Image of the Month 2013
May - Anatomy of a juvenile Sea Urchin
Image by Shawna Foo - PhD Student; Byrne Lab, (Supervisor: Prof. Maria Byrne); Discipline of Anatomy & Histology, The University of Sydney
This is a transmitted light micrograph of a recently metamorphosed juvenile sea urchin showing the complicated calcareous structures that support the arms and body.
April - Branching mammary epithelial cells
Image by Thomas Owens - Postdoctoral Research Associate; Developmental and Cancer Biology Group (Lab head: Matthew Naylor); Discipline of Physiology, The University of Sydney
Mammary epithelial cells cultured in 3D matrix to form ductal structures. The cells remodel the matrix surrounding them as the structures form. Cells were stably expressing GFP (green), immunostained E-Cadherin (Red) and co-stained with Hoechst 33342 (Blue).
Image captured on Ultraview spinning-disc confocal microscope (Perkin Elmer).
March - Collagen in the airways
Image by Gavin Tjin PhD Candidate - Cell Biology Lab, (Supervisor: Prof. Judy Black); Sydney Medical School, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research.
A section of human airway from a patient without respiratory disease. Second order harmonics were used to visualize fibrillar collagen.
Organised (green) and disorganized (red) collagen and in blue is the autofluorescence/multi-photon excitation fluorescence showing basic tissue structure.
Collagen is present in the extracellular matrix (ECM) throughout the tissue acting as structural support and it has been acknowledged that the ECM is also a bioactive component that can contribute to disease pathology. Image was taken with the Leica Multi-Photon SP5 microscope at 63x magnification.
Final image is stitched from 3 x 3 tiled images.
February - Visualising myofibres within a leg muscle
Image by Lowenna Holt - Senior Postdoc, Diabetes and Metabolism Laboratory (Labhead: A/Prof. Gregory Cooney), Metabolic Diseases, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Mouse Tibialis anterior hindlimb muscle, sectioned through the midbelly region. All muscle fibres within the muscle are delineated by dystrophin stain (green outline). Different types of fibre within the muscle are visualised by fill colour - 2B fibres (red), 2A fibres (green), 2X fibres (no colour).
Muscles are composed of a heterogenous mix of fibre types which are 'fast-twitch' or 'slow-twitch', optimally arranged for speed or endurance, respectively.
Image acquired with a Zeiss Axiovert 200M widefield fluorescence microscope.
January - Flashpoint of dementia - a microaneurysm in the aging, demented brain
Image created by Sivaraman Purushothuman PhD Student, Retinal & Cerebral Neurobiology Lab (Labhead: Prof. Jonathan Stone), Department of Physiology, Bosch Institute, The University of Sydney
The insidious dementias of ageing (Alzheimer’s disease) are believed to be caused by a breakdown of the capillaries of the brain. This image shows the accumulation of the peptide Aβ in the walls of a small-vessel aneurysm, in the neocortex of an aged Alzheimer sufferer. The red label shows surrounding astrocytes, with some abnormal formations. Nuclei are labelled blue.
Image taken at 63x with the Axioplan2 Deconvolution Microscope.