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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.

Cell in two stages of division

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This image shows a cell in two stages of division: prometaphase (top) and metaphase (bottom). Lilian Kabeche, Dartmouth View Media

Skin cell (keratinocyte)

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This normal human skin cell was treated with a growth factor that triggered the formation of specialized protein structures that enable the cell to move. Torsten Wittmann, University of California, San Francisco View Media

Larvae from the parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis

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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

Microsporidia in roundworm 2

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Many disease-causing microbes manipulate their host’s metabolism and cells for their own ends. Keir Balla and Emily Troemel, University of California San Diego View Media

Retinal pigment epithelium derived from human ES cells

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This color-enhanced image is a scanning electron microscope image of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. David Hinton lab, University of Southern California, via CIRM View Media

Optic nerve astrocytes

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Astrocytes in the cross section of a human optic nerve head Tom Deerinck and Keunyoung (“Christine”) Kim, NCMIR View Media

¿Qué es la sepsis? (Sepsis Infographic)

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La sepsis o septicemia es la respuesta fulminante y extrema del cuerpo a una infección. En los Estados Unidos, más de 1.7 millones de personas contraen sepsis cada año. Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas Generales View Media

HeLa cells

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Multiphoton fluorescence image of HeLa cells with cytoskeletal microtubules (magenta) and DNA (cyan). Nikon RTS2000MP custom laser scanning microscope. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media

Cryo-EM reveals how the HIV capsid attaches to a human protein to evade immune detection

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The illustration shows the capsid of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) whose molecular features were resolved with cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Juan R. Perilla, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign View Media

Cell division with late aligning chromosomes

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This video shows an instance of abnormal mitosis where chromosomes are late to align. Gary Gorbsky, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation View Media

Natcher Building 09

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NIGMS staff are located in the Natcher Building on the NIH campus. Alisa Machalek, National Institute of General Medical Sciences View Media

Anti-tumor drug ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743), structure without hydrogens 01

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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

Mouse retina close-up

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Keunyoung ("Christine") Kim National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media

Hair cells: the sound-sensing cells in the ear

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These cells get their name from the hairlike structures that extend from them into the fluid-filled tube of the inner ear. Henning Horn, Brian Burke, and Colin Stewart, Institute of Medical Biology, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore View Media

Human embryonic stem cells

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The center cluster of cells, colored blue, shows a colony of human embryonic stem cells. James Thomson, University of Wisconsin-Madison View Media

Staphylococcus aureus aggregates on microstructured titanium surface

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Groups of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (blue) attached to a microstructured titanium surface (green) that mimics an orthopedic implant used in joint replacement. Paul Stoodley, The Ohio State University. View Media

Dynamic cryo-EM model of the human transcription preinitiation complex

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Gene transcription is a process by which information encoded in DNA is transcribed into RNA. Eva Nogales, Berkeley Lab View Media

Enzymes convert subtrates into products (with labels)

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Enzymes convert substrates into products very quickly. See image 2521 for an unlabeled version of this illustration. Featured in The Chemistry of Health. Crabtree + Company View Media

HIV Capsid

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This image is a computer-generated model of the approximately 4.2 million atoms of the HIV capsid, the shell that contains the virus' genetic material. Juan R. Perilla and the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign View Media

Dying melanoma cells

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Melanoma (skin cancer) cells undergoing programmed cell death, also called apoptosis. This process was triggered by raising the pH of the medium that the cells were growing in. Dylan T. Burnette, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. View Media

Fruit fly larvae brains showing tubulin

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Two fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) larvae brains with neurons expressing fluorescently tagged tubulin protein. Vladimir I. Gelfand, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. View Media

Modeling disease spread

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What looks like a Native American dream catcher is really a network of social interactions within a community. Stephen Eubank, University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute (formerly Virginia Bioinformatics Institute) View Media

Sea urchin embryo 01

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Stereo triplet of a sea urchin embryo stained to reveal actin filaments (orange) and microtubules (blue). George von Dassow, University of Washington View Media

Dimeric ferredoxin-like protein from an unidentified marine microbe

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This is the first structure of a protein derived from the metagenomic sequences collected during the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling project. Joint Center for Structural Genomics View Media

Three neurons and human ES cells

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The three neurons (red) visible in this image were derived from human embryonic stem cells. Undifferentiated stem cells are green here. Anirvan Ghosh lab, University of California, San Diego, via CIRM View Media

Soft X-ray tomography of a pancreatic beta cell

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A color-coded, 3D model of a rat pancreatic β cell. This type of cell produces insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. Carolyn Larabell, University of California, San Francisco. View Media

Honeybee brain

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Insect brains, like the honeybee brain shown here, are very different in shape from human brains. Gene Robinson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. View Media

Vesicle traffic

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This illustration shows vesicle traffic inside a cell. Judith Stoffer View Media

Stretch detectors

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Muscles stretch and contract when we walk, and skin splits open and knits back together when we get a paper cut. Christopher Chen, University of Pennsylvania View Media

Protein purification robot

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Irina Dementieva, a biochemist, and Youngchang Kim, a biophysicist and crystallographer, work with the first robot of its type in the U.S. to automate protein purification. Midwest Center for Structural Genomics View Media

Central dogma, illustrated (with labels)

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DNA encodes RNA, which encodes protein. DNA is transcribed to make messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA sequence (dark red strand) is complementary to the DNA sequence (blue strand). Crabtree + Company View Media

Ciclo circadiano de un adolescente típico

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Los ritmos circadianos son cambios físicos, mentales y conductuales que siguen un ciclo de 24 horas. NIGMS View Media

Polarized cells- 01

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Cells move forward with lamellipodia and filopodia supported by networks and bundles of actin filaments. Proper, controlled cell movement is a complex process. Rong Li and Praveen Suraneni, Stowers Institute for Medical Research View Media

Microtubule growth

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Map of microtubule growth rates. Rates are color coded. This is an example of NIH-supported research on single-cell analysis. Gaudenz Danuser, Harvard Medical School View Media

Retinal pigment epithelium derived from human ES cells 02

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This image shows a layer of retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from human embryonic stem cells, highlighting the nuclei (red) and cell surfaces (green). David Buckholz and Sherry Hikita, University of California, Santa Barbara, via CIRM View Media

Simulation of uncontrolled avian flu outbreak

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This video simulation shows what an uncontrolled outbreak of transmissible avian flu among people living in Thailand might look like. Neil M. Ferguson, Imperial College London View Media

Kinases

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Kinases are enzymes that add phosphate groups (red-yellow structures) to proteins (green), assigning the proteins a code. Crabtree + Company View Media

Precisely Delivering Chemical Cargo to Cells

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

Seeing signaling protein activation in cells 03

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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

Cell-like compartments from frog eggs 3

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Cell-like compartments that spontaneously emerged from scrambled frog eggs. Endoplasmic reticulum (red) and microtubules (green) are visible. Image created using epifluorescence microscopy. Xianrui Cheng, Stanford University School of Medicine. View Media

Natcher Building 10

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NIGMS staff are located in the Natcher Building on the NIH campus. Alisa Machalek, National Institute of General Medical Sciences View Media

Developing fruit fly nerve cord

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The glial cells (black dots) and nerve cells (brown bands) in this developing fruit fly nerve cord formed normally despite the absence of the SPITZ protein, which blocks their impending suicide. Hermann Steller, Rockefeller University View Media

CRISPR

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RNA incorporated into the CRISPR surveillance complex is positioned to scan across foreign DNA. Cryo-EM density from a 3Å reconstruction is shown as a yellow mesh. NRAMM National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy http://nramm.nysbc.org/nramm-images/ Source: Bridget Carragher View Media

Thymidylate synthase complementing protein from Thermotoga maritime

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A model of thymidylate synthase complementing protein from Thermotoga maritime. Joint Center for Structural Genomics, PSI View Media

Cell cycle

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Cells progress through a cycle that consists of phases for growth (blue, green, yellow) and division (red). Cells become quiescent when they exit this cycle (purple). Crabtree + Company View Media

O2 reacting with a flavin-dependent enzyme

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Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan View Media

Glowing fish

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Professor Marc Zimmer's family pets, including these fish, glow in the dark in response to blue light. Featured in the September 2009 issue of Findings. View Media

Cytoscape network diagram 1

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Molecular biologists are increasingly relying on bioinformatics software to visualize molecular interaction networks and to integrate these networks with data such as gene expression profiles. Keiichiro Ono, Trey Ideker lab, University of California, San Diego View Media

A molecular interaction network in yeast 3

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

Fruit fly ovary_2

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A fruit fly ovary, shown here, contains as many as 20 eggs. Fruit flies are not merely tiny insects that buzz around overripe fruit--they are a venerable scientific tool. Denise Montell, University of California, Santa Barbara View Media