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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.
Migrating pigment cells
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Pigment cells are cells that give skin its color. David Parichy, University of Washington View Media
White Poppy
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A white poppy. View cropped image of a poppy here 3423. Judy Coyle, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center View Media
Mouse cerebellum in pink and blue
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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
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
Abnormal, spiky fibroblast
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This is a fibroblast, a connective tissue cell that plays an important role in wound healing. Normal fibroblasts have smooth edges. Praveen Suraneni, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Mo. View Media
A bundle of myelinated peripheral nerve cells (axons)
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The extracellular matrix (ECM) is most prevalent in connective tissues but also is present between the stems (axons) of nerve cells. Tom Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media
Fruit fly nurse cells transporting their contents during egg development
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In many animals, the egg cell develops alongside sister cells. Adam C. Martin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. View Media
Epigenetic code (with labels)
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The "epigenetic code" controls gene activity with chemical tags that mark DNA (purple diamonds) and the "tails" of histone proteins (purple triangles). Crabtree + Company View Media
Lysosomes
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Lysosomes have powerful enzymes and acids to digest and recycle cell materials. Judith Stoffer View Media
Glowing glycans
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Sugars light up the cells in this jaw of a 3-day-old zebrafish embryo and highlight a scientific first: labeling and tracking the movements of sugar chains called glycans in a living organism. Carolyn Bertozzi, University of California, Berkeley View Media
Plasma-Derived Membrane Vesicles
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This fiery image doesn’t come from inside a bubbling volcano. Instead, it shows animal cells caught in the act of making bubbles, or blebbing. Jeanne Stachowiak, University of Texas at Austin View Media
Alternative splicing
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Arranging exons in different patterns, called alternative splicing, enables cells to make different proteins from a single gene. Crabtree + Company View Media
Cellular traffic
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Like tractor-trailers on a highway, small sacs called vesicles transport substances within cells. This image tracks the motion of vesicles in a living cell. Alexey Sharonov and Robin Hochstrasser, University of Pennsylvania View Media
Electrostatic map of the adeno-associated virus with scale
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The new highly efficient parallelized DelPhi software was used to calculate the potential map distribution of an entire virus, the adeno-associated virus, which is made up of more than 484,000 atoms. Emil Alexov, Clemson University View Media
DNase
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Crystals of DNase protein created for X-ray crystallography, which can reveal detailed, three-dimensional protein structures. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine View Media
Life of an AIDS virus (with labels)
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HIV is a retrovirus, a type of virus that carries its genetic material not as DNA but as RNA. Crabtree + Company View Media
Microsporidia in roundworm 3
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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
Natcher Building 05
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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
X-ray crystallography
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X-ray crystallography allows researchers to see structures too small to be seen by even the most powerful microscopes. Crabtree + Company View Media
Lily mitosis 07
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A light microscope image of a cell from the endosperm of an African globe lily (Scadoxus katherinae). This is one frame of a time-lapse sequence that shows cell division in action. Andrew S. Bajer, University of Oregon, Eugene View Media
Induced pluripotent stem cells from skin
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These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) were derived from a woman's skin. Green and red indicate proteins found in reprogrammed cells but not in skin cells (TRA1-62 and NANOG). Kathrin Plath lab, University of California, Los Angeles, via CIRM View Media
VDAC-1 (3)
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The structure of the pore-forming protein VDAC-1 from humans. Gerhard Wagner, Harvard Medical School View Media
Mouse embryo showing Smad4 protein
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This eerily glowing blob isn't an alien or a creature from the deep sea--it's a mouse embryo just eight and a half days old. The green shell and core show a protein called Smad4. Kenneth Zaret, Fox Chase Cancer Center View Media
Molecules blocking Huntington's protein production
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The molecules that glow blue in these cultured cells prevent the expression of the mutant proteins that cause Huntington's disease. Jiaxin Hu, David W. Dodd and Robert H. E. Hudson, UT Southwestern Medical Center View Media
Nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase
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Model of the enzyme nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase. Berkeley Structural Genomics Center, PSI View Media
A mammalian eye has approximately 70 different cell types
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The incredible complexity of a mammalian eye (in this case from a mouse) is captured here. Each color represents a different type of cell. Bryan William Jones and Robert E. Marc, University of Utah View Media
Nerve cell
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Nerve cells have long, invisibly thin fibers that carry electrical impulses throughout the body. Some of these fibers extend about 3 feet from the spinal cord to the toes. Judith Stoffer View Media
Centromeres on human chromosomes
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Human metaphase chromosomes are visible with fluorescence in vitro hybridization (FISH). Centromeric alpha satellite DNA (green) are found in the heterochromatin at each centromere. Peter Warburton, Mount Sinai School of Medicine View Media
Mapping human genetic variation
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This map paints a colorful portrait of human genetic variation around the world. Noah Rosenberg and Martin Soave, University of Michigan View Media
Hsp33 Heat Shock Protein Inactive to Active
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When the heat shock protein hsp33 is folded, it is inactive and contains a zinc ion, stabilizing the redox sensitive domain (orange). Dana Reichmann, University of Michigan View Media
Kluyveromyces polysporus Argonaute bound to guide RNA
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A segment of siRNA, shown in red, guides a "slicer" protein called Argonaute (multi-colored twists and corkscrews) to the target RNA molecules. Kotaro Nakanishi and David Weinberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology View Media
Yeast cells with nuclear envelopes and tubulin
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Yeast cells with nuclear envelopes shown in magenta and tubulin shown in light blue. The nuclear envelope defines the borders of the nucleus, which houses DNA. Alaina Willet, Kathy Gould’s lab, Vanderbilt University. View Media
DNA and actin in cultured fibroblast cells
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DNA (blue) and actin (red) in cultured fibroblast cells. Tom Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media
Mitochondria
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Bean-shaped mitochondria are cells' power plants. These organelles have their own DNA and replicate independently. The highly folded inner membranes are the site of energy generation. Judith Stoffer View Media
Cerebellum: the brain's locomotion control center
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The cerebellum of a mouse is shown here in cross-section. The cerebellum is the brain's locomotion control center. Thomas Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego 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
Dicer generates microRNAs
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The enzyme Dicer generates microRNAs by chopping larger RNA molecules into tiny Velcro®-like pieces. MicroRNAs stick to mRNA molecules and prevent the mRNAs from being made into proteins. Crabtree + Company View Media
Pig trypsin (2)
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A crystal of porcine trypsin protein created for X-ray crystallography, which can reveal detailed, three-dimensional protein structures. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine View Media
Early life of a protein
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This illustration represents the early life of a protein—specifically, apomyoglobin—as it is synthesized by a ribosome and emerges from the ribosomal tunnel, which contains the newly formed protein's Silvia Cavagnero, University of Wisconsin, Madison View Media
Yeast art depicting the New York City skyline
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This skyline of New York City was created by “printing” nanodroplets containing yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) onto a large plate. Each dot is a separate yeast colony. Michael Shen, Ph.D., Jasmine Temple, Leslie Mitchell, Ph.D., and Jef Boeke, Ph.D., New York University School of Medicine; and Nick Phillips, James Chuang, Ph.D., and Jiarui Wang, Johns Hopkins University. View Media
Mouse liver labeled with fluorescent probe
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A mouse liver glows after being tagged with specially designed infrared-fluorescent protein (IFP). Xiaokun Shu, University of California, San Diego View Media
Hydra 03
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Hydra magnipapillata is an invertebrate animal used as a model organism to study developmental questions, for example the formation of the body axis. Hiroshi Shimizu, National Institute of Genetics in Mishima, Japan View Media
Cas4 nuclease protein structure
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This wreath represents the molecular structure of a protein, Cas4, which is part of a system, known as CRISPR, that bacteria use to protect themselves against viral invaders. Fred Dyda, NIDDK View Media
Human liver cell (hepatocyte)
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Hepatocytes, like the one shown here, are the most abundant type of cell in the human liver. Donna Beer Stolz, University of Pittsburgh View Media
Human skeletal muscle
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Cross section of human skeletal muscle. Image taken with a confocal fluorescent light microscope. Tom Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media
Protein crystals
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Structural biologists create crystals of proteins, shown here, as a first step in a process called X-ray crystallography, which can reveal detailed, three-dimensional protein structures. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine View Media
