Brooke Chambers

2019 Best Artistic Image

The 2019 Best Artistic Image was awarded to Brooke Chambers, a PhD candidate with Professor R. Wingert in the Department of Biological Sciences, for use of the Nikon C2 instrument in the Optical Microscopy Facility

Featured is a reflected 10X image of a beautiful model organism, the Danio rerio embryo, commonly known as the zebrafish. At just 1 day post fertilization, the zebrafish has developed eye structures, a kidney tubule, and 28 chevron-shaped muscle units. Specifically, this whole mount immunofluorescent preparation labels laminin (basement membranes) in green and Slc12a1/2 expression (solute transporter proteins) in magenta. Because the embryonic zebrafish undergoes rapid organ formation and is optically transparent in nature, it is an ideal system for high resolution imaging of dynamic developmental processes. Although a simpler vertebrate species, the zebrafish exhibits striking genetic, cellular, and anatomical similarities to humans. This image brings to light the boundless potential of the zebrafish to model human disease and embryonic development.