popular subject was a simple pear, which went viral when she explained the source of its grittiness: "stone cells" that resemble tiny rocks or flower centres.
Her curiosity knows no bounds. In one instance, Savard spent eight hours searching a sample from her own eyebrow to find a face mite, driven by a desire for authenticity for her series "Créatures microscopiques" with Savoir Media. She has even discovered microplastics in her nasal mucus, offering a stark, miniature view of environmental pollution.
Building a Career in the Microverse
Savard's unique niche has attracted attention far beyond social media. She now collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, science museums, and the entertainment industry. Tech giants like Apple and Olympus support her work by providing equipment. She also engages in commercial contracts, where companies lease rights to her videos or commission specific imagery.
Recently, she worked on a project examining period blood combined with pathogens to visually demonstrate the immune system in action. This collaboration with Science Up First aimed to combat misinformation and illustrate how vaccines train the body's defenses. "The white blood cells are going to go and eat (the pathogens)," Savard explained. "It’s to show the immune system in action."
Her endeavors extend to writing a book of images, hosting conferences and workshops, and serving as a columnist for l’Université de Montréal’s research magazine DIRE. Despite the professional demands, she maintains the passion of a hobbyist. "It’s still a hobby because it still brings me joy and I still have the passion and I get excited," she said. "I want to make it significant. … I try to make something that will change people’s lives."
A Resilient Inspiration
Savard's online alias, @Tardibabe, pays homage to her favourite microorganism: the tardigrade, or "water bear." These creatures, measuring a maximum of 0.7 millimetres, are renowned for their incredible resilience, having survived the vacuum of space, X-rays, and extreme physical tests.
She relates to their toughness. A chronic illness forced her to pivot from a previous path studying music and drums to pursuing a bachelor’s degree in microbiology at l’Université de Montréal. This resilience now fuels her mission to find wonder in the minute details of life, reminding her audience that everything in nature is interconnected, even if we cannot see it with the naked eye.
For Chloé Savard, the microverse is more than a career—it's a calling to reveal the hidden beauty and complex science that exists all around us, one magnified image at a time.
