Image and Video Gallery

This is a searchable collection of scientific photos, illustrations, and videos. The images and videos in this gallery are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0. This license lets you remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as you credit and license your new creations under identical terms.

Crawling cell

6964

A crawling cell with DNA shown in blue and actin filaments, which are a major component of the cytoskeleton, visible in pink. Actin filaments help enable cells to crawl. Dylan T. Burnette, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. View Media

Glow-in-the-dark salamanders

2715

These six-month-old axolotls, a kind of salamander, glow green and blue under ultraviolet light. That's because they were genetically modified to make harmless green fluorescent protein, or GFP. View Media

Isolated Planarian Pharynx

3593

The feeding tube, or pharynx, of a planarian worm with cilia shown in red and muscle fibers shown in green View Media

Trypanosoma brucei, the cause of sleeping sickness

3765

Trypanosoma brucei is a single-cell parasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans. Michael Rout, Rockefeller University View Media

Multivesicular bodies containing intralumenal vesicles assemble at the vacuole 1

5769

Collecting and transporting cellular waste and sorting it into recylable and nonrecylable pieces is a complex business in the cell. Matthew West and Greg Odorizzi, University of Colorado View Media

Network diagram of genes, cellular components and processes (labeled)

3437

This image shows the hierarchical ontology of genes, cellular components and processes derived from large genomic datasets. From Dutkowski et al. Janusz Dutkowski and Trey Ideker, University of California, San Diego View Media

Intasome

6346

Salk researchers captured the structure of a protein complex called an intasome (center) that lets viruses similar to HIV establish permanent infection in their hosts. National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy http://nramm.nysbc.org/nramm-images/ Source: Bridget Carragher View Media

Molecular view of glutamatergic synapse

6992

This illustration highlights spherical pre-synaptic vesicles that carry the neurotransmitter glutamate. Amy Wu and Christine Zardecki, RCSB Protein Data Bank. View Media

Floral pattern in a mixture of two bacterial species, Acinetobacter baylyi and Escherichia coli, grown on a semi-solid agar for 48 hours (photo 1)

6553

Floral pattern emerging as two bacterial species, motile Acinetobacter baylyi (red) and non-motile Escherichia coli (green), are grown together for 48 hours on 1% agar surface from a sma L. Xiong et al, eLife 2020;9: e48885 View Media

Purkinje cells are one of the main cell types in the brain

3637

This image captures Purkinje cells (red), one of the main types of nerve cell found in the brain. Yinghua Ma and Timothy Vartanian, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. View Media

Cellular metropolis

2308

Like a major city, a cell teems with specialized workers that carry out its daily operations--making energy, moving proteins, or helping with other tasks. Kathryn Howell, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center View Media

Adult Hawaiian bobtail squid burying in the sand

7012

Each morning, the nocturnal Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, hides from predators by digging into the sand. At dusk, it leaves the sand again to hunt. Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, Carnegie Institution for Science/California Institute of Technology, and Edward G. Ruby, California Institute of Technology. View Media

Group of fluorescent C. elegans showing muscle and ribosomal protein

6582

Three C. elegans, tiny roundworms, with a ribosomal protein glowing red and muscle fibers glowing green. Researchers used these worms to study a molecular pathway that affects aging. Jarod Rollins, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. View Media

GFP sperm

2683

Fruit fly sperm cells glow bright green when they express the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP). View Media

H1N1 Influenza Virus

6355

CellPack image of the H1N1 influenza virus, with hemagglutinin and neuraminidase glycoproteins in green and red, respectively, on the outer envelope (white); matrix protein in gray, and ribonucleoprot Dr. Rommie Amaro, University of California, San Diego View Media

Body toxins

2496

Body organs such as the liver and kidneys process chemicals and toxins. These "target" organs are susceptible to damage caused by these substances. Crabtree + Company View Media

Three muscle fibers; the middle has a defect found in some neuromuscular diseases

3630

Of the three muscle fibers shown here, the one on the right and the one on the left are normal. The middle fiber is deficient a large protein called nebulin (blue). Christopher Pappas and Carol Gregorio, University of Arizona View Media

Cell-free protein synthesizers

2360

Both instruments shown were developed by CellFree Sciences of Yokohama, Japan. Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics View Media

Sphingolipid S1P1 receptor

3362

The receptor is shown bound to an antagonist, ML056. Raymond Stevens, The Scripps Research Institute View Media

Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito larvae

6771

Mosquito larvae with genes edited by CRISPR swimming in water. Valentino Gantz, University of California, San Diego. View Media

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in mouse ES cells shows DNA interactions

3296

Researchers used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to confirm the presence of long range DNA-DNA interactions in mouse embryonic stem cells. Kathrin Plath, University of California, Los Angeles View Media

Golden gene chips

2455

A team of chemists and physicists used nanotechnology and DNA's ability to self-assemble with matching RNA to create a new kind of chip for measuring gene activity. Hao Yan and Yonggang Ke, Arizona State University View Media

Thermotoga maritima and its metabolic network

2702

A combination of protein structures determined experimentally and computationally shows us the complete metabolic network of a heat-loving bacterium. View Media

Protective membrane and membrane proteins of the dengue virus visualized with cryo-EM

3756

Dengue virus is a mosquito-borne illness that infects millions of people in the tropics and subtropics each year. Like many viruses, dengue is enclosed by a protective membrane. Hong Zhou, UCLA View Media

Scanning electron microscopy of collagen fibers

3735

This image shows collagen, a fibrous protein that's the main component of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Collagen is a strong, ropelike molecule that forms stretch-resistant fibers. Tom Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media

Larvae from the parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis

3627

The parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis hatches in water and grows up in a freshwater snail, as shown here. Bo Wang and Phillip A. Newmark, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013 FASEB BioArt winner View Media

An insect tracheal cell delivers air to muscles

3615

Insects like the fruit fly use an elaborate network of branching tubes called trachea (green) to transport oxygen throughout their bodies. Jayan Nair and Maria Leptin, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany View Media

Histones in chromatin (with labels)

2561

Histone proteins loop together with double-stranded DNA to form a structure that resembles beads on a string. Crabtree + Company View Media

A molecular interaction network in yeast 1

3730

The image visualizes a part of the yeast molecular interaction network. Keiichiro Ono, UCSD View Media

A Bacillus subtilis biofilm grown in a Petri dish

3718

Bacterial biofilms are tightly knit communities of bacterial cells growing on, for example, solid surfaces, such as in water pipes or on teeth. Gürol Süel, UCSD View Media

Seeing signaling protein activation in cells 03

2453

Cdc42, a member of the Rho family of small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) proteins, regulates multiple cell functions, including motility, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell morphology. Klaus Hahn, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Medical School View Media

SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid dimer

6991

In SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, nucleocapsid is a complex molecule with many functional parts. Amy Wu and Christine Zardecki, RCSB Protein Data Bank. View Media

RNA Polymerase II

2484

NIGMS-funded researchers led by Roger Kornberg solved the structure of RNA polymerase II. David Bushnell, Ken Westover and Roger Kornberg, Stanford University View Media

Mouse cerebellum in pink and blue

5800

The cerebellum is the brain's locomotion control center. Found at the base of your brain, the cerebellum is a single layer of tissue with deep folds like an accordion. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media

VDAC-1 (4)

2495

The structure of the pore-forming protein VDAC-1 from humans. Gerhard Wagner, Harvard Medical School View Media

X-ray diffraction pattern from a crystallized cefotaxime-CCD-1 complex

6765

CCD-1 is an enzyme produced by the bacterium Clostridioides difficile that helps it resist antibiotics. Keith Hodgson, Stanford University. View Media

Life of an AIDS virus

2513

HIV is a retrovirus, a type of virus that carries its genetic material not as DNA but as RNA. Crabtree + Company View Media

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

2716

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, has infected one-quarter of the world's population and causes more than one million deaths each year, according to the Reuben Peters, Iowa State University View Media

Precisely Delivering Chemical Cargo to Cells

3779

Moving protein or other molecules to specific cells to treat or examine them has been a major biological challenge. Nature Nanotechnology View Media

CRISPR Illustration Frame 1

6465

This illustration shows, in simplified terms, how the CRISPR-Cas9 system can be used as a gene-editing tool. This is the first frame in a series of four. National Institute of General Medical Sciences. View Media

Fruitful dyes

2317

These colorful, computer-generated ribbons show the backbone of a molecule that glows a fluorescent red. Roger Y. Tsien, University of California, San Diego View Media

Finding one bug

2314

A nanometer-sized biosensor can detect a single deadly bacterium in tainted ground beef. How? Weihong Tan, University of Florida in Gainesville View Media

Endoplasmic reticulum

2649

Fluorescent markers show the interconnected web of tubes and compartments in the endoplasmic reticulum. The protein atlastin helps build and maintain this critical part of cells. Andrea Daga, Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute (Conegliano, Italy) View Media

Color coding of the Drosophila brain - image

5838

This image results from a research project to visualize which regions of the adult fruit fly (Drosophila) brain derive from each neural stem cell. Yong Wan from Charles Hansen’s lab, University of Utah. Data preparation and visualization by Masayoshi Ito in the lab of Kei Ito, University of Tokyo. View Media

Zika virus

6998

Zika virus is shown in cross section at center left. On the outside, it includes envelope protein (red) and membrane protein (magenta) embedded in a lipid membrane (light purple). Amy Wu and Christine Zardecki, RCSB Protein Data Bank. View Media

Anti-tumor drug ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743), structure without hydrogens 03

2796

Ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743, brand name Yondelis), was discovered and isolated from a sea squirt, Ecteinascidia turbinata, by NIGMS grantee Kenneth Rinehart at the University of Illinois. Timothy Jamison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology View Media

More Images...

View All Images