Research on display: see our winning images of science

This image shows tumour evolutionary trees constructed from data from 400 patients in the TRACERx study with early-stage, untreated non-small-cell lung cancer. Each branch represents a cancer cell subpopulation with a distinct set of mutations. 

Kristiana Grigoriadis, Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, 2023. 

Credits: Mark S. Hill, Kerstin Thol, Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, CRUK, BMS, TRACERx consortium, TRACERx patients and their families.

A human cell infected with Vaccinia virus, a poxvirus similar to smallpox. The virus hijacks the actin cytoskeleton (grey). When it reaches the surface of the cell, it generates actin tails (red) to increase its mobility and help it infect neighbouring cells.

Gabrielle Larocque, Cellular Signalling and Cytoskeletal Function Laboratory, 2020.

This 'Brainbow' is made of fluorescently labelled neurons in the adult mouse gut. The neurons independently orchestrate gastrointestinal  functions, sensing changes in the environment and coordinating muscle movements and gland secretions. 

Alvaro Castano Medina and Yuuki Obata, Development and Homeostasis of the Nervous System Laboratory, 2019.

ATG8 is a protein that plays a vital role in a process called autophagy, the body's cellular recycling system. Here, ATG8 (white) can be seen binding to the LIR motif (pink), a special sequence found in proteins which are part of the autophagy process. 

Stephane Mouilleron, Structural Biology, 2023. 

Credits: The protein was expressed by Martina Wirth and crystallised by Stephane Mouilleron from the Francis Crick Institute Structural Biology Science Technology Platform for the Sharon Tooze Laboratory.

This image shows two motor neurons in the spinal cord of a patient with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In the cell on the left, which is still healthy, a protein called TDP-43 (in green) is mostly found in the nucleus. However, the cell on the right is dying and TDP-43 has moved and aggregated in bright green speckles in the cytoplasm of the cell. 

Giulia Tyzack, Human Stem Cells and Neurodegeneration Laboratory, 2019. 

Credits: Rickie Patani (UCL and the Francis Crick Institute) – Group Leader, Jia Newcombe (NeuroResource) - kindly provided the samples.

The human genome is a sequence of 6.3 billion molecular letters, stretching a distance of two metres, but it has to fit in a tiny cell nucleus. These maps show at unprecedented resolution how DNA is folded to fit inside the nucleus in yeast. Warmer colours show connections between sections of DNA which loop near to each other, while colder areas are largely devoid of encounters. 

Thomas M. Guérin, Christopher Barrington and Frank Uhlmann, Chromosome Segregation Laboratory, 2023. 

Credits: Software used to display the genomic interaction data: Kerpedjiev et al. (2018) HiGlass: Web-based visual comparison and exploration of genome interaction maps. Genome Biology, 19:125.

This is a fluorescent image of an organoid, or 'mini-gut', grown in a petri dish in the lab. Organoids are essentially stem cells growing three dimensionally to form a little cluster of cells replicating the structure and function of a specific organ, in this case the small intestine.

Stem Cell and Cancer Biology Laboratory, 2015.

This image shows a tumour growing within a mouse, taken using intravital imaging, a special technique to image cells inside live organisms. In white, we can see collagen fibers that provide support and physical constraints for the growing tumour. The orange and yellow colours come from the tumour itself and the blood vessels that feed it. 

Colin Ratcliffe and Erik Sahai, Tumour Cell Biology Laboratory, 2021.

Credits: CRUK. Fellowships to Colin Ratcliffe: 2019-2021 Fonds de recherche du québec-Santé, 2023-2025 EACR/AstraZeneca Fellowship.

Mitochondrial segementation involves identifying and outlining individual mitochondria, which provide energy needed for different biological processes within a cell. In each image, each segmented mitochondrion is represented in a distinct colour. The depicted cells are human macrophages, a type of white blood cell.

Claudio Bussi, Host-Pathogen Interactions in Tuberculosis Laboratory, 2020.

This image illustrates the genetic finding key to the release of Kathleen Folbigg, a mother who spent 20 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering her four children. The central wave of the DNA sequencing analysis shows a key variation (C/T) in a gene called CALM2, shared by Kathleen and her two daughters.

Carola G. Vinuesa, Todor Arsov, Vicki Athanasopoulos and Yafei Zhang, Autoimmunity Laboratory, 2020.

Cancer cells can be seeded in thousands of microwells for analysis, shown here. In the absence of a surface to grow on to, cancer cells will keep dividing and proliferating to form these spherical structures known as spheroids, which can then be used in experiments to mimic tumours.

Olivia Courbot and Alberto Elosegui-Artola, Cell and Tissue Mechanobiology Laboratory, 2023. 

Credits: Alberto Elosegui-Artola - Group Leader, Brenda Canales - design advice, Maria Benito-Jardon - cell culture.

The neurons in the spinal cord come from different types of neuronal progenitor cells (green). In this image, cells that expressed a specific marker are labelled so researchers can study what the descendants of those cells (magenta) have gone on to become. 

Joaquina Delas Vives, Developmental Dynamics Laboratory, 2021. 

This image reflects the complexity of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in a lung cancer sample from the TRACERx clinical study. The ECM is made of molecules organised outside cells that act as a scaffold in tissues, which are highly modifed in cancer (red, green, cyan and magenta). The tumour cells are depicted in yellow. 

David Novo, Zoe Ramsden, Camille Charoy, Charles Swanton, and Erik Sahai, Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory and Tumour Cell Biology Laboratory, 2023. 

Credits: TRACERx Consortium.

This image showcases a zebrafish embryo with the heart visible, labelled with fluorescent proteins. These embryos are transparent, so we can look at heart development as it grows and starts to beat in minute details and in real-time.

Rashmi Priya, Organ Morphodynamics Laboratory, and Srinivas Allanki, Tumour Cell Biology Laboratory.

Credits: This image first appeared in Development, published by The Company of Biologists, The zebrafish issue: 25 years on, Volume 148, Issue 24, 16 December 2021. PMID: 34913466.

This image shows cultured human cells called fibroblasts in purple, infected with Toxoplasma gondii parasites. When the parasites are genetically edited using a technique called CRISPR-Cas9, scientists can make precise changes to the makeup of their DNA in order to understand the function of different genes.

Simon Butterworth, Signalling in Apicomplexan Parasites Laboratory, 2023. 

This image shows a human immune cell called a macrophage (purple). It connects with the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (in green), which causes TB. Although a seemingly harmless moment in time, these pathogenic mycobacteria are able to evade the immune system.

Tony Fearns and Beren Aylan, Host-Pathogen Interactions in Tuberculosis Laboratory, 2022.