Food for Thought Brains burn more energy than any other organ to produce and drive electrical signals along the filament-like brain cells that control everything from our breathing to our thoughts. In fact, neuroscientists estimate that 20% of our total energy budget is used just to keep our brains firing. And burning all that energy means brain cells need oxygen, and lots of it. A vast network of blood vessels (around 100,000 miles long) irrigates every nook of our brain ensuring it’s never starved of oxygen or nutrients. But there is still much to be learned about how vessels grow and form networks – a process called angiogenesis. Studying mouse brain (pictured), researchers have identified over 60 genes that could act as switches controlling the growth of vessels. In future, this could help stroke patients heal, or reversely, could be used to kill off brain tumours by stemming their blood supply. Written by Tristan Farrow — Ayşe N Başak, Boğaziçi University, Turkey Türker Kılıç, Marmara University, Turkey Originally published under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 2.0) Published in Vascular Cell 4:16
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Food for Thought

Brains burn more energy than any other organ to produce and drive electrical signals along the filament-like brain cells that control everything from our breathing to our thoughts. In fact, neuroscientists estimate that 20% of our total energy budget is used just to keep our brains firing. And burning all that energy means brain cells need oxygen, and lots of it. A vast network of blood vessels (around 100,000 miles long) irrigates every nook of our brain ensuring it’s never starved of oxygen or nutrients. But there is still much to be learned about how vessels grow and form networks – a process called angiogenesis. Studying mouse brain (pictured), researchers have identified over 60 genes that could act as switches controlling the growth of vessels. In future, this could help stroke patients heal, or reversely, could be used to kill off brain tumours by stemming their blood supply.

Written by Tristan Farrow

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Heart Shaped The shape of the heart may not have changed in the 300 years since this anatomical picture was produced, but during that time, our understanding of how the heart functions and fails has changed beyond recognition. This engraving of a dissected human heart, published in 1739 by William Cowper, details the vessels, valves and heart chambers that we now know ensure blood is pumped efficiently from our lungs – delivering its precious cargo of oxygen around the body. But it was almost 200 years after this work of art appeared that scientific research really started to take shape, sketching the blueprint for today’s heart disease research. And now, in the 21st century, armed with a rich palette of research tools, scientists are adding ever more detail to the picture of how the heart works. Written by Caroline Cross — Originally published under Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND); Courtesy of Wellcome Library, London
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Heart Shaped

The shape of the heart may not have changed in the 300 years since this anatomical picture was produced, but during that time, our understanding of how the heart functions and fails has changed beyond recognition. This engraving of a dissected human heart, published in 1739 by William Cowper, details the vessels, valves and heart chambers that we now know ensure blood is pumped efficiently from our lungs – delivering its precious cargo of oxygen around the body. But it was almost 200 years after this work of art appeared that scientific research really started to take shape, sketching the blueprint for today’s heart disease research. And now, in the 21st century, armed with a rich palette of research tools, scientists are adding ever more detail to the picture of how the heart works.

Written by Caroline Cross

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Originally published under Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND); Courtesy of Wellcome Library, London

Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Picture of Health Stem cells are seen here changing into star-shaped brain cells – in an experiment that also transformed science into art. The beauty of scientific images from this and other research projects involving stem cells inspired molecular biologist Mina Gouti to print a selection onto canvas for public viewing. As part of her exhibition, groups of children and writers were invited to describe what they saw, using their imagination. One seven-year-old boy likened the image here to moonlit raindrops falling onto a window, while a writer saw the pattern on an aunt’s favourite summer dress. Twenty images, some of them digitally enhanced for artistic purposes, were shown in the Athens exhibition, followed by a second exhibition with twice as many. Now, Mina is hoping to organise a future exhibition in London. Written by Mick Warwicker — Mina Gouti, MRC NIMR Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Greece Image exhibited in Stem Cell Metamorphoses: “Three glances into the original cell of our existence”
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Picture of Health

Stem cells are seen here changing into star-shaped brain cells – in an experiment that also transformed science into art. The beauty of scientific images from this and other research projects involving stem cells inspired molecular biologist Mina Gouti to print a selection onto canvas for public viewing. As part of her exhibition, groups of children and writers were invited to describe what they saw, using their imagination. One seven-year-old boy likened the image here to moonlit raindrops falling onto a window, while a writer saw the pattern on an aunt’s favourite summer dress. Twenty images, some of them digitally enhanced for artistic purposes, were shown in the Athens exhibition, followed by a second exhibition with twice as many. Now, Mina is hoping to organise a future exhibition in London.

Written by Mick Warwicker

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Screening for Sprouts If cancer spreads from its original location to other parts of the body – a process called metastasis – the prognosis for the patient dramatically deteriorates. One of the first destinations for migrating cancer cells is the nearest lymph gland, and evidence suggests that tumours actually induce lymph vessels to sprout new branches towards them, helping the cancer cells escape. To search for the molecules that control such sprouting, and ways to stop it, scientists grow lymph cells (labelled red and green) on spherical beads (pictured) and observe the promotion or inhibition of branching limbs. Using this approach to screen a large number of chemicals, researchers discovered that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins are potent inhibitors of lymph vessel sprouting. This suggests that not only are statins good for the blood, but they may possess a bonus metastasis-mitigating effect. Written by Ruth Williams — Martin Schulz ETH Zurich, Switzerland Published in PNAS 109(40): E2665-E2674 
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Screening for Sprouts

If cancer spreads from its original location to other parts of the body – a process called metastasis – the prognosis for the patient dramatically deteriorates. One of the first destinations for migrating cancer cells is the nearest lymph gland, and evidence suggests that tumours actually induce lymph vessels to sprout new branches towards them, helping the cancer cells escape. To search for the molecules that control such sprouting, and ways to stop it, scientists grow lymph cells (labelled red and green) on spherical beads (pictured) and observe the promotion or inhibition of branching limbs. Using this approach to screen a large number of chemicals, researchers discovered that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins are potent inhibitors of lymph vessel sprouting. This suggests that not only are statins good for the blood, but they may possess a bonus metastasis-mitigating effect.

Written by Ruth Williams

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Painting Tears Bambi losing his mother must be one of the most memorable movie moments, sending tears streaming down the face of many a viewer. Carried within these salty droplets is the anti-bacterial enzyme lysozyme. It’s also found in our saliva and in the secretions that line our stomach and nasal passages. In 1965 David C. Phillips uncovered the structure of this protein (pictured), and in doing so discovered how it manages to kill certain bacteria. The task of illustrating this enzyme’s complexity, before the days of advanced computer programmes, was left to scientific artist Irving Geis, born this day in 1908. After six months of labour, Geis produced this colourful watercolour representation of lysozyme, published in 1966 in popular science journal, Scientific American. Written by Lux Fatimathas — Rights owned and administered by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Reproduction by permission only.
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Painting Tears

Bambi losing his mother must be one of the most memorable movie moments, sending tears streaming down the face of many a viewer. Carried within these salty droplets is the anti-bacterial enzyme lysozyme. It’s also found in our saliva and in the secretions that line our stomach and nasal passages. In 1965 David C. Phillips uncovered the structure of this protein (pictured), and in doing so discovered how it manages to kill certain bacteria. The task of illustrating this enzyme’s complexity, before the days of advanced computer programmes, was left to scientific artist Irving Geis, born this day in 1908. After six months of labour, Geis produced this colourful watercolour representation of lysozyme, published in 1966 in popular science journal, Scientific American.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk