The Cell: An Image Library

If you love geeking out over the beauty of cells, you must check out The Cell: An Image Library. It's a site of images, videos, and animations of cells that are contributed by some of the world's best biologists. The Library is hosted by the American Society for Cell Biology, so you know it is a great resource.


Some favorites:

A famously beautiful image of an actin network known to many of us as "the Svitkina image" is here. This image got me excited about actin in a way I wasn't willing to admit for years, especially as a proud lover of microtubules.

A rat intestinal cell absorbing a fatty meal is here. Next time you're tempted to order that delicious Fettuccine Alfredo, maybe this image will convince you to order the salad instead.

A dividing cell in metaphase, using Fluorescence Speckle Microscopy to visualize microtubule dynamics and kinetochores is here. Ah, spindles (contented sigh).

An animation of kinesin walking on a microtubule is here. If you feel moved for interpretive dance, you're not alone...my old labmates have seen my performance of this animation.