October 17, 2014
See-through scalyhead
With its skeleton revealed in red and cartilage in blue, an image of a scalyhead sculpin fish from biology prof Adam Summers‘ lab is among the winners in this year’s BioArt competition.
During staining, blue dye is taken up by cartilage and crimson dye is taken up by mineralized tissue such as bone.Adam Summers
“Each day, scientific investigators produce thousands of images and videos as part of their research – from collection of image-based data, to the visualization of results,” according to contest sponsor the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The federation conducts the BioArt competion to “share the beauty and excitement of biological research with the public.”
Summers and his team at UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories stain and image specimens to better understand their bones, cartilage and other underlying structures. They’re interested in understanding the mechanics of movement, feeding and other animal functions and also they are on the lookout for opportunities to copy or imitate nature. With the scalyhead sculpin, they wanted to examine the vertebral column to study the relationship between joint mobility and morphology, Summers said.
The fish was among 12 images and videos named winners this year.
