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Image Contest 2023

We are so thankful for all our 2023 Image Contest Contributors!!!

The Top 3 Images are:

It takes two to Tanglow – Derrick Kamp
Neuronal forest – Marko Pende
Young mouse sagittal unstained section – Michael Shribak

Core Facility with the most users entering the contest: MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

Honorable Mentions: (alpha. order)

Tick – José Manuel Martínez López
Squid creatures – Marko Pende
Young kelp blades – Nat Prunet
Leaf Walker – Hannah Somers

Young mouse sagittal unstained section – Michael Shribak

Giant Tardigrade from Space – Hannah Somers

I’m not alone – José Manuel Martínez López

Lactic splash – José Manuel Martínez López

Luminous Cityscape A Neurological Night Odyssey – Frederic Bonnet

Neon Fly in the Machine – Frederic Bonnet

Peering into the Goblin’s Lair – Frederic Bonnet

Comparing Healthy and Diseased Muscle Cells – Protein Aggregates at the Forefront – Philipp Dexheimer

Microscopic Metropolis – Philipp Dexheimer

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon – Ensiyeh Ghanizadeh-Kazerouni (1)

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon – Ensiyeh Ghanizadeh-Kazerouni (2)

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon – Ensiyeh Ghanizadeh-Kazerouni (3)

Pink Plush: The intestinal cancerous stroma – Klea Nito

Fig1-2. Polar SIM imaging of Actin. Fig3. Tricolor imaging of Mitochondria Microfilament Microtubule. Fig4. Microtubule-mitochondrial bicolor imaging. – Airy Tech

Centrohelid heliozoan Raphidocystis – Vasily Zlatogursky

Centrohelid heliozoan Acanthocystis. – Vasily Zlatogursky

Cross section of a Fraser fir needle showing an abundance of poly phenolic cells (blue) induced through exogenous application of the defense phytohormone methyl jasmonate. Image was captureD using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). – Sai Karthik Gade

stellate trichomes of oak – Michael Shribak

The Cytoskeleton of a Fibroblast and it’s Daughter – Daryan Chitsaz

Reflection Microscopy: Visualizing Reflective Brain Cell Membranes As They Grow – Daryan Chitsaz

Fibronectin labeling in tissue-cleared 64-cell stage axolotl embryo – Samuel Broadbent

It Takes Two to Tanglow – Derrick Kamp

University of Connecticut
Marine Biological Laboratory Central Microscopy Facility

A hatchling Euprymna berryi squid (rainbow) with it’s bioluminescent bacterial symbiont, Vibrio fischeri (white) in the squid light organ. The squid and bacteria form a symbiotic partnership: the bacteria provide a soft glowing light that masks the squid’s shadow from predators, while the squid provides ideal growing conditions to the bacteria.

Sample: A hatchling Euprymna berryi squid inoculated with its bacterial symbiont, Vibrio fischeri. Squid was optically cleared using DEEP-Clear.
Label: Squid nuclei (rainbow) are stained with DAPI and depth coded. Bacterial symbiont (white) expresses GFP as a reporter
Instrument: Zeiss LSM 780 10X objective
Scale: Image represents ~3mm x 4mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a depth-coded, maximum projection of intensities from a z-stack that was ~500um thick. Image stitched using Zen software.

Neuronal forest – Marko Pende

MDIBL
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

Lost in the thoughts of an cortical forest

Sample: Thy1-EGFP mouse brain, Tissue-cleared with CLARITY showing cortical neurons
Label: Endogenous EGFP signal in Thy1 neurons
Instrument: Light-sheet microscopy, Custom built, 12xNA 0.53
Scale: 750umx500um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: 250um

Young mouse sagittal unstained section – Michael Shribak

Marine Biological Laboratory

The label-free image was taken by microscope Olympus IX83 equipped with 40x objective lens and the polychromatic polarizing module The specimen was illuminated by polarized white light with a spectral fan of polarization ellipses. (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep17340). The image is in real color, where the brightness corresponds to retardance and the hue linearly proportional to the slow axis orientation.

Sample: Young mouse sagittal unstained section
Label: label-free
Instrument: polychromatic polarizing microscopy, Olympus IX83, objective 10x/0.3NA
Scale: 45 mm x 30 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: image stitching by Olympus cellSens, background subtraction by ImageJ

Tick – José Manuel Martínez López

Química Tech

The colors in this image are not fluorescence but color-coded to show relative height within the sample. Purples are near to the front lens of the objective while red and oranges are a bit far from the microscope objective.

Sample: Color coded projection of a tick
Label: Image captured in 3 channels 408, 488 and 555nm
Instrument: LSM700 with 2.5x/0.06 and lasers 405, 488 and 555
Scale: 734 um x 734 um and 229um ZStack
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This a color-coded projection from a Z-Stack of 50 slides and 229um in total.

Squid creatures – Marko Pende

MDIBL
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

Creatures from out of space

Sample: Hawaiian Bobtail Squid and Longfin Inshore Squid tissue cleared with the DeepClear method
Label: Nervous system labelled with Acetylated Tubulin
Instrument: Light-sheet microscope, Custom built, 4x NA 0.28
Scale: 4mmx2.5mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: MIP from two z-stacks. Hawaiian Bobtail Squid 1702um, Longfin Inshore Squid 1542um. The images were 3D rendered by using the AMIRA software

Young kelp blades – Nat Prunet

UNC Chapel Hill
Biology Microscopy Core

Young kelp blades

Sample: Laminaria saccarina, a brown algae. The leaf-like structures are young diploid sporophytic blades that emerged after fertilization; the filamentous structures are haploid gametophytes. Live specimen, stained with calcofluor white dissolved in sea water
Label: Cell walls stained with Calcofluor white (green), and chlorophyll autofluorescence (magenta)
Instrument: Confocal, Zeiss LSM880, 10x/0.45
Scale: this image represents 1038 x 1038 microns
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Maximum intensity projection from a 65 micron thick z-stack with 2.7 micron sections

Leaf Walker – Hannah Somers

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

A beautiful tardigrade crawling on a leaf.

Sample: Tardigrade
Label: Lipid stain is shown in blue, DAPI staining is shown in yellow, autofluorescence is magenta
Instrument: Fluorescent microscopy was done on the Nikon Ti-E YokoGawa CSU-W1 / Nikon C2+ using the 60x oil objective, N.A. 1.40
Scale: 1mm x 0.5 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This image required z-stack and tiling, and is a maximum intensity projection.

2001, A Space Eyedyssy – Hannah Somers

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

A zebrafish eye that looks like a nebula in outerspace.

Sample: Zebrafish
Label: Blood vessels are tagged with GFP using crispr, shown in magenta. White is autofluorescence.
Instrument: Fluorescent microscopy was conducted using the Nikon Ti-E YokoGawa CSU-W1 / Nikon C2+, the 40x Air objective was used N.A. 0.95
Scale: This image represents 2 mm x 1 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: A z-stack was taken and represented using maximum intensity projection.

Giant Tardigrade from Space – Hannah Somers

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

In green this tardigrade is labeled with lysotracker, which allows us to see lysosomes using pH sensitive staining. A Brightfield image was taken as well to show structures of the tardigrade.

Sample: Tardigrade
Label: Lysotracker labeling is shown in green, autofluorescence in magenta.
Instrument: Fluorescent microscopy was done on the Zeiss LSM 980 – Airyscan 2 / MP using the 63x oil objective, N.A. 1.40.
Scale: This image represents 1 mm x 0.5 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This image was taken with a z-stack and tiles, and represented using a maximum intensity projection.

Fission yeast: monochrome – Yuan Ren

Yale University
Yale West Campus Imaging Core

A monolayer of yeast cells are visualized by expressing fluorescent proteins. The enrichment of fluorescent proteins in the nucleus highlights the difference in the number and shape of nuclei in each cell. The diversity of subcellular structures and the dynamic nature of life can be appreciated even in monocolor.

Sample: Fission yeast
Label: Overexpressed GFP diffuses in the cytoplasm and enriches in the nucleus.
Instrument: Spinning disc confocal, Nikon TiE, 100X objective
Scale: 104 um X 58.5 um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a maximum projection of intensities from a z-stack that was 10 um thick, with 0.5 um sectioning.”

I’m not alone – José Manuel Martínez López

Química Tech

Our bodies have millions of cells, but this one “decided” to float alone in a solution of tequila on the microscope slide.

Sample: Epithelial cell in differential interference contrast in reflected light.
Label: Unlabeled, unstained
Instrument: DIC in reflected light with AxioImager M2, Epiplan Neofluoar 20x/0.5, camera axiocam 503
Scale: 697×526 um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This epithelial cell from my inner cheek was obtained with a cotton swab and observed in DIC in reflected light. Then, the image was de-noised with Lightroom software. However, the color observed remained as in the original file. The image was captured in an exercise to contrast cells without any staining process. The colors in this image are interference colors and are the result of the mechanical stress in the liquid.

Lactic splash – José Manuel Martínez López

Química Tech

The colors in this image are interference colors and are produced by the mechanical stress in the saturated solution of lactic acid that is about to crystallize. It is possible to change the colors by changing the orientation of the polarizers or by changing the superficial tension of the solution.

Sample: This a saturated solution of lactic acid observed in differential interference contrast in reflected light
Label: Contrast by polarized light. the observed colors are interference colors.
Instrument: Differential Interferences Contrast in reflected light. AxioImager M2 , Epipla Apochromat 10x/03, camera AxioCam 503 camera adapter 0.63x
Scale: 1.4mm x 1.05 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: The image was taken in a single channel, then split in RGB channels and recombined again. Then, I optimized brightness and contrast for each individual RGB channel. Finally, I denoise the image in Lightroom.

Luminous Cityscape A Neurological Night Odyssey – Frederic Bonnet

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

“Luminous Cityscape: A Neurological Night Odyssey” transports viewers into an awe-inspiring exploration of the microscopic world, where the beauty of neuroscience intertwines with the vast expanse of the cosmos. This captivating piece of art unveils the intricate neuronal network of a drosophila embryo, artfully imaged to highlight the fascinating web of neurons, revealing the remarkable complexities that guide the embryo’s development. the intricate pathways that govern its development.

Sample: Drosophila embryo
Label: Neurons expressing mcherry
Instrument: Spinning-disk confocal unit (CSU-W1, Yokogawa, Japan) on a Nikon inverted Ti-Eclipse microscope stand (Nikon Instruments Inc., Japan), equipped with a Nikon Plan Apo λ 10x/0.45NA.
Scale: this image represents 2.458 mm x 5.857 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a maximum projection of intensities from a z-stack that was 84 um thick, with 2.9 um initial sectioning. Auto-fluorescence from the gut was isolated from the neuron staining and processed with different LUT on FIJI. Glowing effect done in Photoshop.

Neon Fly in the Machine – Frederic Bonnet

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

This cyberpunk-inspired image gives a colorful twist to the common fruit fly. The vivid purples, pinks and blues transform the tiny Drosophila into a glowing neon specimen, poised amid the wires and circuits of technology. Captured under the microscopic gaze of a confocal lens, the fly’s intricately-patterned wings and light-refracting cuticle radiate an otherworldly brilliance. Like an electric dragonfly, it seems to power the very machine it inhabits. At once beautiful and unsettling, this illuminated insect represents both the natural and the technological – two worlds colliding in a surreal, futuristic landscape.

Sample: Drosophila on a slide, mounted in nail polish
Label: autofluorescence imaged with DAPI, eGFP,568 ANd 647 channels
Instrument: Spinning-disk confocal unit (CSU-W1, Yokogawa, Japan) on a Nikon inverted Ti-Eclipse microscope stand (Nikon Instruments Inc., Japan), equipped with a Nikon Plan Apo λ 4x/0.2NA objective lens
Scale: 5,185 mm X 5,181mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Tilling and stitching. Maximum projection of intensities from a z-stack that was 580 um thick, with 20um initial sectioning. LUT were processed with FIJI and enhanced with Photoshop

Peering into the Goblin’s Lair – Frederic Bonnet

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL Light Microscopy Facility

This colorized microscopy image offers a glimpse into the hidden cellular world of Norman Osborn and his villainous alter ego, the Green Goblin. The purple membranes shimmer under the Zeiss microscope’s lens, revealing Osborn’s labyrinthine intracellular realm. Gold nuclei glint like sinister riches while green cytoplasmic vesicles swirl like vats of mysterious serums. This microscape resembles the Goblin’s secret and scintillating sanctum, filled with scientific treasures and terrible wonders. Yet even the most powerful microscopes can barely unveil the depths of Norman’s complex and chaotic cellular kingdom.

Sample: Pig kidney cells
Label: DAPI for the nuclei, GFP for the cytoplamic vesivle and Magenta for the membran.
Instrument: Zeiss Imager M2 with apotome 2 equipped with a Zeiss plan Apo 63X/1.4NA oil objective
Scale: 210um X 210um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: 2D image after Apotome processing to remove the blur. Image open and color coded with FIJI and enhance using Photoshop.

Wall of lamps – Viraj Doddihal

Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Microscopy Core, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Cells of the epidermis are the wall that separates that animal from the environment and the nuclei of these cells are the light of the wall.

Sample: Planarian epidermis
Label: Membrane marked by Concalvilin-A and nuclei labeled by DAPI
Instrument: Nikon Spinning disk, 40X
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Sum projections of 5 z-sections of 0.8 microns each. Sum projection was processed to subtract background

Oodles of worms – Philipp Dexheimer

IMP Vienna
BioOptics Vienna BioCenter

In a hidden realm beneath the soil’s velvet embrace, a mesmerizing spectacle unfolds: a bustling metropolis of microscopic creatures, nematodes, writhe and coil in an intricate ballet of life. This image depicts a dense pile of freshly hatched nematodes and resembles a living galaxy in which each individual is a mere speck in the grand tapestry of biology. Their translucent bodies shimmer with ethereal beauty, bustling with activity as they sculpt the soil’s secrets and nurture Earth’s unseen wonders.

Sample: C. elegans, L1 larval stage
Label: Labelfree
Instrument: Axio Imager.Z2
Scale: 300µm x 300µm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a single focal plane DIC image of freshly hatched C. elegans larvae

Comparing Healthy and Diseased Muscle Cells – Protein Aggregates at the Forefront – Philipp Dexheimer

IMP Vienna
BioOptics Vienna BioCenter

In this visual representation of cellular health, we observe a dichotomy between a healthy muscle cell on the left, and a diseased counterpart afflicted with protein aggregates on the right. The healthy muscle cell, characterized by its robust structure, exhibits well-organized myofibrils and a smooth, uniform appearance. In contrast, the affected cell on the right displays a conspicuous accumulation of protein aggregates, disrupting its structural integrity. This scientific portrayal highlights the cellular intricacies underlying muscle health and the pronounced impact of protein aggregation in pathological conditions, emphasizing the importance of maintaining cellular homeostasis for overall physiological well-being.

Sample: C. elegans body wall muscle cells
Label: Endogenous muscle myosin, UNC-54, tagged with GFP
Instrument: Spinning Disk Confocal Olympus IX83
Scale: 100 µm x 57 µm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a maximum intensity projection from a z-stack that was 10 µm thick, with 200 nm initial sectioning. The image was processed using Fiji

Microscopic Metropolis – Philipp Dexheimer

IMP Vienna
BioOptics Vienna

In a hidden realm beneath the soil’s velvet embrace, a mesmerizing spectacle unfolds: a bustling metropolis of microscopic creatures, nematodes, writhe and coil in an intricate ballet of life. This dense pile of nematodes resembles a living galaxy, where each individual resembles a mere speck in the grand tapestry, Their translucent bodies shimmer with ethereal beauty bustling with activity as they sculpt the soil’s secrets and nurture the Earth’s unseen wonders.

Sample: C. elegans, freshly hatched L1s
Label: no label
Instrument: Zeiss Axio Imager.Z2 (upright)
Scale: This image represents 300 µm x 300 µm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a single focal plane DIC image that has been artificially colored using Photoshop

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon – Ensiyeh Ghanizadeh-Kazerouni (1)

University of British Columbia
UBC Bioimaging Facility

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon

Sample: Gill tissue
Label: PCNA and NKA antibodies
Instrument: Confocal microscopy
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a composite maximum projection intensities from a z-stack that was 120 um thick, with 8 um optical sectioning

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon – Ensiyeh Ghanizadeh-Kazerouni (2)

University of British Columbia
UBC Bioimaging Facility

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon

Sample: https://www.bioimaging.ubc.ca/
Label: ZN-12 and 5-HT antibodies
Instrument: Confocal microscopy
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a composite maximum projection of intensities from a z-stack that was 192 um thick, with 8 um optical sectioning.

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon – Ensiyeh Ghanizadeh-Kazerouni (3)

University of British Columbia
UBC Bioimaging Facilities

Regenerated gill tissue in Atlantic salmon

Sample: Gill tissue
Label: ZN-12 & 5-HT antibodies
Instrument: Confocal microscopy
Scale:
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a composite maximum projection of intensities from a z-stack that was 488 um thick, with 8 um optical sectioning.

The Heart hairs – Dina Hosseini Baygi

Simon Fraser University
Nikon Ti2 Spinning disc confocal microscopy

Honor to say These images are the first cytoskeleton (microtubule ) staining on human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. This is the critical component for proper cell signaling, positioning, and contraction in heart cells.

Sample: Human pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocyte, Immunocytochemistry.
Label: This is the first time that microtubule in hiPSC-CM get stained by me in the world. The images are Tyrosinated alpha tubulin , Alexa 488 + DAPI
Instrument: Nikon Ti2 spinning disc confocal microscopy
Scale: resolution= 10 micrometer
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Max projection of intensities with Z steps 0.3um, image processing was done by MATLAB.

Green yarn – Dina Hosseini Baygi

Simon Fraser University
Nikon Ti 2 spinning disc confocal microscopy

Many components come together to give life to our heart, leading it to beat, aiding in love, allowing us to feel life, and enabling survival. I have stained one of these components for the first time in hiPSC-CMs, the cytoskeleton, which supports the cell in transmitting cellular cargo and positioning the other components.

Sample: Human pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocyte
Label: Alpha tubulin, Alexa488+DAPI
Instrument: Nikon Ti2 Spinning disc confocal microscopy
Scale: resolution 10 um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Max projection, Z steps = 0.3um , image processing was done by MATLAB

Red Hair – Dina Hosseini Baygi

Simon Fraser University
Nikon Ti2 spinning disc confocal microscopy

This high-resolution microscopy image depicts detyrosinated alpha-tubulin within human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, achieved through indirect immunocytochemistry.

Sample: Human pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocyte
Label: Detyrosinated alpha tubulin-Alexa 633+DAPI
Instrument: Immunocytochemistry-nikon Ti2 spinning disc confocal microscopy, objective 60x water
Scale: resolution:10um / ROI :1626*1160 um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Max projection of intensities, Z steps = 0.3 um , image processing was done by MATLAB

Lily pollen grain – Nat Prunet

UNC Chapel Hill
Biology Microscopy Core

Lily pollen grain

Sample: Lily pollen grain
Label: Autofluorescence, inverted LUT
Instrument: Confocal, Zeiss LSM880, 63x/1.4 oil
Scale: 76 x 70 microns
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Maximum intensity projection of a 50 micron thick z-stack with 0.6 micron sections

strange fruits – Caramai Kamei

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL LMF

This image shows the actin cytoskeleton at the apical lumenal surface of the collecting duct in the zebrafish kidney and a subset of actin rich cells embedded in the epithelium that look like strange fruits budding off a tree

Sample: zebrafish whole mount kidney
Label: Factin AF594 phalloidin, nuclei hoechst
Instrument: Zeiss 980 Airy Scan 2 63x/1.4
Scale: 78.38 x 78.38 microns
Image or Sample Processing Steps: max projection of zstack 22 slices 0.15micron interval

blowout – Caramai Kamei

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL LMF

This image highlights blown up/cystic sections of kidney tubule after injury

Sample: zebrafish whole mount kidney
Label: Factin AF594 phalloidin
Instrument: Zeiss 980 Airy Scan 2, 10x/0.45
Scale: 493.87 x 493.87 microns
Image or Sample Processing Steps: max projection of confocal zstack

galaxy – Caramai Kamei

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDIBL LMF

GFP+ stem cells moving through the complex environment of the kidney

Sample: zebrafish whole mount kidney
Label: Factin AF594 phalloidin in magenta, GFP+ kidney stem cells AF488 in green
Instrument: Zeiss 980 Airy Scan 2, 10x/0.45
Scale: 493.87 x 493.87 microns
Image or Sample Processing Steps: max projection of confocal zstack 6 slices, brightness and contrast adjusted in FIJI

Pink Plush: The intestinal cancerous stroma – Klea Nito

University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut – Advanced Light Microscopy

Pink Plush

Sample: Human Colorectal Cancer cells/ fibroblasts, epithelium and connective tissue
Label: Collagenase (MMP) 1 in Alexa 647; E-cadherin (epithelium) in Alexa 547; Vimentin (fibroblasts) in Alexa 488
Instrument: Confocal microscopy
Scale: 636.4 x 636.4 um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Max projection of intestines from a z-stack of a 8 um thick section; the images were edited using Fiji ImageJ

Fig1-2. Polar SIM imaging of Actin. Fig3. Tricolor imaging of Mitochondria Microfilament Microtubule. Fig4. Microtubule-mitochondrial bicolor imaging. – Airy Tech

Airy Technology Co., Ltd
Polar-SIM

Fig1-2. Polar SIM imaging of Actin
Fig3. Tricolor imaging of Mitochondria Microfilament Microtubule
Fig4. Microtubule-mitochondrial bicolor imaging

Sample: U2OS Cell
Label: Fig1-2. Actin labeled with Alexa Fluor 555-phalloidin. Fig3. Actin labeled with Alexa Fluor 555-phalloidin; Mitochondria labeled with Alexa Fluor 488; Tubulin labeled with Alexa Fluor 633. Fig4. Mitochondria labeled with PK Mito Red; Tububin labeled with SiR-Tubulin.
Instrument: Polar-SIM mode imaging with Airy Polar-SIM microscope with 100X oil objective (Nikon, 1.49NA)

Centrohelid heliozoan Raphidocystis – Vasily Zlatogursky

University of British Columbia

This is a tiny heliozoan (sun-like microscopic single-celled organism). Heliozoans are predotors, ray-like tentacles serve for catching prey.

Sample: Raphidiophrys sp., found in Vancouver, Queen Elizabeth park, little ponds with some macrophytes in water sampled on 2023-07-03.
Label: unstained
Instrument: Differential Interference contrast, Zeiss Axioplan 2, 100x objective
Scale: this image represents 0.593 mm x 0.396 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: this is alive unfixed cell isolated on temporary preparation (object slide + coverslip)

Centrohelid heliozoan Acanthocystis. – Vasily Zlatogursky

University of British Columbia

This is sun-like protist (single celled eukaryotic microbe) called Acanthocystis. Longer rays are tentacles for catching prey, shorter rays are skeletal spine-scales, dots are bacteria, green balls inside are symbiotic Chlorella algae.

Sample: Acanthocystis sp., collected from dith in Queen Elizabeth park (Vancouver, BC). Ditch contained some sediments and algae. Date of collection: 2023-07-03.
Label: unstained
Instrument: Differential interference contrast, Zeiss Axioplan 2, 100x objective
Scale: this image represents 0.593 x 0.396 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Single cell isolated on temporary preparation (objectslide + coverslip), alive, unstained, unfixed.

Cross section of a Fraser fir needle showing an abundance of poly phenolic cells (blue) induced through exogenous application of the defense phytohormone methyl jasmonate. Image was captureD using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). – Sai Karthik Gade

North Carolina State University
Cellular and Molecular Imaging Facility (CMIF), NCSU

Fraser fir needle – Cross section

Sample: Fraser fir needle
Label: Polyphenolic cells in the needle were imaged using FLIM technique
Instrument: Lecia Stellaris 8 with Falcon; FLIM technique was used at 10x objective
Scale: 1.3 x 1 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Fraser fir needles were fixed in 4 % formaldehyde 50 mM PIPES buffer (pH 7.2), dehydrated in an ethanol series and embedded in LR White resin. Cross sections (500 nm thick) were sectioned on a Leica EM UC 7 Ultramicrotome using a histo 45° diamond knife and were transferred to Teflon 10 well slides coated with Poly-L-Lysine. Unstained sections were imaged using Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM)

Bea[uterus] – Abby Bergman

Stanford University
Cell Sciences Imaging Facility (CSIF)

Mouse uterus with morphological features displayed including uterine glands and microvilli at the inner surface. Blood vessels (green) are visualized amongst the cell nuclei.

Sample: Mouse uterus
Label: DNA labeled with DAPI, vascular endothelium marked with anti-CD31 primary and Cy3 secondary.
Instrument: Laser scanning confocal. Captured on a Zeiss 780 with 10x/0.3 N.A. objective.
Scale: This image represents 0.85mm x 0.85mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: 2 channels (405, 561) captured at a single focus plane. Signal intensities were adjusted in FIJI.

N/A – Zachary

Vanderbilt University

A melanoma cell with its actin cytoskeleton labeled as well as its mitochondria

Sample: B16 melanoma cell fixed in 4% PFA
Label: Actin cytoskeleton labeled with Alexa488-phalloidin, mitochondria labeled with anti-mitochondria antibody conjugated to an alexa fluor 568 secondary
Instrument: iSIM, 60x objective (NA=1.49, Plan Apo, oil) with 1.5z
Scale: 1414*959 microns
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a maximum intensity projection of a z stack that is a stack 48 slices taken every 0.5 microns. The mitochondria and actin channels were seperated and depth coded then combined for a maximum intensity projection.

stellate trichomes of oak – Michael Shribak

Marine Biological Laboratory

The picture was taken by microscope Olympus IX81 equipped with 40x objective lens and the polychromatic polarizing module The specimen was illuminated by polarized white light with a spectral fan of polarization ellipses. (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep17340). The image is in real color, where the brightness corresponds to retardance and the hue linearly proportional to the slow axis orientation

Sample: stellate trichomes of oak
Label: label-free
Instrument: polychromatic polarizing microscopy, Olympus BX81, 40x/0.6NA
Scale: this image represents 0.6 mm x 0.5 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: no processing

diatom Actinoptychus – Michael Shribak

Marine Biological Laboratory

Label-free quantitative phase image of the diatom Actinoptychus. Image taken with an orientation-independent differential interference contrast (OI-DIC) microscope (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5980661/). The diatom width is 120 µm.
Diatoms are unicellular organisms, which can be found in found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of the Earth’s biomass: they generate about 20 to 50 percent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year. The beautiful symmetry and exquisite design of diatom frustules have gained them the title “”jewel of the sea.””

Sample: diatom
Label: label-free
Instrument: Orientation-Independent DIC, Olympus IX83, objective 40/0.6NA
Scale: 0.2 mm x 0.15 mm
Image or Sample Processing Steps: The quantitative phase image was computed from two pairs of DIC images with orthogonal shear directions (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5980661).

The Cytoskeleton of a Fibroblast and it’s Daughter – Daryan Chitsaz

McGill University
The Neuro Microscopy Imaging Facility

This image shows a pair of cells right after cell division, with the impressive “”cytoskeleton”” fibers labelled in green. Cells are filled with these flexible fibers that give them shape and connect them to their environment, similarly to how tent poles prop up a tent and help it stick into the ground. This cytoskeleton also helps pull the DNA apart when the cell is dividing so that both daughter cells can inherit their genomes. Here you can see a large flat cell taking up most of the image, with a much smaller round cell budding out of it at the top. The cell nuclei, which contain their DNA, are in blue.

Sample: Neonatal rat meningeal fibroblast cells, fixed with glutaraldehyde in an F-actin preserving buffer
Label: Actin cytoskeleton labelled with Alexa-488 phalloidin, Unc5b puncta labelled with Alexa546, and nuclei labelled with DAPI
Instrument: LSM880 with Airyscan
Scale: This image is 125x125um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: This is a maximum projection of 40 slices spanning 13.33um, with contrast enhanced by CLAHE, both steps performed in FIJI.

Reflection Microscopy: Visualizing Reflective Brain Cell Membranes As They Grow – Daryan Chitsaz

McGill University
Neuro microscopy imaging center

Oligodendrocytes are specialized cells in the brain and spinal cord that wrap neuron fibers up with protective sheaths called “”myelin””, analogous to the insulation around electrical wires. We study how these cells develop to try to develop therapies to promote their growth in diseases like multiple sclerosis, where they are gradually lost leading to brain damage. One interesting property of myelin is it’s reflectiveness – unlike normal microscopy where we need to stain the parts of the cell we are interested in to see it, we can simply use the reflection of light off of these myelin membranes the cells are producing. In this image of a living cell, you can see a large patch of myelin membrane extending out below the cell in blue, almost like webbing between fingers of a bat’s wings, with smaller patches being produced by the cell’s branches on top.

Sample: Live neonatal rat mature oligodendrocyte
Label: eGFP labelling cell cytoplasm (green), fluoromyelin red labelling plasma membrane and lipids, and interference reflection microscopy labelling reflective myelin membranes (blue)
Instrument: LSM880 Confocal with Airyscan Fast mode
Scale: This image is 125×125 um
Image or Sample Processing Steps: A 2.5um stack of 5 slices were maximum-projected, and contrast was enhanced with CLAHE in FIJI

Fibronectin labeling in tissue-cleared 64-cell stage axolotl embryo – Samuel Broadbent

MDI Biological Laboratory
MDI Biological Laboratory Light Microscopy Facility

Three-dimensional light-sheet image of a tissue-cleared axolotl embryo. Cell membranes are labeled, allowing for visualization of each individual cell in this 64-cell embryo. The vegetal pole, where the yolk is located, is on top.

Sample: 64-cell stage d/d axolotl embryo
Label: Fibronectin in cell membranes labeled with Invitrogen fibronectin polyclonal antibody (primary) and goat anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 647 (secondary)
Instrument: Custom-built ligth-sheet (mesoSPIM), 12x objective (12x, NA=0.53)
Scale: The image measures 4 mm x 1.8 mm.
Image or Sample Processing Steps: Image rendered in Amira.

Hypoxia in mouse tumour – Faisal Rashed

University of Alberta
Cross Cancer Institute- Cell Imaging Facility

Poorly oxygenated (hypoxic) tumours resist treatment. Therefore, it is important to identify patients with hypoxic tumours to treat them more efficiently. Shown here is a cross-section of a mouse tumour stained with a novel diagnostic reagent that cuts down hypoxia-staining duration from 3 hours to just 30 min. Hypoxia (shown in green) is prominent in this multi-lobe tumour, with vasculature and nucleus shown in red and blue, respectively. The image was acquired with a Leica SP8 STED microscope in the tile scan mode, and is a compilation of >200 individual micrographs. Scale bar = 1 mm.

Sample: Mouse subcutaneous tumour (head and neck cancer)
Label: Nucleus, vasculature and hypoxia labelled with DAPI, anti-CD-31 immunostaining and Azido-AZA-click chemistry, respectively.
Instrument: Leica SP8, tile scan mode

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