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  • For Researchers

Research is Beautiful – the best of the rest

by Phil Prime | In depth

21 March 2025

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Tibia polarised

Huge round of applause for all those who submitted entries last month – your images were fantastic – after a difficult time picking a winner, here are a few of our top picks from the rest of February’s entries.

This entry is part 13 of 13 in the series Research is Beautiful
Series Navigation<< Latest winner in our Research is Beautiful campaign
Tibia polarised
This image from Eric Vancauwenberghe of the University of Sheffield shows a picrosirius red (PSR) staining of a mouse tibia (growth plate) viewed under polarised light microscopy. It's the standard method to evaluate the organization of collagen fibers in tissues. It allows visualization of thick collagen fibers in yellow/orange-red and thin collagen fibers in green.
U87 R ZIKV
Isabela Granha of the University of Sao Paulo sent in this image of a glioblastoma cell line being infected with the oncolytic Zika Virus. She said: "I find it very beautiful, and secondly because it helped me to support my hypothesis that glioblastoma cells that are susceptible to temozolomide (TMZ, the chemotherapeutic used in the treatement of glioblastoma) are also susceptible to Zika infection." In the image, you see a glioblastoma cell line (U87 cell line; GFAP, red; DAPI, blue) that is susceptible to TMZ being infected with Zika virus (green).
National Cancer Registry
From Lerato Malakoane of the National Cancer Registry in South Africa. Lerato said: "Myself and my colleagues at the National Cancer Registry in South Africa doing some Advocacy work in the Gauteng Province. We are passionate about combating cancer and believe in early detection to improve treatment outcomes and overall quality of life for all people diagnosed with cancer. We go into communities teaching them about cancer – what is it, what symptoms to look out for and different risk factors associated with different cancer types. We encourage the public to pay attention to their bodies to “KNOW THEIR NORMAL” so that they can be able to quickly identify any abnormality and be proactive about seeking medical help."
A human basal-cell carcinoma (BCC)
James Mckenzie of Imperial College London sends in this image of A human basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) sample, with a large tumour-containing region identifiable in the top right of the section’s outer layer. This section was analysed by rapid evaporative ionisation mass spectrometry imaging (REIMS MSI) in negative ionisation mode. The resultant mass spectra were analysed by principal components analysis (PCA) and the image is a composite of the first three components.
flash column chromatography
Charlie Edleston, a third year medicinal chemistry PhD student at Newcastle University (part of the Newcastle drug discovery unit) sends in this image. He said: "I'm currently working on a project developing small molecule inhibitors for a metabolic target, as part of my PhD. Last week I attempted to purify one of my compounds by flash column chromatography and when I concentrated my fractions it looked like this. The compound wasn't yet pure which I think could have caused the patches of colouring around the crystals that have formed."
spooling
Geoff Margison of the University of Manchester shows his workings with this image. He said: "These show the final stages of purification of a massive amount of DNA , often referred to as "spooling". I was a group leader at the (then) Paterson institute for Cancer research until 2012, then became an honorary prof at the University of Manchester. I was a DNA repair man, and the DNA was used to prepare radiolabelled substrate for DNA repair assays."

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