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Within the current BSDB-the Node digital artwork exhibition, Oliver Anderson’s ‘The Maw at Etna’ was chosen because the Judges’ Selection within the ‘Scientific photographs’ class. We briefly caught up with Oliver to seek out out extra about his analysis and the story behind the picture.
Oliver Anderson (Australian Regenerative Drugs Institute)
On this picture, microtubules are proven in pink/yellow, and nuclei in white. Cells rush to fill a gap within the colony, with their jagged flame-like microtubules roaring into the centre just like the devouring forge-flames of Cyclopean Etna. (Aeneid E book VIII: Traces 416-425) Human induced pluripotent stem cells, imaged utilizing a Zeiss LSM780 confocal microscope. Cells are labelled with DAPI (white), and immunostained for alpha-tubulin (red-yellow).
What’s your background?
I did a Bachelor of Science Superior Analysis (Honours) at Monash College, majoring in Genetics and Immunology. My honours mission targeted on modelling metabolic illness in Drosophila. I’m now enterprise a PhD on the Australian Regenerative Drugs Institute within the lab of Dr Jennifer Zenker, the place I’m inspecting microtubule dynamics in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).
What are you at the moment researching on?
At the moment, I’m investigating and manipulating the microtubule cytoskeleton of hiPSCs so as to uncover the connection between the structural features of pluripotent cells and their total identification. Our present understanding of pluripotency is extra closely targeted on genetic and metabolic features, and so microtubules are comparatively understudied at this stage of improvement.
Are you able to inform us extra concerning the story behind your picture ‘The Maw at Etna’?
That is one in all my favorite immunostains of hiPSCs the place I checked out alpha-tubulin. On this colony of hiPSCs, a gap of kinds was current within the centre of the colony, and I used to be struck by how the jagged intrusions regarded like enamel, and even stalactites. Colouring the microtubules in red-yellow gave the looks of fireside, reminding me of Vulcan’s workshops beneath Etna talked about in Aeneid E book VIII(Traces 416-425), the place there’s great imagery of residing flames respiration by the forges, tended to by cyclops.
What’s your favorite approach?
Something that will get me on the (confocal fluorescent) microscope! Immunostaining has at all times given me lovely samples that I can picture slowly in a single day, and methods like transfection with fluorescent plasmids and reside dyes usually give fascinating reside imaging knowledge.
What excites you most within the subject of developmental and stem cell biology?
There may be such an enormous quantity we don’t perceive concerning the beginnings of an organism’s life, and the way the identities of cells rework over the course of improvement. In all places you look, there are such a lot of questions unanswered, and to me that’s deeply thrilling for the long run.
The publish The Maw at Etna — featured picture from the Node-BSDB digital artwork exhibition appeared first on the Node.
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