September 19, 2003

Award-worthy worm

Featured Image

Award-winning image captured by Michael Christensen, Ph.D., while a pharmacology graduate student in the laboratory of Kevin Strange, Ph.D. The micrograph shows the miniscule worm C. elegans in its larval stage (left) and green-fluorescing “touch” neurons within the worm’s body and in primary cell culture (right). These specialized cells allow the animal to sense gentle body touch. The methods Christensen developed to culture C. elegans cells have had a major impact on C. elegans research. The image won first place in Molecular Devices’ 2003 MetaHorizons Imaging Contest and will also appear in the upcoming fourth edition of Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, one of the most well regarded textbooks in the field.