In Pictures: Winning Images from the World of Science

SFI Research Images of the Year, celebrating Science Week

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The SFI Research Image competition celebrates images captured by SFI funded researchers during the course of their research. Shortlisted - Keith J. Flanagan & Marc Kielmann Crystal Dragon . The growth of crystals is both largely unique and beautiful. Often this is utilized in chemistry as a simple technique for purification or preparation of samples for analysis. However, the outcome of such an experiment can be unexpected as in this case, where the product is reminiscent of a mythological Chinese dragon. In ancient folklore, this creature symbolizes potent and auspicious power, which is why we took it as a lucky charm for future research. Here we merge artistry and synthesis to bring a new age of crystal art as seen under the microscope of unsuspecting students.

Shortlisted: Dr René Steendam; Crystallization: A Family Story - It is important to produce pharmaceutical crystals that are all of one particular form. One way to achieve this is to use a single parent crystal which acts as a template for the production of new daughter crystals. In time, a daughter crystal can become a parent at which point it can produce a new generation of daughter crystals. In this image, a parent crystal was used to produce many generations of daughter crystals, which all have a cubic shape. In a mixed environment, the daughter typically detach from the parent crystal and in this way become new independent crystals.

Shortlisted: Jens Hillebrand - Lighting up the brain -To investigate the neuronal circuits underlying behaviours and memory we use the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism, as the number of neurons in the fruitfly brain is comparably small, which makes it more manageable to study, and many techniques are available to easily manipulate these neuronal circuits. In this image all neurons expressing a Serotonin receptor are marked in green. Serotonin is a so called neuromodulator that's shaping behaviour and memory according to context. This image shows a 3D reconstruction of the brain from the front as well as from the back. (all synaptic regions marked in magenta).

Shortlisted: Maojia Xu - Cartilage from Bone Marrow -The image shows human stem cells, taken from bone marrow, were induced to grow into cartilage tissue with fully functional cartilage cells (chondrocytes). The cell nuclei are stained blue. The chondrocytes produced molecules essential for cartilage function including collagen type II (red) and collagen type VI (green), which was similar to what is seen in healthy knee cartilage. These were detected by immunofluorescent staining and the image was captured through a multichannel fluorescence microscopy.

Shortlisted: Sarah Guerin - Polymer Spider Web- Glycine is the smallest building block of all biological materials, and it can be crystallised in many shapes. Here we see glycine needles, which have been grown on a colourful polymer coating so that they maintain this interesting shape. If we bend these needles they generate electricity, due to a phenomenon called piezoelectricity. Piezoelectricity, or pressing-electricity, is an extremely useful property that is exploited in sensing and energy harvesting applications. Researchers at the University of Limerick study a variety of organic materials that generate electricity when a force is applied to them.

Anna Golubeva - NUI Cork - The Second Brain - the hidden world of the enteric nervous system of our gastrointestinal tract - The enteric nervous system (ENS) also known as the mammalian "second brain" contains 100 million neurons and orchestrates all major functions of the gastrointestinal tract. There is growing evidence that the development of the ENS is not complete after birth, and that intestinal microbiota - the community of microorganisms residing in the gut - can affect postnatal differentiation and maturation of the ENS. By manipulating the gut microbiota in various preclinical models, scientists at the APC Microbiome Institute in University College Cork explore the mechanisms by which intestinal bacteria can influence ENS activity and function. The photo shows the population of inhibitory neurons stained with neuronal nitric oxide synthase (orange) in the myenteric ganglia of murine colon.

Shortlisted: Dr Rodrigo Soto - University of Limerick -The arrows came before the needles - Polymorphism phenomenon of solid pharmaceutical compounds is of utmost importance since concepts as bioavailability and drug dissolution are directly related to the characteristic properties of the polymorphic states. These arrowhead-like straight lines of crystals represent an early step in the formation of the needle shaped crystals of the metastable polymorph of Piracetam (Form II). The different layers (arrows) stick to each other in the growing mechanism by integrating units at the crystal interface to eventually form a bigger crystal with lower number of edges, needle shaped crystals, of this metastable polymorph.

Shortlisted: Dr Vasanth Kannuchamy & Dr Kirankumar Ramisetty - University of Limerick - Curcumin galaxy - Crystallization of curcumin is extremely chaotic. Microscopic images captured at the early stage of crystallization clearly show the formation of numerous amounts of amorphous and featureless structures. With reaction time, these structures act as a building block and evolve in to beautiful curcumin crystals. This image captured at initial time of crystallization expose the catastrophic growth pathway of this molecule of pharmaceutical importance. The image was taken as part of an SSPC project under the supervision of Prof. Ake Rasmuson at the University of Limerick.

Dr Renuka Krishnaraj - University of Limerick -Scenic crystal forest - The image shows the form IV crystals of the oral antihyperglycemic drug Tolbutamide recorded during slow evaporation of Tolbutamide-acetonitrile solution at room temperature. During the evaporation of acetonitrile from glass vial, Tolbutamide also rises along the walls of the container which then nucleates and grows into bunches of fibrous needles. This container when illuminated on the microscopic stage resembles spiky bushes in a snowfield. Density of the fibrous needles and their natural white colour adds well towards the natural feel of this scenic view

Wed Nov 15 2017 - 18:48

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