Scientific research often produces beautiful images. These pieces, judged by a panel of local artists, scientists and community leaders, are representative of real Northwestern research across a wide range of disciplines, including medicine, chemistry, engineering, nanotechnology and Earth science.
We invite you to enjoy both the beauty and innovation of Northwestern science.
CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO SEE IT IN FULL.
Want to see even more images? Check out the 2011 winners here.
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Graduate Student, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Nanotechnology is the study of objects or things that are really, really small. Because of their size, nanoparticles can be arranged in unique ways to create new materials. Koltonow and his colleagues study a material called graphene oxide (GO), which is only a couple of atoms thick. They can assemble thin sheets of GO into a foam that conducts electricity. The foam can be used to create electrodes for batteries, making such energy storage devices smaller and lighter.
In this image, graphene oxide sheets (purple-orange) cast shadows from light that is scattered off of GO foam (green-yellow), creating an eerie effect.
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Systems Manager, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Like a meteorologist making predictions about the weather, quantum chemists, like Dr. Tejerina, make predictions about the electrons in a molecule. They use computers to estimate the shape of a molecule and make predictions about how it will behave in a chemical reaction. This information can be helpful in the design of drugs, renewable energy sources, batteries and explosives.
This image shows the 3D electron density map of a molecule composed of carbon atoms (large concentric circles) and hydrogen atoms (small concentric circles).
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Graduate Student, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
When a newt loses part of its tail or leg, it is able to regrow the missing piece through a process called tissue regeneration. Humans do not naturally regenerate tissues, but scientists, like McClendon and his colleagues, are developing ways to grow new tissues in the lab. In the near future, artificial arteries made from the materials they create could be used in bypass heart surgeries.
In this image, small spheres of polylactic acid (orange) are randomly dispersed on the surface of a salt crystal (blue) to create foam that can be molded into artificial blood vessels.
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Graduate Student, Department of Mechanical EngineeringAssistant Professor, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University (current position)
The black ghost knifefish, found in the Amazon Basin, can move rapidly and in many directions due to an elongated fin on its belly that runs nearly the entire length of the fish. Curet and his colleagues used a robotic replica of the knifefish to study this motion, which could prove useful when applied to the design of underwater vehicles like submarines.
This image maps the motion of the robotic fish as it moves in a vertical direction. The lines represent the path of the fluid motion and the color represents the velocity, where blue is slow and yellow is fast.
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Graduate Student, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline compounds that contain holes of the same size. The holes can be used for the storage of gases such as hydrogen for clean energy and carbon dioxide for environmental protection. They are also useful in gas purification and drug delivery. MOFs are typically randomly shaped and large in size. But, Luo’s group is developing a way to synthesize MOFs into microscopic spheres. The spherical shape allows for minimum contact area, which means the MOFs will stay evenly dispersed in solvents for processing.
This image shows microscopic, sphere-shaped MOFs floating in a solvent.
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Graduate Student, Department of Molecular Biosciences
Physical characteristics within a species are similar. For example, most people have two arms and all chickens have beaks. And, even features not visible to the naked eye maintain some degree of uniformity within species. For instance, the antennal bristles on fruit flies have very similar positions and numbers when comparing any two individuals from a large population. Cassidy’s group has found that the genetic recipe for such similarities is stunningly simpler than one would imagine, meaning it only takes a few genes to create a physical feature that is seemingly complex. This image shows the antennal bristles on a fruit fly.
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Undergraduate Student, Department of Molecular Biosciences
MicroRNA genes are found throughout the plant and animal kingdoms, from flies to humans. They regulate other genes and likely play an important role in development and disease prevention. Similar across species, microRNAs could help account for the consistency of basic physical features within species – all humans have two eyes, for example. Ji’s group is examining whether an excess or lack of microRNAs could cause irregularities in tissue growth, and whether manipulating these genes could act as a treatment for cancerous tumors.
In this image of a fruit fly, microRNA 7 has been overexpressed, resulting in a bulging eye.
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Graduate Student, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Imagine what we could learn if we could see the inside of something as tiny as a cell. In the future, nanoscale lasers could be used in medical applications to illuminate cells at a microscopic level. This would allow for an even closer look at the building blocks of life. Huntington and his colleagues are working to perfect such technology using gold nanoparticles.
In this image, gold is deposited at an angle to create triangular gold particles. These particles focus light into nanoscale lasers by transferring the energy of electrons.
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Research Associate, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Department of Urology
Children suffering from spina bifida, a developmental disorder, often have underdeveloped bladders, which can cause urine leakage and kidney damage. To alleviate these symptoms, surgical reconstruction of the bladder using a piece of intestine is often needed. At Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Bury and his colleagues have been looking for a better surgical approach. In place of intestine, a thin biological material called small intestinal submucosa (SIS) is coupled with a gel-like material called peptide amphiphile (PA), which promotes healing.
In this image, a rat bladder is stained to show the incorporation of the SIS (dark blue) in the bladder wall, while smooth muscle cells (red) move into the regenerating area.
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
A cure for HIV may be lurking in unlikely hosts – monkeys. TRIM5α, a naturally occurring protein found in rhesus monkeys, blocks HIV from successfully infecting cells. Danielson and her colleagues have found that TRIM5α utilizes a cellular structure called the proteasome to destroy anything that has been marked with the protein ubiquitin. Understanding the way TRIM5α works with other cellular systems to defend against HIV infection could pave the way for designing better therapeutic interventions. In this image of a cell, the nuclei are yellow, the TRIM5α is orange, and chains of ubiquitin are pink.
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Graduate Student, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
The flat panel displays on smart phones, computers and TVs are made from indium tin oxide, a compound that is rare, fragile and expensive. Scientists are looking for transparent, conductive materials that are cheaper and more efficient. One alternative could be carbon nanotubes. These tiny tubes are more conductive when precisely aligned, but they tend to form random networks. To solve this problem, Shastry and his colleagues dissolve the tubes in a solution. When the solution evaporates, the nanotubes assemble into highly aligned formations.
In this image, the carbon nanotubes are pictured in green, and conductive pads, which are used to test the conductivity of these well-ordered networks, are pictured in yellow.
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Research Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical EngineeringResearch Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Carbon black nanoparticles have been used in car tires for decades. Because of their size and superior properties, they can withstand the extreme temperatures, speed and grip that tires encounter on a daily basis. But only in the last ten years have researchers really begun to examine how these nanoparticles interact with each other and with rubber polymers. This knowledge will lead to the more efficient design and production of new materials.
In this image, the blue dots are the carbon black nanoparticles, and the black area is the rubber polymer. The orange is a thin metal coating used to stabilize the material during analysis. In this instance, the metal film ruptured to reveal the nanoparticles beneath.