GOSH reveals first research image competition winner

'From the Milkyway to the airway' was submitted by PhD student Katie-Marie Case. Reminiscent of Vincent van Gough's Starry Night, this is an image of human nasal cells cultured in a petri dish. The cells are covered in cilia – tiny hairs used to trap and clear foreign bodies from the nose. Studying human cells under a microscope can help researchers like Katie-Marie spot important differences between different groups of people. When studying why COVID-19 affects certain age groups more than others, Katie- Marie noticed that these galaxy-like spirals were only present in elderly patients.

'Split brain' was entered by Dr Gabriel Galea, Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellow at UCL GOS ICH. This image shows the very early development of a mouse embryo brain. At this stage when the embryo is just two millimetres long, the brain is split down the middle, each side developing independently. The left and right halves can be seen gradually folding to meet each other, like two butterfly wings coming up to meet at the tips. Eventually these folds meet in the middle, fusing into a single brain. In around 1 in every 1,000 pregnancies either the brain or spinal cord fail to close together. Failure to fully close the brain causes a deadly malformation known as anencephaly. Gabriel's team are trying to understand what causes anencephaly and how we may prevent it by studying the closing process in their lab.

'SARS-CoV-2 infected ‘mini-stomach’ was submitted by Dr Giovanni Giuseppe Giobbe, a Senior Research Associate at UCL GOS ICH. This image shows a 'mini-stomach', also known as an organoid, which are 3D structures of cells grown in a lab that mimic the behaviour of organs found in the body. The cells highlighted in green in this 'mini- stomach' are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These 'mini-stomachs' allow us to study diseases in even more detail than before. They provide scientists with invaluable tools to study how our human organs function, both when they are healthy, and when they impacted by disease, like Covid-19.

'The colours of change' was entered by Ahmed Elawadly, Neurosurgeon and PhD student. This image is a 3D visualisation of a child's head with trigonocephaly – or triangular head – both before (left) and after surgery (right). Trigonocephaly occurs when the joint that connects the two halves of the front of the forehead fuse earlier than normal. The early fusion results in a ridge in the middle of the forehead and hollowed sides, which can restrict brain growth. It is thought that 1 in 2000- 2,500 children are born with this condition. A simple surgery is offered to correct this. A strip of bone in the forehead is removed and then a helmet is worn for several months which guides the babies 'elastic' skull into a regular shape. The image here shows the yellow-coloured forehead region pre- operation which shows how the head bends outwards. However, 24 months after the surgery, the same region is now coloured green and blue, showing the flattening that occurred.

'The Beauty of 3D Protein Structures' was entered by Dr Lara Menzies, Clinical geneticist at GOSH. This image shows the predicted 3D structure of DEPDC5, a protein which is important for brain function. The twist and turning shapes that make up the protein are chains of amino acids. Proteins are fundamental structures within all the cells in our bodies - they play an essential role in how our bodies work and are sometimes described as the building blocks of life. If the shape of these proteins' changes, then it could stop being able to perform its function. Lara's team recently identified a gene alteration which results in a change to the amino acid highlighted in pink in the DEPDC5 protein. This amino acid change has been identified as an underlying cause for a severe form of genetic epilepsy.

'My spine?' was entered by Professor Faith Gibson, Deputy Chief Nurse for Research, Nursing and Allied Health. This is a photo from “There is a Light: BRIGHTLIGHT” – a research based theatrical performance, with a cast of young people – some of whom had previously been diagnosed with cancer. BRIGHTLIGHT was a national evaluation looking at whether specialist cancer services for teenagers and young people add value. Over 1,000 young people contributed to the research which was then interpreted and performed by the theatre group, Contact Young Company. The aim of which was to share research findings in a more dynamic, diverse, and accessible way.

'Cholesteatoma' was submitted by Jan Sedlacik, MRI Physicist at GOSH. This is an image of the middle ear structure generated by both CT and MRI scanning techniques. The red structure is a cholesteatoma – a destructive and cell growth in the middle ear that needs to be surgically removed in order to maintain hearing and balance.  CT scanning provides surgeons with necessary detail about the bone structures that surround the growth, but these scans do not accurately highlight the growth itself, which can only be seen with diffusion weighted MRI. Using a combination of these two techniques, as in this image, helps show the red cholesteatoma within the detailed grey bone structure, so that it can be removed as safely as possible.

'Finding patterns in data' was submitted by John Booth, Data Analyst at GOSH. This complex network is a visual representation of a group of patients on an immunosuppressant called Basilixmab – a drug help prevents immediate rejection of a donated organ after transplant. The connecting lines show all the other medications these patients are taking over a period of 14 days. Large datasets like this can help us to spot patterns within groups of patients. John's team hope that understanding these patterns will help clinicians better predict clinical outcomes and therefore improve patient care.