Featured image with the Hughes lab
Posted by FocalPlane, on 20 December 2024
Our featured image, acquired by Sanja Sviben, is an immuno-scanning electron micrograph of a primary cilium, taken from an intact human pancreatic islet. The cilium is a microtubule-based structure and is seen here labelled with colloidal gold for acetylated alpha tubulin. In contrast, there is a lawn of short dense microvilli which are actin-based and cover the beta cell membrane. Both cilia and microvilli serve important roles for beta cell glucose sensing and signalling.
Research career so far: This image, and its accompanying images in our article, were taken by first author Sanja Sviben, PhD. Sanja was a staff scientist at the Washington University Center for Cellular Imaging (WUCCI) when this work was done. She is currently a staff scientist at the Stanford Cryo-Electron Microscopy Center (cEMc). Sanja’s narrative can be found in this Journal of Cell Science ‘First Person‘ feature article.
Current research: We are using high-resolution light microscopy as a complementary approach to EM and immuno-EM, with the goal to visualize structural arrangements of cilia microtubules and their associated motor protein complexes. At the same time, we are using animal models to understand how primary cilia dynamics contribute to their sensory and signalling function in the beta cell. These studies may help address fundamental questions in beta cell biology and identify new therapies for diabetes.
Favourite imaging technique/microscope: Cilia-hunting by EM is seductive work – the intricate sample prep, the imaging process, the fragility of your sample grids – all require great care and patience. When it works, the beauty of the black and white images and the fine details are breathtaking.
What are you most excited about in microscopy? The ability to combine protein identification with ultrastructural imaging will be transformative for cell biology. We are doing this one protein at a time using immuno-SEM, whereas in the future it would be great to see multiplexed protein labeling, as well as mRNA and metabolite labeling to enable spatial profiling of these different cellular processes.