Jack Stonebridge
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jackstonebridge.bsky.social
Jack Stonebridge
@jackstonebridge.bsky.social
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Head of Comms at the Medical Research Foundation 🧬 @medresfdn.bsky.social

Worthing dweller 🌊

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Always a festive treat, running this science image competition alongside colleagues from the MRC ✨

2024's winner 'illuminates complex parasite structures', offering clues for potential drug targets 🎄

Order your 'Twinkling Toxoplasma' cards now! 👇

#MedSky #AcademicSky
Toxoplasmosis is an illness caused by an infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Scientists often use microscopy to explore the biology of parasites such as this, seeking clues for potential drug targets. To create this image, shaped like a Christmas tree, Dr Kseniia Bondarenko grew human skin cells in the lab, and then infected them with Toxoplasma. She then used fluorescent dyes to highlight various parasite structures, and captured high-resolution images. The high-resolution images revealed the parasites’ basket-like skeleton (shown in yellow), inner shell (magenta), and DNA (blue). The ‘star’ on top of the tree is a regular-microscopy snapshot of an unusually large parasite rosette – a cluster of parasites that clump together inside the body. This technique has the potential to illuminate complex parasite structures, so that areas of infection within the body can be more effectively targeted and treated.
December 11, 2024 at 9:48 AM