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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.

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

Natcher Building 10

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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

Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Lab

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The intense X-rays produced by synchrotrons such as the Advanced Photon Source are ideally suited for protein structure determination. Southeast Collaboratory for Structural Genomics View Media

Serratezomine A

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A 3-D model of the alkaloid serratezomine A shows the molecule's complex ring structure. View Media

Dividing yeast cells with spindle pole bodies and contractile rings

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During cell division, spindle pole bodies (glowing dots) move toward the ends of yeast cells to separate copied genetic information. Alaina Willet, Kathy Gould’s lab, Vanderbilt University. View Media

Secreted protein from Mycobacteria

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Model of a major secreted protein of unknown function, which is only found in mycobacteria, the class of bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Center, PSI View Media

A2A adenosine receptor

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The receptor is shown bound to an inverse agonist, ZM241385. Raymond Stevens, The Scripps Research Institute View Media
Low resolution small glowing fish.

Glowing fish

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Professor Marc Zimmer's family pets, including these fish, glow in the dark in response to blue light. Featured in the September 2009 issue of Findings. View Media

Mouse brain 2

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A mouse brain that was genetically modified so that subpopulations of its neurons glow. Prayag Murawala, MDI Biological Laboratory and Hannover Medical School. View Media

NCMIR mouse tail

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Stained cross section of a mouse tail. Tom Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media

Aspirin (with labels)

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

RNA interference

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RNA interference or RNAi is a gene-silencing process in which double-stranded RNAs trigger the destruction of specific RNAs. Crabtree + Company View Media

Bone cancer cell

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This image shows an osteosarcoma cell with DNA in blue, energy factories (mitochondria) in yellow, and actin filaments—part of the cellular skeleton—in purple. Dylan Burnette and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, NICHD View Media

Mitochondrion from insect flight muscle

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This is a tomographic reconstruction of a mitochondrion from an insect flight muscle. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research View Media

Alternative splicing (with labels)

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Arranging exons in different patterns, called alternative splicing, enables cells to make different proteins from a single gene. Featured in The New Genetics. Crabtree + Company View Media

Hen egg lysozyme (2)

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

Small blood vessels in a mouse retina

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Blood vessels at the back of the eye (retina) are used to diagnose glaucoma and diabetic eye disease. They also display characteristic changes in people with high blood pressure. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research View Media

Ciclo circadiano de un adolescente típico

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Los ritmos circadianos son cambios físicos, mentales y conductuales que siguen un ciclo de 24 horas. NIGMS View Media

Mouse brain 3

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Various views of a mouse brain that was genetically modified so that subpopulations of its neurons glow. Prayag Murawala, MDI Biological Laboratory and Hannover Medical School. View Media

Lily mitosis 10

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A light microscope image of a cell from the endosperm of an African globe lily (Scadoxus katherinae). This is one frame of a time-lapse sequence that shows cell division in action. Andrew S. Bajer, University of Oregon, Eugene View Media

Bond types

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Ionic and covalent bonds hold molecules, like sodium chloride and chlorine gas, together. Hydrogen bonds among molecules, notably involving water, also play an important role in biology. Crabtree + Company View Media

Protein purification robot in action 01

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A robot is transferring 96 purification columns to a vacuum manifold for subsequent purification procedures. The Northeast Collaboratory for Structural Genomics View Media

Microsporidia in roundworm 3

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Many disease-causing microbes manipulate their host’s metabolism and cells for their own ends. Keir Balla and Emily Troemel, University of California San Diego View Media

Molecules blocking Huntington's protein production

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The molecules that glow blue in these cultured cells prevent the expression of the mutant proteins that cause Huntington's disease. Jiaxin Hu, David W. Dodd and Robert H. E. Hudson, UT Southwestern Medical Center View Media

TEM cross-section of C. elegans (roundworm)

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The worm Caenorhabditis elegans is a popular laboratory animal because its small size and fairly simple body make it easy to study. Piali Sengupta, Brandeis University 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

Anti-tumor drug ecteinascidin 743 (ET-743), structure without hydrogens 04

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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

Hippocampal neuron from rodent brain

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Hippocampal neuron from rodent brain with dendrites shown in blue. The hundreds of tiny magenta, green and white dots are the dendritic spines of excitatory synapses. Shelley Halpain, UC San Diego View Media

Tetrapolar mitosis

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This image shows an abnormal, tetrapolar mitosis. Chromosomes are highlighted pink. The cells shown are S3 tissue cultured cells from Xenopus laevis, African clawed frog. Gary Gorbsky, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation View Media

An insect tracheal cell delivers air to muscles

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Insects like the fruit fly use an elaborate network of branching tubes called trachea (green) to transport oxygen throughout their bodies. Jayan Nair and Maria Leptin, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany View Media

Cross section of a Drosophila melanogaster pupa

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This photograph shows a magnified view of a Drosophila melanogaster pupa in cross section. Compare this normal pupa to one that lacks an important receptor, shown in image 2759. Christina McPhee and Eric Baehrecke, University of Massachusetts Medical School View Media

Floral pattern in a mixture of two bacterial species, Acinetobacter baylyi and Escherichia coli, grown on a semi-solid agar for 48 hours (photo 2)

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Floral pattern emerging as two bacterial species, motile Acinetobacter baylyi (red) and non-motile Escherichia coli (green), are grown together for 48 hours on 1% agar surface from a sma L. Xiong et al, eLife 2020;9: e48885 View Media

Adult and juvenile Hawaiian bobtail squids

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An adult Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, (~4 cm) surrounded by newly hatched juveniles (~2 mm) in a bowl of seawater.
Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, Carnegie Institution for Science/California Institute of Technology, and Edward G. Ruby, California Institute of Technology. View Media

The nascent juvenile light organ of the Hawaiian bobtail squid

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A light organ (~0.5 mm across) of a Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, with different tissues are stained various colors. Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, Carnegie Institution for Science/California Institute of Technology, and Edward G. Ruby, California Institute of Technology. View Media

Closeup of fluorescent C. elegans showing muscle and ribosomal protein

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Closeup of C. elegans, tiny roundworms, with a ribosomal protein glowing red and muscle fibers glowing green. Researchers used these worms to study a molecular pathway that affects aging. Jarod Rollins, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. View Media

Heart muscle with reprogrammed skin cells

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Skins cells were reprogrammed into heart muscle cells. The cells highlighted in green are remaining skin cells. Red indicates a protein that is unique to heart muscle. Deepak Srivastava, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, via CIRM View Media

Bacteria in the mouse colon

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Image of the colon of a mouse mono-colonized with Bacteroides fragilis (red) residing within the crypt channel. The red staining is due to an antibody to B. Sarkis K. Mazmanian, California Institute of Technology View Media

Nucleolus subcompartments spontaneously self-assemble 4

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What looks a little like distant planets with some mysterious surface features are actually assemblies of proteins normally found in the cell's nucleolus, a small but very important protein complex lo Nilesh Vaidya, Princeton University View Media

Biofilm blocking fluid flow

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This time-lapse movie shows that bacterial communities called biofilms can create blockages that prevent fluid flow in devices such as stents and catheters over a period of about 56 hours. Bonnie Bassler, Princeton University View Media

Mouse heart fibroblasts

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This image shows mouse fetal heart fibroblast cells. The muscle protein actin is stained red, and the cell nuclei are stained blue. Kara McCloskey lab, University of California, Merced, via CIRM View Media

Breast cancer cells change migration phenotypes

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Cancer cells can change their migration phenotype, which includes their shape and the way that they move to invade different tissues. Bo Sun, Oregon State University. View Media

Master clock of the mouse brain

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An image of the area of the mouse brain that serves as the 'master clock,' which houses the brain's time-keeping neurons. The nuclei of the clock cells are shown in blue. Erik Herzog, Washington University in St. Louis View Media

Mitosis and meiosis compared-labeled

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Meiosis is used to make sperm and egg cells. During meiosis, a cell's chromosomes are copied once, but the cell divides twice. Judith Stoffer View Media

Human retinal organoid

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A replica of a human retina grown from stem cells. Kevin Eliceiri, University of Wisconsin-Madison. View Media

Developing Arabidopsis flower buds

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Flower development is a carefully orchestrated, genetically programmed process that ensures that the male (stamen) and female (pistil) organs form in the right place and at the right time in the flowe Nathanaël Prunet, Caltech View Media

Stem cell differentiation

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Undifferentiated embryonic stem cells cease to exist a few days after conception. In this image, ES cells are shown to differentiate into sperm, muscle fiber, hair cells, nerve cells, and cone cells. Judith Stoffer View Media

Pigment cells in the fin of pearl danio

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Pigment cells are cells that give skin its color. David Parichy, University of Washington View Media

VDAC video 01

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This video shows the structure of the pore-forming protein VDAC-1 from humans. Gerhard Wagner, Harvard Medical School View Media

HeLa cells

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Multiphoton fluorescence image of HeLa cells with cytoskeletal microtubules (magenta) and DNA (cyan). Nikon RTS2000MP custom laser scanning microscope. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) View Media

Genetic mosaicism in fruit flies

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Fat tissue from the abdomen of a genetically mosaic adult fruit fly. Genetic mosaicism means that the fly has cells with different genotypes even though it formed from a single zygote. Akhila Rajan, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center View Media