Image: Anne Cavanagh and Dave McCarthy
The Wellcome Image Awards are given annually for achievement in scientific imagery. The 2009 winners were announced this week in London. Among those winners was the above image showing:
…the synthetic polymers used to coat a drug, either to target the release of the drug in a specific part of the digestive tract or to allow the drug to be released slowly. Polymers play an important role in reducing side-effects of drugs, as well as the number of times a patient needs to take a medication.
Scanning electron micrograph images are taken in black and white and are coloured later. The orange spheres contain the drug and the encapsulating co-polymers are coloured blue.
(more pics after jump…)
Human embryo after zona drilling – coloured
Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of a human embryo at day 3. The egg has been fertilised
in vitro and has developed to this stage in culture. The coat around the egg (zona pellucida)
has been treated with acid Tyrodes solution to make a hole so an individual cell can be removed.
This cell can then be used for genetic diagnosis before the embryo is transferred to the woman’s
uterus. This allows the selective implantation of embryos that do not carry the genetic disease in
question.
You can view more amazing works by prize winners at the link.
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