Latest winner in our Research is Beautiful campaign

Our Research is Beautiful campaign continues to inspire with some fantastic images, but there has to be a winner, and here’s January’s…

This entry is part 11 of 11 in the series Research is Beautiful

Our Research is beautiful image campaign highlights images that showcase your research – from your science, to the people in your lab and everything that surrounds it.

Congratulations to Dr Matthew Bottomley of the CAMS Oxford Institute. His image shows a cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma infiltrating into the dermis.

Matthew titles his image: “Out with the old and in with the new: illuminating the rainbow of the tumour microenvironment using fresh approaches”. A traditional three-colour multiplex immunofluorescence allows delineation of three colours and two main cell types (CD45+ leucocytes and PanCK+ tumour). The labelled boxes show areas subjected to cutting-edge transcriptomic profiling at single-cell resolution of 959 genes, using high-plex gene expression to reveal an ecosystem of interacting cell populations within distinct niches of the tumour microenvironment.

Matthew is interested in the development of cancer in patients whose immune systems are suppressed. This relates to his clinical work as a nephrologist looking after patients with a kidney transplant who take medication for the rest of their life to prevent the immune system attacking the transplant. Patients with a kidney transplant develop cancer at two to four times the rate of other patients, and Matthew’s research focuses on why that is.

Dr Matthew Bottomley is a Clinical Career Development Fellow and Group Lead at the CAMS Oxford Institute. He is also an Honorary Consultant Nephrologist.

“The image is an example of how spatial transcriptomic profiling is allowing us to make new discoveries, focusing on a type of skin cancer called cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. This is the most common cancer in transplant patients. Previously, we were able to look at a few markers at a time on a slide, however, spatial transcriptomic profiling allows us to look at hundreds, if not thousands, of markers simultaneously on the same slide. This can reveal all the different types of cell present within the cancer and how they’re talking to each other. This is allowing us to re-examine tissue in a whole new way, revealing findings that may lead to the development of fresh approaches to treat and prevent cancer.”

Send us your images!

To enter, e-mail your photos to [email protected] with a short caption and your contact details. Images should be sent as JPEG files and, ideally, be at least 2000px. Feel free to email this address if you have any questions.

Each month, a panel of CRUK staff will review the submissions and choose the best image(s) that month. Successful entrants will be notified directly and the image(s) will be showcased on Cancer News for Researchers and our social-media platforms X and LinkedIn.

The campaign is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Please ensure before submitting an entry that you have read the campaign terms and conditions.

T&Cs here

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