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May the Crypts be with you, Petrina Tan

This is an image of a mouse intestine that has been stained for DNA (blue), e-cadherin (green) and muc2 (red). E-cadherin is a transmembrane protein, a feature of the epithelial cells that make up the lining of the intestine, and muc2 stains for the mucin protein present in mucus secreted by goblet cells residing in the crypts of the intestine.

Luminous lysosomes, Pavi Manivannan

An image showing the pharynx of the model organism C. elegans with fluorescently tagged proteins ; SCAV-3 (GFP) and RHO-1 (RFP). SCAV-3 helps maintain the membrane integrity of lysosomes (represented by the green circles around the pharynx), a vital organelle responsible for protein degradation. Here, we're trying to detect the co-localisation of the lysosomes and RHO-1, a globular protein prone to aggregate with age. The large green structure in the middle represents a neuron.

"Gut's feelings" 

Aurora Xu's image shows the Drosophila gut, the structure that is equivalent to the human small intestine. Cells were stained for DAPI (marks the nucleus in blue) and phosphorylated Mad (pMad, marked in white), which is the transcription factor that becomes phosphorylated upon Dpp (the Drosophila BMP) pathway activation. The Dpp pathway forms gradients in the fly gut to maintain its tissue patterning and homeostasis.

"Blackberry field"

Irene Zorzan and Teresa Rayon's image of human embryo-like structures derived from human embryonic stem cells (blastoids) that form balls of cells with an inside cavity that look very much like blackberries. Blue marks all nuclei of the structure, the green label marks the cells that will generate the embryo proper (Nanog), and the pink label is a readout of a ribosomal protein (pS6).

Laetitia Chauve’s image, with support by Simon Walker and Chieko Itakura from the Institute’s Imaging facility. This picture is a scanning electron micrograph of the head of an adult C. elegans worm magnified by 7,190 times. The raw image is greyscale but has been coloured post-image capture to highlight the six symmetrical inner lips (yellow/red) surrounding the opening of the mouth and the amphids (primary chemosensory organs; blue). Debris and/or bacteria (which C. elegans eat) have been coloured purple. Laetitia, a member of the former Casaneuva lab, studied C. elegans to investigate the link between diet and ageing.

Katie Young's image depicts a mouse intestinal organoid stained for actin (red), nuclei (blue), smooth muscle actin (green) and beta catenin (white). The Sharpe lab uses organoids to study the role of phosphatases in the gut. The organoid on the right shows several crypts which have developed from the mouse intestinal stem cells.

Célia Raimondi’s image of colourful C. elegans. The image shows DNA staining (DAPI) of a mutant strain of Caenorhabditis elegans. C.elegans, a tiny nematode worm, is one of the model systems used at the Institute to investigate the biology of ageing. The image has been modified for colour using the ImageJ image processing software.

This year's winning image is by Laetitia Chauve and shows C. elegans worms labelled with a fluorescent protein and imaged using a confocal microscope. C. elegans is a really useful system for our research because we can monitor fluorescent reporters of gene expression in vivo and study inter-individual variability in stress response gene expression in isogenic individuals.

The Image was produced with the help of Simon Walker in the Institute's Imaging facility.

This is a cross-section through a mouse’s colonic epithelium. It is folded into so-called crypts to form a large surface area for the absorption of water and nutrients, and is covered by a protective mucous layer. This layer is secreted by goblet cells which are shown in red.  These cells are crammed with mucins, proteins which make up the protective mucus and which were stained for using red fluorescent antibodies. (blue = DAPI staining nuclei, green = anti-EpCAM antibodies staining the cell membrane of epithelial cells)
Marisa Stebegg