Dr. Andrew McMahon and the judges of the USC Stem Cell Image of the Month contest would like to congratulate our August 2013 winners, Dr. Seth Ruffins and Sandeep Paul, a postdoc in the Crump Lab.
Their striking image of adult zebrafish skulls is currently on display in the Foyer of the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
The skull at the top belongs to a normal, or wildtype, fish, while the skull at the bottom is from a fish that’s heterozygous for the gene Jag1b, which promotes the cartilage development that leads to bone formation, among other things. The heterozygous Jag1b skull shows extreme bone overgrowth, including massive jaws and skull ridges.
To create this winning entry, Paul collected the data, and Ruffins created a volume-rendered image of the micro-computed tomography (µCT) scanned skulls. µCT data was acquired at USC’s Molecular Imaging Center (mic.usc.edu).
About the USC Stem Cell Image of the Month Contest
The Image of the Month contest invites USC stem cell researchers from across the university to submit high-resolution images or artistic renditions. The goal is to encourage and showcase the scientific excellence and creativity of USC’s research enterprise.
Each winner receives a $20 gift card and a print of his or her entry, which is also displayed in the Foyer of the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. All entries are posted on the USC Stem Cell Website, and winning images are considered for possible inclusion in The Weekly.
USC faculty, post-doctoral researchers or students wishing to enter should submit their images, one-sentence informative captions, names and laboratory affiliations to Dr. Seth Ruffins at ruffins@usc.edu by the last day of each month.