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This is a searchable collection of scientific photos, illustrations, and videos. The images and videos in this gallery are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0. This license lets you remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as you credit and license your new creations under identical terms.

Young squids

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Real-time movie of young squids. Michael Shribak, Marine Biological Laboratory/University of Chicago. View Media

Flagellated bacterial cells

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Vibrio fischeri (2 mm in length) is the exclusive symbiotic partner of the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes. Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, Carnegie Institution for Science/California Institute of Technology, and Edward G. Ruby, California Institute of Technology. View Media

Building blocks and folding of proteins

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Proteins are made of amino acids hooked end-to-end like beads on a necklace. To become active, proteins must twist and fold into their final, or "native," conformation. Crabtree + Company View Media

Two-headed Xenopus laevis tadpole

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Xenopus laevis, the African clawed frog, has long been used as a research organism for studying embryonic development. Michael Klymkowsky, University of Colorado, Boulder View Media

Actin filaments bundled around the dynamin helical polymer

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Multiple actin filaments (magenta) are organized around a dynamin helical polymer (rainbow colored) in this model derived from cryo-electron tomography. Elizabeth Chen, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. View Media

Superconducting magnet

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Superconducting magnet for NMR research, from the February 2003 profile of Dorothee Kern in Findings. Mike Lovett View Media

Full-length serotonin receptor (ion channel)

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A 3D reconstruction, created using cryo-electron microscopy, of an ion channel known as the full-length serotonin receptor in complex with the antinausea drug granisetron (orange). Sudha Chakrapani, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. View Media

Cell-like compartments from frog eggs 2

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Cell-like compartments that spontaneously emerged from scrambled frog eggs, with nuclei (blue) from frog sperm. Endoplasmic reticulum (red) and microtubules (green) are also visible. Xianrui Cheng, Stanford University School of Medicine. View Media

tRNA splicing enzyme endonuclease in humans

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An NMR solution structure model of the transfer RNA splicing enzyme endonuclease in humans (subunit Sen15). This represents the first structure of a eukaryotic tRNA splicing endonuclease subunit. Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics, PSI View Media

Proteasome

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This fruit fly spermatid recycles various molecules, including malformed or damaged proteins. Sigi Benjamin-Hong, Rockefeller University View Media

Lysosomes

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Lysosomes have powerful enzymes and acids to digest and recycle cell materials. Judith Stoffer View Media

Natcher Building 04

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NIGMS staff are located in the Natcher Building on the NIH campus. Alisa Machalek, National Institute of General Medical Sciences View Media

Quartered torso

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Cells function within organs and tissues, such as the lungs, heart, intestines, and kidney. Judith Stoffer View Media

RNA polymerase

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RNA polymerase (purple) is a complex enzyme at the heart of transcription. Amy Wu and Christine Zardecki, RCSB Protein Data Bank. View Media

Trigonium diatom

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A Trigonium diatom imaged by a quantitative orientation-independent differential interference contrast (OI-DIC) microscope. Michael Shribak, Marine Biological Laboratory/University of Chicago. View Media

EM of yeast cell division

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Cell division is an incredibly coordinated process. Matthew West and Greg Odorizzi, University of Colorado View Media

Red Poppy

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A red poppy. Judy Coyle, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center View Media

Seeing signaling protein activation in cells 03

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Cdc42, a member of the Rho family of small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) proteins, regulates multiple cell functions, including motility, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell morphology. Klaus Hahn, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Medical School View Media

Pathways: What is It? | Why Scientists Study Cells

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Learn how curiosity about the world and our cells is key to scientific discoveries. National Institute of General Medical Sciences View Media

Floral pattern in a mixture of two bacterial species, Acinetobacter baylyi and Escherichia coli, grown on a semi-solid agar for 72 hour

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Floral pattern emerging as two bacterial species, motile Acinetobacter baylyi and non-motile Escherichia coli (green), are grown together for 72 hours on 0.5% agar surface from a small i L. Xiong et al, eLife 2020;9: e48885 View Media

Natcher Building 09

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NIGMS staff are located in the Natcher Building on the NIH campus. Alisa Machalek, National Institute of General Medical Sciences View Media

Natural nanomachine in action

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Using a supercomputer to simulate the movement of atoms in a ribosome, researchers looked into the core of this protein-making nanomachine and took snapshots. Kevin Sanbonmatsu, Los Alamos National Laboratory View Media

Two mouse fibroblast cells

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Two mouse fibroblasts, one of the most common types of cells in mammalian connective tissue. They play a key role in wound healing and tissue repair. Dylan T. Burnette, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. View Media

Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito larva

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A mosquito larva with genes edited by CRISPR. The red-orange glow is a fluorescent protein used to track the edits. Valentino Gantz, University of California, San Diego. View Media

Protein folding video

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Proteins are long chains of amino acids. Each protein has a unique amino acid sequence. It is still a mystery how a protein folds into the proper shape based on its sequence. Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group View Media

PanC from M. tuberculosis

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Model of an enzyme, PanC, that is involved in the last step of vitamin B5 biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PanC is essential for the growth of M. Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Center, PSI View Media

Pig trypsin crystal

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A crystal of pig trypsin protein created for X-ray crystallography, which can reveal detailed, three-dimensional protein structures. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine View Media

Cell-like compartments emerging from scrambled frog eggs 4

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Cell-like compartments that spontaneously emerged from scrambled frog eggs, with nuclei (blue) from frog sperm. Endoplasmic reticulum (red) and microtubules (green) are also visible. Xianrui Cheng, Stanford University School of Medicine. View Media

Anti-tumor drug ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743), structure without hydrogens 03

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Ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743, brand name Yondelis), was discovered and isolated from a sea squirt, Ecteinascidia turbinata, by NIGMS grantee Kenneth Rinehart at the University of Illinois. Timothy Jamison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology View Media

Symmetrically and asymmetrically elongating cells

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Merged fluorescent images of symmetrically (left) or asymmetrically (right) elongating HeLa cells at the end of early anaphase (magenta) and late anaphase (green). Tomomi Kiyomitsu and Iain M. Cheeseman, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research View Media

Rat Hippocampus

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This image of the hippocampus was taken with an ultra-widefield high-speed multiphoton laser microscope. Tom Deerinck, NCMIR View Media

Neutrophil-like cells migrating in a microfluidic chip

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Neutrophil-like cells (blue) in a microfluidic chip preferentially migrating toward LTB4 over fMLP. Caroline Jones, University of Texas at Dallas. View Media

HeLa cells

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Scanning electron micrograph of just-divided HeLa cells. Zeiss Merlin HR-SEM. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research View Media

Intasome

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Salk researchers captured the structure of a protein complex called an intasome (center) that lets viruses similar to HIV establish permanent infection in their hosts. National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy http://nramm.nysbc.org/nramm-images/ Source: Bridget Carragher View Media

Dimeric ferredoxin-like protein from an unidentified marine microbe

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This is the first structure of a protein derived from the metagenomic sequences collected during the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling project. Joint Center for Structural Genomics View Media

Jack bean concanavalin A

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Crystals of jack bean concanavalin A protein created for X-ray crystallography, which can reveal detailed, three-dimensional protein structures. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine View Media

Simulation of leg muscles moving

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When we walk, muscles and nerves interact in intricate ways. This simulation, which is based on data from a six-foot-tall man, shows these interactions. Chand John and Eran Guendelman, Stanford University View Media

CRISPR Illustration Frame 4

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This illustration shows, in simplified terms, how the CRISPR-Cas9 system can be used as a gene-editing tool. National Institute of General Medical Sciences. View Media

Aspirin

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Acetylsalicylate (bottom) is the aspirin of today. Crabtree + Company View Media

Bacterial glucose isomerase

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A crystal of bacterial glucose isomerase protein created for X-ray crystallography, which can reveal detailed, three-dimensional protein structures. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine View Media

DNA replication illustration

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During DNA replication, each strand of the original molecule acts as a template for the synthesis of a new, complementary DNA strand. Crabtree + Company View Media

Chromosomes after crossing over

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Duplicated pair of chromosomes have exchanged material. Judith Stoffer View Media

Gene silencing

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Pretty in pink, the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDA6) stands out against a background of blue-tinted DNA in the nucleus of an Arabidopsis plant cell. Olga Pontes and Craig Pikaard, Washington University View Media

Isolated Planarian Pharynx

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The feeding tube, or pharynx, of a planarian worm with cilia shown in red and muscle fibers shown in green View Media

Electrostatic map of the adeno-associated virus

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The new highly efficient parallelized DelPhi software was used to calculate the potential map distribution of an entire virus, the adeno-associated virus, which is made up of more than 484,000 atoms. Emil Alexov, Clemson University View Media

Ribosome illustration from PDB

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Ribosomes are complex machines made up of more than 50 proteins and three or four strands of genetic material called ribosomal RNA (rRNA). From PDB’s Molecule of the Month collection (direct link: http://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/121) Molecule of the Month illustrations are available under a CC-BY-4.0 license. Attribution should be given to David S. Goodsell and the RCSB PDB. View Media

Microfluidic chip

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Microfluidic chips have many uses in biology labs. Jeff Hasty Lab, UC San Diego View Media

Skin cross-section

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Cross-section of skin anatomy shows layers and different tissue types. National Institutes of Health Medical Arts View Media

Kupffer cell residing in the liver

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Kupffer cells appear in the liver during the early stages of mammalian development and stay put throughout life to protect liver cells, clean up old red blood cells, and regulate iron levels. Thomas Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego. View Media