As Halloween approaches, we at NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences turned up some spectral images from our image gallery. They highlight some spooky-sounding—but really important—biological topics that researchers are actively investigating to spur advances in medicine. Here's one example.
Cell Skeleton
The cell skeleton, or cytoskeleton, is the framework that gives a cell its shape, helps it move and keeps its contents organized for proper function. A cell that lacks a cytoskeleton becomes misshapen and immobile. This fibroblast, a cell that normally makes connective tissues and travels to the site of a wound to help it heal, is lacking a cytoskeleton. Researchers have associated faulty cytoskeletons and resulting abnormal cell movement with birth defects and weakened immune system functioning.
Other topics included in the image collection are guts and bugs, spider web-like nerve cells, cell death, zombie cells and glowing bacteria. For details, see http://biobeat.nigms.nih.gov/2015/10/cool-images-a-halloween-inspired-cell-collection/
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