Every year, the Wellcome Trust selects "the most informative, striking and technically excellent images that communicate significant aspects of biomedical science." This year's crop features some stunners.
Nanographene And Bacteria
False-coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of nanographene oxide sheets (purple; background) interacting with two rod shaped bacteria (pink/green/brown; foreground).
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Raynaud's Phenomenon
The condition has been visualized using thermal infrared which allows us to see thermal energy or radiation more commonly referred to as heat. The image shows the hand of a person experiencing symptoms of Raynaud's against that of a person who is unaffected. The hand affected with Raynaud's is on the right, the other hand is unaffected.
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Premature Baby Receiving UV Treatment
Some premature babies can have abnormal levels of bilirubin in their blood which prevents their liver from functioning normally. This can lead to jaundice. One treatment for this condition is Ultra Violet (UV) phototherapy. UV phototherapy is a treatment using Ultra Violet light. It works by lowering the bilirubin levels in blood through a process called photo-oxidation.
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Clathrin Cage
Molecular model from X-ray diffraction data (PDB ID: 1xi4) of a clathrin cage. Clathrin is a protein that forms a basket or cage-like mesh of proteins on the cell membrane in order to carry cargo into the cell. These coated vesicles transport cargo inside the cell where it is then released.
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Maize Leaves
Confocal micrograph of a cross-section through a cluster of maize leaves. Cell nuclei (red/orange) inside individual cells within the leaves are visible here
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Liver Cells
Confocal micrograph of human liver tissue implanted into a mouse model for liver injury. Human liver cells (red/orange) and human blood vessels (green) in the implanted liver tissue have reorganized themselves and started to expand using blood (white) from the mouse host to help them grow.
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Cow Heart
Adult cow (bovine) heart, viewed from the left side if it were in the body. The heart consists of four chambers through which blood flows; two upper chambers (atria; blood enters the heart through these) and two lower chambers (ventricles; blood exits the heart through these).
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Human Stem Cell
False-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph (Cryo-SEM) of a single human stem cell (centre of image) embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix.
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Swallowtail Butterfly
Two compound eyes (for accurate perception of movement), two antennae and a long, curled proboscis (feeding tube used to drink nectar from flowers) are visible. Swallowtail butterflies are widely distributed around the world and are often found in wetlands such as marshes and fens.
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Madagascan Sunset Moth Scales
[The moths] have iridescent wings which are black, red, blue and green in colour. As they move these colours appear to change however their wings hardly contain any colour pigment. Their striking colours are created by an optical illusion with light reflecting and bouncing off the curved scales at different angles.
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3D Neural Model Of Human Brain
Coronal view of nerve fibres in the brain of a young healthy adult, which has been virtually sliced down a vertical axis to divide it into front and back. The brain is viewed from behind, with the left side of the brain on the left of the image. This image was created by virtually dissecting the brain using data obtained from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
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Choroidal Space, Human Eye
Three dimensional Optical Coherence Tomography (Swept Source OCT) of a healthy human choroid in the center of the retina (fovea). The picture shows converging vascular channels with their inner ceiling (red) and outer ground (blue). In the center, a bridging, perpendicular vessel column is displayed (gold).
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Central Retinal Vein Occlusion
Description of image content Central Retinal Vein Occlusion Fluorescein angiography image to document vascular changes in the eye caused by a blockage in the central retinal vein. The changes occur when the blood supply is restricted or reduced, compromising the oxygen supply to the retina.
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Infectious Disease Containment
One of the infectious disease containment units at London's Royal Free Hospital. The unit was used in 2014 to contain a patient who was infected with the Ebola virus after contracting it whilst working as a nurse in Sierra Leone where the disease outbreak was at a critical stage.
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Stroke Treatment
A major trigger for stroke is atheroma; the 'furring up' of arteries supplying blood to the brain. Atheroma may become unstable and burst, triggering blood clots to form and block the blood flow through the arteries, resulting in a stroke. Currently clinical investigations to identify atheroma at risk of rupture are limited. This image demonstrates a potential solution.
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Toxoplasmosis
Structured-illumination micrograph (SIM) of three tachyzoites, a developmental stage in the Toxoplasma gondii parasite life cycle. The plasma membrane (red), an apical protein (black) and DNA (blue) is visible in each. Toxoplasma gondii is a parasitic protozoa that causes toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is a common infection in birds and mammals.
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Ebola Virus
Watercolor and ink on paper illustration of a cross section through an ebola virus particle. The virus is surrounded by a membrane (pink/purple) stolen from an infected cell, and studded with Ebola glycoproteins (turquoise; extend outwards and look like trees rooted in the membrane). A layer of matrix proteins (blue) support the membrane on the inside, and hold a cylindrical nucleocapsid (green) at the centre, which stores and delivers the RNA genome (yellow).
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Bone Development
Micro-computer tomography (CT) scans showing bone development in the vertebrae of a human infant spinal column.
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Zebrafish Embryo
Time-lapse confocal microscopy of asymmetric cell division in the brain of a live zebrafish embryo. This image sequence shows a single neural progenitor (a cell which can divide and differentiate into a limited number of neural cell types) dividing to produce two daughter cells.
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Allergic Reaction To Henna
Para-phenylenediamine allergic reaction from a henna tattoo causing multiple bullae or blisters.
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The images are reproduced here under a Creative Commons license. See all the full-resolution images and read comments from the judges here.
