Visual Science
Welcome to VU:Sci Visual Science.
A platform where Science Meets Art.
Here, we publish a variety of visuals inspired by science.
Do you have visuals you’d like to share?
We welcome various submissions, including digital and paper illustrations, infographics, poems, gifs, comics, and other possible media forms. Don’t hold back— let your creativity shine and share your work with our vibrant student community. Click here to find our Visual brief and submit your creative pieces!
Do you want to take your internship visuals to the next level with us?
Every May, we organize the Vu:Sci Microscopy Contest 🔬, offering students a unique platform to showcase the visuals from their research internships. Expert judges and the Visual Science Committee will choose the best image. You’ll be rewarded with a printed copy of your image as the winner.
So, without further ado, explore our inspiring collection of beautiful VU:Sci Visuals bellow.
Patience is key – Parvalbumin
VU:Sci Microscopy Contest 2024 Winner – Giulia Anderson
Image of a cultured hippocampal rat neuron stained for parvalbumin: intensity of the signal is reflected in a yellow-to-blue gradient. Parvalbumin neurons only make up 1.5% of CA1 neurons, so you may spend a lot of time looking for them. Patience is key.
Shifting the Spotlight: From Neurons to Glia - Elisa Valero Jiménez
After almost exclusively focusing on neurons, brain research is slowly veering toward the study of glial cells. Glia have been demonstrated to execute functions that were previously overlooked, such as regulating development, aiding neuronal function, affecting synapses, and responding to injury. In this picture, microglia (IBA1, cyan), astrocytes (GFAP, magenta), and oligodendrocytes (CNP, red) work together to attempt to restore homeostasis in the brain of a mouse model of vanishing white matter disease.
GAL3 Mycobacterium marinum escaping the phagosome - Maria Irene Regueiro Zapico
In 2022, more than 10 million people fell ill with Tuberculosis, caused by a pathogen known as Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. This study aims to validate from the M. marinum genes chosen if they are important for the survival and replication of Mycobacterium marinum by checking whether they grow less inside mouse macrophages (J774.2) and if they can escape the phagosome using J774.2 macrophages containing GAL3. While some of the mutants do not differ from the wild type, we discovered through the different tests that some are worth further investigation.
Starry Spirulina Night- Perrine Humphreys
The swirling simplicity of Arthrospira platensis. Reminiscent of Van Gogh’s waves in Starry Night, yet only a random conformation of microalgae, subject to the Patterns of Nature.
Art in Rheumatoid Arthritis - Jente Wagenaar
Top left: human synovium from a rheumatoid arthritis patient stained with DAPI (blue) and CD68 (pink). Bottom right: rat synovium stained with DAPI (blue), CD68 (pink), and FRb (green).
Brain Organoids: Which Way Will the Cosmos Grow? - Jule Schretzmeir
We return to our pondering researcher. Some time has passed, and her cells have grown both in numbers and maturity. Again, she sits in her lab and carefully holds the dishes that contain her tiny organoids. She feeds them and watches as they float. She thinks about the future of this rapidly evolving, ever-changing field of research. She imagines her organoid cosmos developed and wonders: how long until this micro-universe starts learning, thinking, feeling, and gaining autonomy? Will she be able to have a conversation with her cells one day? Will her cell cultures create societal cultures? And importantly, will they consent to the experiments she pursues with them? This second artistic piece in the series aims to inspire critical thought on the topic. Stem cell research, particularly the creation of brain-like organoids, holds many opportunities, but these complex structures need to be handled with care. Ethical considerations need to be made, and research needs to be evaluated and reflected upon, to ensure that this technology develops in a safe, respectful way.
Brain Organoids: A Cellular Cosmos In a Dish - Jule Schretzmeir
Imagine this. A researcher sits in her lab, surrounded by cells, cylinders, chemicals, and computers. Looking into a dish under the microscope, the scientist sees life: cells self-organizing, forming organic structures, feeding, multiplying, communicating. She has created an organoid: a tiny 3D structure resembling the early stages of a brain. She sees a microcosmos unfold in front of her eyes and imagines the potential of this technology. Using stem cells to create small, brain-like structures enables the investigation of the human nervous system, it’s structures, and functions. It creates the possibility to model human disease, foster personalized medicine, and gives us the ability to unravel the secrets of brain development. This line of thought inspires the above artistic interpretation of a cerebral organoid. The rainbow of colours, shapes, and layers is inspired by these cellular universes, to represent the prospects for exploration that this new technology holds.
Anatomy of the Human Heart - Doris Wopereis
This painting depicts a cross-section of an adult human heart. It shows a thick layer of internal muscle tissue and a thinner layer of yellow fatty tissue around the heart. The major blood vessels are visible at the top and around the back. It highlights the four different heart valves: the pulmonary and aortic valves at the top of the ventricles, and the tricuspid and mitral valves between the atria and ventricles. The illustration was made using layers of gouache paint, chosen because of its vibrant colors and its suitability to portray delicate details, such as the tiny veins on the larger blood vessels, or the white highlights that make the heart look shiny and lifelike.
Winner VU:Sci Microscopy Contest 2023 Swimming through the blood-brain barrier - Emma Snijders
This is a zebrafish, five days post fertilization, where the blood vessels express GFP (orange). The zebrafish is treated with high glucose for 3 consecutive days. To assess the permeability of the blood vessels of the brain a fluorescence tracer, Cy5 (cyan), is injected into the heart sac. After 2 hours of incubation, the zebrafish is imaged via confocal microscopy with a 20x dry objective. The colors are chosen to make the image colorblind-friendly.
A microscopic peek into the processes forming the island of Naxos Description - Maarten Berg
This microphotograph displays the mineral assemblage of a rock sample from the island of Naxos, Greece. Studying the interactions and proportions of the minerals inside this rock on a micro-scale provides insights into the macro-scale processes the rock experienced. The image shows bands of minerals resulting from high underground pressure. The appearance and relative abundance of these minerals suggest the rock formed in a subducting tectonic plate, which can be related to the African plate's subduction beneath Europe approximately 66 million years ago—the time the dinosaurs went extinct.
Mason Goldner staining of the right femur of PLS3 mutated mice
Osteoporosis is a widespread bone disease increasing fracture risk, affecting 200+ million globally. It's characterized by reduced bone mass and altered bone structure, with causes ranging from genetics to lifestyle factors. 60-80% have genetic predispositions, with the X-chromosome's plastin-3 (PLS3) gene playing a crucial role. PLS3 mutations can trigger early onset osteoporosis in men and milder forms in women. This study examines the bone phenotype in PLS3-mutated mice versus wild type. Microscopy images, after Methyl methacrylate embedding and Trichrome Mason Goldner staining, differentiate bone types: Blue represents mineralized bone, red indicates osteoid, and brown marks bone marrow.
Astrocytic Tree Branches Co-Existing with Dopaminergic Neurons - Jessica Brösamlen
This picture is taken from an experiment with a triple culture, containing human induced pluripotent stem cells-derived microglia, astrocytes and dopaminergic neurons. In the image we can see dopaminergic neurons (blue) from a control-derived line as well as astrocytes (yellow) from a Parkinson’s patient derived line. The color red is representative of the nuclei.
Highway to the Brain - Cristina Boers Escuder
Hippocampal pyramidal cells filled with biocytin (green) during patch-clamp recordings and stained for myelin (red), showing the axon of one of the cells projecting to the right, completely covered by myelin (yellow). We aim to study how myelin influences axonal transmission in these cells. The title 'Highway to Brain' echoes my thoughts when I am reconstructing them. I am only able to reconstruct the most proximal part of the axon, but I would love to follow it throughout the brain and see all the connections or stops it makes along the way – almost like it's a highway inside our brains.
Neuron Galaxy - Christy Yu
Network of iPSC-derived neurons. Blue = MAP2; green = synaptophysin; red = Homer; white = MUNC18-1
Hippocampal neurons stained with autoimmune anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis antibodies - Anna Smit
Hippocampal neurons immunostained for surface NMDA receptor (green) and PSD95 (red) after 24-hour exposure to patients’ CSF of anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients. The presence of NMDAR autoantibodies in the CSF leads to a decrease of surface NMDA receptors (green) on the hippocampal neurons. Anti-NMDAR encephalitis has been discovered in 2007 by Dalmau et al. Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is currently the most common autoimmune encephalitis and leads to severe, potentially lethal, neurological symptoms. This picture was made with a Zeiss LSM710 confocal microscope (40x) in the Clinical and Experimental Neuroimmunology laboratories at the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Knock-out In Disguise - Noortje van Geest
This is an inhibitory hypothalamic mouse neuron (green: Map2, red: Vgat, magenta: Rab3A). The protein Rab3A is supposed to be conditionally knocked out in this neuron. However, if you look closely, the cell still seems to express some Rab3A. So: a very misleading neuron! 🙂
ATP-filled Astrocyte - Cristina Boers
Astrocyte expressing an ATP biosensor in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. This biosensor, Perceval, allows to measure ATP. Here, it is expressed exclusively in astrocytes via an astrocyte-specific promoter, GFAP.
A Close Connection - Denise Duineveld
With patch-clamp, you make a direct connection between a glass pipette and the intercellular of the membrane. With this you can measure the electrophysiological properties of that cell. To succeed, the connection between the pipette and the membrane of the neuron need to be very tight.
Astrocyte - Juliette Chevalier
Staining of a GFAP positive astrocytes (red) and DAPI positive nuclei (blue) in the midbrain of a mouse.