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Latest winner in our Research is Beautiful competition

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by Cancer Research UK | In depth

10 August 2026

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Cancer Spheroid

Some wonderful entries this month for our Research is Beautiful image competition, but we have to pick one – so here’s the successful image for July.

This entry is part 21 of 21 in the series Research is Beautiful
Series Navigation<< Latest winner in our Research is Beautiful competition

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 Keira Jolliffe of Cancer Research Horizons for her winning image of a cancer spheroid.

Cancer spheroid
The image from Keira shows a slice from the inside of a cancer spheroid. It was stained to identify the nuclei (blue) and EpCam (purple) – a transmembrane glycoprotein. The image was captured on a point scanning confocal microscope. 

Keira Jolliffe is a TDL Placement Student at Cancer Research Horizons.

Keira jollife
Keira Jolliffe

“The project I have been working on as part of my placement is to optimise a clearing protocol for imaging spheroids in house at Cancer Research Horizons. Clearing is a process that removes light scattering lipids and balances the refractive index so we can image the core of the spheroids. Initially my work has been focused on making sure antibody markers can penetrate the core of spheroids which is why I have been using EpCam.

“EpCam is present on all HCT116 cells (the cell line used for the spheroid) so I can tell if the antibody is getting to the centre of the spheroid.

Combining this antibody penetration protocol with clearing allows imaging of the core of small spheroids. Using these initial experiments, I am now trying to image hypoxic and necrotic cores in these spheroids which can help with drug discovery, particularly drug penetration and resistance tracking.”

Send your images!

To enter, e-mail your photos to [email protected] 

Include a short caption, your contact details and an image of yourself. 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 will be awarded £100 in book tokens. The image(s) will be showcased on Cancer News for Researchers and our social-media platform 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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