Shelled amoeba
Image courtesy of Professor Peter O'Donoghue, School of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
This is a microscopic photo of a Quadrulella symmetrica, a free-living testate amoeba, which is enclosed in a simple pear shaped shell made of regular siliceous plates. By analysising the composition of fossilised shells of such amoeba, scientists have been able to determine and reconstruct past climate changes.
Lighting the night
Image courtesy of Professor Michael Drinkwater, School of Mathematics & Physics
The "WiggleZ" galaxy survey, co-led by the UQ Astrophysics Group, is making the largest-ever survey of distant galaxies in order to test
theories of dark energy. Dark energy is one of the strangest puzzles in modern cosmology: the unknown process making the expansion of the
Universe accelerate when it should be slowing down.
This photo was taken during our survey observations on the Anglo-Australian Telescope in central New South Wales. During this 10-minute
exposure one of the team spelt out the survey name with a torch, while walking along the telescope catwalk 8 stories above the ground. In the
background we can see dust and star clouds of the Milky Way galaxy (upper right) and our neighbour galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud
(upper left).
Hair highlights
Photo courtesy of Dr Michael Sheahan, ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research
This image shows the root hairs of a plant. Root hairs play an important role in the nodule development of legume plants. The ‘friendly’ soil bacteria, so-called rhizobia, attach to a root hair and cause the hair to curl. Bacteria and root then form a nitrogen fixing nodule. Since the nodule converts nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into a form of nitrate that is usable for the plant, legumes do not require nitrogen fertiliser and are often used in crop rotations as an environmentally friendly way to enrich the soil. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research is trying to find out more about this remarkable relationship between plant and bacterium.
Sensual Flora
Image courtesy of Dr. Paul Cunningham, School of Biological Sciences
The photo is of a moth (Helicoverpa armigera) feeding on a lantana flower. It’s part of a series of recently completed experiments, looking at how nectar feeding insects learn to distinguish between complex floral odour blends.
Wolbachia vs Dengue
Image courtesy of Dr. Iñaki Iturbe-Ormaetxe, School of Biological Sciences
The photo is a composition of 4 panels showing the double immunolocalization of the symbiotic bacteria Wolbachia (in green) and dengue virus (in red) in the ommatidia cells that form the compound eyes of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. These mosquitoes have been stably transinfected with a life-shortening strain of Wolbachia, as part of a novel approach to control dengue virus transmission.
Top left: Eye section of a control, uninfected mosquito. Top right: Ommatidia of a mosquito infected with dengue virus (in red), 14 days post infection. Bottom left: Ommatidia of an Aedes mosquito infected only with Wolbachia (green). Bottom right: Ommatidia of a mosquito infected with Wolbachia, 14 post infection with dengue virus- Wolbachia interfere with dengue virus replication in the mosquito body and no dengue is detected in these mosquitoes
Cane's a burning
Image courtesy of Dr. Stephen Mudge, School of Biological Sciences
Burning sugarcane field in the Burdekin region of North Queensland, where field trials of transgenic sugarcane varieties are currently being undertaken. Canefields are commonly burnt on the evening before harvest in the Burdekin.
Colours of the reef
Image courtesy of Chris Roelfsema, Centre for Spatial Environmental Research
This picture was taken during fieldwork on the reefs of Kubulau and Macuata on Vanua Levu in Fiji. The Centre for Spatial Environmental Research (CSER) conducts research into habitat coverages, predictive maps of fish assemblages and response to and recovery from intensive fishing.
Inside the Simulation Box
Image courtesy of Dr David Poger, School of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
This is a computer-generated image of the simulation box of the crystal structure of human growth hormone bound to the extracellular domain of the human growth hormone receptor. Growth hormone (in red) is a major cytokine involved in numerous cellular processes. The active form of the receptor it binds to is a dimer (in white).
Global Armageddon
Image courtesy of Dr Kim Sewell, Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM
Tiny, thin-walled, metallic spheres of different sizes were showered from a burning sparkler firework onto a sticky carbon substratum then imaged with a scanning electron microscope to resolve fine surface detail. The collapsed central globe is around 100 microns in diameter with a crustal thickness of around 1 micron and has an intricate internal architecture.
Coulorful Rock
Image courtesy of Dr Ben Cohen, School of Earth Science
This multicoloured image is actually a rock from Mt Warning viewed under a geological microscope. The various colours represent different minerals in the rock.
Inner Dialogue
Image courtesy of Matt Pelekanos, Queensland Brain Institute
The vitamin D receptor (green) is expressed in many cells throughout the developing rat brain, including dopamine neurons (red). Finding this receptor in a developing brain suggests that vitamin D might influence neural development in the foetus. Other cell nuclei are shown in blue.
Here's looking at you kid...
Photo courtesy of Professor Justin Marshall, School of Biomedical Sciences
Stomatopods or mantis shrimp have the worlds most complex colour vision system. They possess hyperspectral colour vision, allowing up to 12 colour channels extending in the ultraviolet. This visual system is being used to help re-design satellite sensors. Sometimes refered to as prawn killers or thumb splitters — because of the relative ease the creature has in mutilating small appendages — mantis shrimp sport powerful claws that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Although it happens rarely, some larger species of mantis shrimp are capable of breaking through aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon.
Inside the mind
Photo courtesy of Dr Rod Rietze, Queensland Brain Institute
An image of mature brain cell types. Neurons are shown in red, astrocytes in blue, and oligodendrocytes in green. Neurons are the signalling cells in the brain. Oligodendrocytes are the ones which insulate neurons in the brain and the ones that you lose if you have multiple sclerosis.
Fluorescent Nanobeads
Image courtesy of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.
A light microscope image of beads that have been optically barcoded using different combinations of fluorescent silica particles. Each barcoded bead displays a different biological entity, such as a DNA or peptide sequence, antibody or protein. Exposure of these libraries to biological samples such as blood serum or tumour extracts will potentially enable discovery of important biomarkers associated with cancer or infectious disease.
She sells sea shells by the sea shore
Photo by Carmel McDougall, courtesy of Associate Professor Bernie Degnan, School of Biological Sciences
Shell of the tropical abalone. Shells and skeletons of phenomenal strength, purity and beauty are encoded in the genomes of a wide range of animals. Using high-throughput methods, the molecular basis of shell patterning and structure is being investigated.
A galaxy of fossils
Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) and Professor Michael Drinkwater, School of Mathematics & Physics
The elliptical galaxy NGC 1132 contains enormous amounts of dark matter, as much as is normally found in a whole group of galaxies. UQ astronomer Professor Michael Drinkwater and colleagues think it may be a "fossil group" of galaxies that have all merged into a single giant galaxy. They are using the Hubble Space Telescope to test this theory.
Colourful Spine
Image courtesy of Dr Gary Cowin, Dr Nyoman Kurniawan and Dr Robyn Wallace, Centre for Magnetic Resonance and Queensland Brain Institute
Image generated from a 10 µm Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (MRM) image of a mouse spine. Magnetic Resonance Microscopy is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at a microscopic level.
The fiery furnace of consciousness
Photo courtesy of Dr Rod Rietze, Queensland Brain Institute
The above image shows a neurosphere. A neurosphere is free-floating structure generated by neural stem cells in vitro (grown in the lab). In theory they can give rise to all the cells of the brain.
The colour of synthesis
Image courtesy of Dr Luke Guddat, School of Cemistry and Molecular Biosciences
These are computer generated representations of the enzyme acetohydroxyacid synthase, which is the first enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway for the Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) leucine, valine and isoleucine. The combination of these three essential amino acids makes up approximately 1/3 of skeletal muscle in the human body, and plays an important role in protein synthesis. BCAA’s are also currently used clinically to aid in the recovery of burn victims, as well as sporting supplements.
Viral attack
Image courtesy of Professor Paul Young, School of Cemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a contagious viral disease that can lead to serious health problems, especially for young children and older adults. RSV infects a person's lungs and breathing passages, with almost everyone having had RSV at least once by the age of 2. Currently, there's no vaccine to prevent RSV. The above image comes from a scanning electron microscope, showing RSV infected human cells (green) with viral filaments (blue) budding (emerging) from the infected cell surface.
A quantum matter
Image courtesy of Chris Foster, School of Mathematics and Physics
A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a quantum state of matter with properties similar to light from a laser. Atom lasers made from BECs have the potential to be used in ultra-precise measurement devices. Recent numerical simulations in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics at the University of Queensland have shown whirlpools known as vortices can spontaneously occur in the formation of a gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The image shows a 3D rendering of a BEC containing vortices soon after it forms, with a shadow image underneath.
Frozen flight field
The $46 million dollar Wilkins runway is carved into glacial blue ice, approximately 65 km from the Australian base at Casey Station. Flights to Antarctica leave from Hobart International Airport in Tasmania using an Airbus A319 and take about four hours - a journey that used to take ten-days by sea. In order to be approved by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the runway was required to be levelled to runway standard with the use of lasers, and requires a crew of eight to maintain the level and friction of the runway before each landing.
A jewel of a jelly
Photo courtesy of Deep Ocean Quest (www.uq.edu.au/deepoceanaustralia)
Incredibly beautiful coronate jellies like Atolla live exclusively in deep-water habitats. The Atolla jellyfish can be found at depths of up to 5000 metres! Because of this, they aren't seen at the surface - only scientists with midwater trawls or deep sea submersibles have the opportunity to see these jewels.
Stained glass window
Image courtesy of Dr. James St John from the School of Biomedical Sciences
The mosaic pattern of cells residing in the epithelium lining the nasal cavity. One of the most psychologically and physically devastating injuries for humans is one involving the brain. Unlike the skin that either heals naturally from lesions or can be repaired with skin grafts, the brain has a limited ability to do so. Thankfully there is one region of the nervous system - the olfactory system (the neurons that we smell with) - that is unique in its ability to regenerate. Dr St John’ lab is studying the olfactory system during growth and regeneration in order to understand the underlying cell and molecular mechanisms that could be applied to brain repair.
Spooky nerve forest
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Geoff Goodhill, School of Mathematics and Physics and the Queensland Brain Institute
In anatomy and neurology, the dorsal root is the afferent (carries nerve impulses from receptors or sense organs toward the central nervous system) sensory root of a spinal nerve. The dorsal root ganglia in the above image are grown in collagen gel; the goal of the research is to uncover the mathematical rules governing which way the nerve fibres grow.
Sea Horse Valley
Image courtesy of Professor Phil Pollett from the School of Mathematics and Physics
The Madelbrot set, named after French Mathematician Benoît B. Mandelbrot, is a set of points in the complex plane achieved by repeating the calculation z^2+c ad infinitum starting from z=0 the resulting sequence remains bounded. Mandelbrot set images are produced by colouring each point outside the set according to how quickly the sequence it generates tends to infinity. The image above comes from "Sea Horse Valley", a region of the Mandelbrot set centred around -0.75 + 0.1 i, so named because the spiral shapes appearing in it resemble sea horse tails. This image was produced using fractint.
Backbone of the Reef
Photo courtesy of NASA/ Millennium Reef Mapping Project and Dr S. Andrefouet. from the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management
Location: Swains Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, captured from the Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite sensor at approx. 850km above the earth’s surface.
The image shows a series of reefs and channels. The Centre for Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science at the University of Queensland conducts research to understand the biological and physical properties of the water column and corals which control the amount of light they reflect and absorb, which determines their colour. This information is used to design mapping programs for government agencies to map and monitor changes to coral reefs around the world
Sea an enemy
Image courtesy of Dr David Poger, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
The above image is a computer generated surface representation of the structure of the sea anemone toxin Equinatoxin II. There is much interest in understanding how proteins are able to recognize and target specific biological membranes. Equinatoxin II is potentially lethal to vertebrates because it binds to membranes and forms a transmembrane pore.
Armoured octopus
Photo courtesy of Deep Ocean Quest (www.uq.edu.au/deepoceanaustralia)
The argonauts are a group of octopuses that are also called 'paper nautiluses', referring to the paper-thin eggcase that females secrete. Argonauts exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism in size and lifespan; females grow up to 10 cm and make shells up to 30 cm, while males rarely surpass 2 cm. Oddly, the females have been known since ancient times while the males were only described in the late 19th century.
Spine Tingling Image
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Geoff Goodhill, School of Mathematics and Physics and the Queensland Brain Institute
The above image is of dorsal root ganglia seen through an electron microscope. These dorsal root ganglia are grown in collagen gel in Associate Professor Geoff Goodhill's computational neuroscience laboratory. The goal of the research is to uncover the mathematical rules governing which way the nerve fibres grow.
A very, very long wait
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon, School of Earth Sciences
Location: Casey Skiway, near Casey Station, East Antarctica
A bit of Antarctic humour captured by School of Earth Sciences lecturer Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon when he journeyed to the continent in January last year. Casey Station is a permanent base in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) and is located on Vincennes Bay.
A reef in crisis
Photo courtesy of DigitalGlobe Pty Ltd. and School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management
Location: North-East Heron Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, captured from the Quickbird-2 satellite sensor at approximately 650km above the earth’s surface.
The image shows the transition from reef-lagoon across the reef crest to a deep sand channel. The Centre for Spatial Environmental Research (CSER) conducts research to understand the biological and physical properties of the water column and corals which control the amount of light they reflect and absorb, determining their colour. This information is used to design mapping programs for government agencies to map and monitor changes to coral reefs around the world.
Cell Wars
Photo courtesy of Associate Dr Tsjerk A. Wassenaar, School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience
An artistic representation of a killer T-cell displaying the apoptosis inducing Ligand (TRAIL) (in purple) interacting with a cell death-inducing receptor (DR5 or Death Receptor 5) (in blue) leading to the programmed death of the target tumour cell (at left of image). It is also thought that the TRAIL molecule binds to HIV infected T-cells and causes the infected cells to die, meantime leaving healthy cells alone.
Computational Neuroscience
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Geoff Goodhill, School of Mathematics and Physics and the Queensland Brain Institute
Computational Neuroscience aims to understand how biological nervous systems process information by modelling them at scales including the biophysical, circuit and systems level. The image above shows an explant of neural tissue (about 1mm in size) grown in collagen to study how nerve fibres find appropriate targets in the developing brain. Dr Goodhill's lab uses theoretical, computational and experimental techniques to investigate how biological nervous systems become wired up during development.
Beautiful Poison
Photo courtesy of Andrew Hayes and Dr Nyoman Kurniawan, Centre for Magnetic Resonance and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Otherworldly Tentacles
Photo courtesy of Dr David I. Kline, Centre for Marine Studies
Soft Corals, or Alcyonacea, are corals which do not produce calcium carbonate skeletons; instead they contain minute, spine-like skeletal elements called sclerites which give support and deter predators. Soft corals can be distinguished from hard corals by the fact that soft coral polyps always have eight tentacles, while hard coral polyps have multiples of six tentacles.
Solar Powered
Photo courtesy of Dr. Tsjerk A. Wassenaar, Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB)
A computer generated image showing the distribution of chloride ions around the protein Bacteriorhodopsin, taken from the photosynthetic purple membrane of a blue-green algae. Because bacteriorhodopsin absorbs green light, it appears to be an intense purple color, causing the salt lakes and pools where it’s found to appear purple. Bacteriorhodopsin has been the focus of intense study, since first isolated in 1970, because it is closely related to human G-protein coupled receptors, many of which are important possible targets for new drugs.
Mimicking Nature
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Gary Schenk, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
This illustration is a computer generated depictsion of a small molecule (in the foreground) that mimics the chemically relevant centre in the enzyme purple acid phosphatase, a target in the synthesis of anti-osteoporosis drugs. Enzymes are the chemical machines in biological systems, and many of them are targets for the development of drugs. The design of these drugs is guided by knowledge of the enzyme’s mechanism of action; biomimetics, small molecules that mimic some aspects of the enzyme, are useful investigative tools.
Plant Hospital
Photo courtesy of Yu-Hsiang Lin, ARC Centre of Excellence For Integrative Legume Research (CILR)
PhD student Yu-Hsiang Lin found a clever way to track signals in plants. He feeds soybean plants "intravenously" with leaf extracts to determine the inhibitory factor responsible for the regulation of root nodule development in legumes. By adding food dye, Yu-Hsiang can closely follow the pathway of the signal as the plant slowly changes its colour.
A Fame-moss Plant
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon, School of Earth Sciences
Location: Robinson Ridge, near Casey Station, East Antarctica
Geologists take algae, lichen, and moss samples, like the one pictured, to analyse how human habitation may be impacting on the untouched environment of the Antarctic. Mosses and lichens bioaccumulate atmospheric pollutants such as lead and arsenic. Therefore these delicate organisms provide accurate information on the nature and levels of atmospheric pollution. School of Earth Sciences’ Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon snapped this colourful moss during a visit to Wilkes Land in East Antarctica last year.
Summer strollin' – penguin style
Photo courtesy of Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon, School of Earth Sciences
Location: Casey Station, East Antarctica
This pair of Adelie penguins were captured taking a summertime stroll by School of Earth Sciences lecturer Associate Professor Massimo Gasparon when he journeyed to the continent in January last year. They delighted scientists with their afternoon visit to the Australian-owned Casey Station, which is on the East coast of the Antarctic. The photo's snow-filled setting brings a whole new meaning to the word summer.
A bright bacterium
Photo courtesy of Dr Ulrike Mathesius, ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research
This image is a cross-section of a root nodule of a legume containing rhizobia (soil bacteria) expressing the green fluorescent protein. Rhizobia form a symbiotic relationship with legumes, the outcome of which is the “fixing” of nitrogen gas from the atmosphere that can be used by the host plant. As such, legumes do not require nitrogen fertiliser and are often used in crop rotations as an environmentally friendly way to enrich the soil. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research is trying to find out more about this remarkable relationship of a plant and a bacterium.
Unlocking underwater mysteries
Photo courtesy of Deep Ocean Quest (www.uq.edu.au/deepoceanaustralia)
Harbouring the third-largest ocean territory in the world, Australia has a biosphere greater than its land area, with 80 per cent of its waters extending deeper than 200m. Equipped with state-of-the-art submersibles, dive support systems and deep-sea sampling technology, a team of UQ scientists – led by the School of Biomedical Sciences’ Professor Justin Marshall – are unravelling some of the greatest biological mysteries of all time.