[slideshow 16226]
Scientists frequently use specialized imaging techniques such as scanning electron microscopy -- also called SEM -- to get extremely close up views of cells, tissue, proteins and membranes. At times those images are gorgeous, but no one sees them, except for other researchers in the lab. What luck, then, that we all get to see these images, which won recognition in a photo competition to celebrate the launch of a new Institute of Bioengineering at Queen Mary University of London. The institute was conceived to develop medical technologies and treatments for patients at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and other major London hospitals.
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: The winning image titled "Bouquet" comes from Kseniya Shuturminska and is a false-colored scanning electron microscopy image of an apatite-like mineral grown in the presence of proteins.
Artificially colored to resemble a volcano crater under eruption, this image shows a micro-hole patterned on a biopolymer membrane. The threadlike fibers result from the self-assembly between the biopolymer and peptides, which are short chains of amino acids.
This SEM image shows a self-assembling peptide and protein membrane; it was colored using GIMP Image Manipulation Program.
Titled "Gelatiamo," this image shows a human skin cell cultured on the surface of a hydrogel made of the natural polymer hyaluronan. The SEM was artificially colored to look like an ice cream ball on a crepe sprinkled with chocolate chips.
"Alligator in the Rain" is a confocal microscopy 3-D image of inflamed tissue. The image shows white blood cells (blue), surrounding lymphatic vessels (green).
Called "Cell Labyrinth," this confocal microscopy image shows a tumor cell that has consumed small interfering RNA nanoparticles (green). The red areas are proteins that help form new blood vessels.
Image of human cells stained for a protein called actin (green), one called tubulin (red) and a structural component known as a basal body (magenta).
These self-assembling nano-tubes are made entirely of a single protein species known as PduA. The black circles represent gold nano-particles that are binding to the nano-tubes' surface.
In this image, collagen (red) and elastin (green) show up in the supportive framework of a tumor.
This image of bone graft granules was taken using the medical imaging program ScanIP and is meant to reveal the material's porosity.