Anatomy & Neuroscience exhibit at the 'It’s a Beautiful World’ exhibition

21 Feb 2014

'It’s a Beautiful World’ exhibition opened on Thursday 20^th February 2014 in the Jennings Gallery, College of Medicine and Health, Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, UCC.

‌‌The exhibition features a range of scientific images from the world of Medicine and Science and includes electron-microscopy images, anatomical drawings, baby brainwaves and neuroscience images. There is also a Natural Sciences section, featuring images from nature and life drawings. The exhibition includes photographs, paintings, drawings and other media. ‘Every day we see beautiful images in our work as scientists and healthcare workers. It’s a Beautiful World is a celebration of the beauty of Science and Nature.

The artists are all staff and students from the College of Medicine and Health at UCC (Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy, Clinical Therapies) and UCC Research Groups and Teaching Hospitals.

The department of Anatomy and Neuroscience are well represented at the exhibition. Images from the students of Dr Yvonne Nolan, Dr André Toulouse, Dr Eric Downer and Dr Kieran McDermott are among the exhibits from the department of Anatomy and Neuroscience. 

Becoming Neurons

Exhibited by Louise Collins, Suzanne Crotty and Yvonne Nolan, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience

The birth of new neurons from neural stem cells occurs in the embryo and continues throughout adulthood in discreet regions of the mammalian brain. Neural stem cells group together in ball-like clusters called neurospheres and can be induced to give rise to neurons. Neurospheres are of great interest therapeutically as they could theoretically be used to generate and replace the neurons that are lost in traumatic brain injury and in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

Image: This neurosphere was prepared from neural stem cells extracted from an embryonic rat midbrain. After allowing the cells to proliferate and expand for 7 days, they were then imaged with confocal microscopy. Cells differentiated to neurons are labeled red with an antibody to βIII-tubulin. All nuclei are stained blue with bisbenzamide.

We acknowledge Dr. Frank van Pelt for artistic input.

‌Au coeur de la cellule 

Exhibited by André Toulouse, Julie Roussel and Guy Rouleau, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience

Polyglutamine diseases are a group of neurological movement disorders including Huntington 's disease and several spinocerebellar ataxias. We created a cellular model to study abnormal protein production in
these diseases and while characterizing the cells under fluorescence microscopy, we observed this heart shaped protein inclusion at the periphery of a nucleus.

André Toulouse is a Lecturer and researcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience. His research gives him the opportunity to capture quirky moments around the life and death of cells. Dr Toulouse would
like to thank Julie Roussel and Guy Rouleau for their help.

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Insulating nerve fibres,  Making nerve cells,  Spinal cord scaffolding

Exhibited by Kieran McDermott and Janelle Pakan, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience

Insulating nerve fibres. This a very high magnification image of a brain cell taken with a con focal microscope which allows you to look deep into the brain tissue. The cell is called an oligodendrocyte and is the cell that makes the special insulating material (coloured green here) which surrounds nerve fibres (coloured red here ). The cell nucleus is coloured blue. The special staining procedure that was used here ensures that only these particular features are visible and the rest of the brain tissue is invisible. The cell is magnified over
a thousand times .

Making nerve cells. This is a very high magnification image of a tiny piece of the developing spinal cord taken with a confocal microscope which allows you to look deep into the spinal cord tissue. The sl it in the centre is the future central canal of the spinal cord and it is surrounded by a large number of spinal cord stem cells . These cells use the radially arranged filam ents (coloured green here) to migrate outward to increase the thickness of the cord during its development. The special staining procedure that was used here ensures that only these particular features are visible and the rest of the brain tissue is invisible. The cells are magnified over a thousand times.

Spinal cord scaffolding This is an image of a slice through the entire spinal cord during its embryonic development and is taken with a confocal microscope which allows you to look deep into the spinal cord tissue. The vertical slit in the centre is the future central canal of the spinal cord. The green coloured fibres form a very important radial scaffold which spans the thickness of the spinal cord and which spinal cord stem cells use to move on as the spinal co rd grows and expands in early life. Th e red coloured parts in the lower half of the spinal cord represent cells which have changed and developed into a more mature type of spinal cord cell.

Kieran McDermott is a Senior Lecturer in Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC and Director of the BioSciences Imaging Centre. He has been interested for many years in the cellular and molecular mechanisms which allow the nervous system of mammals to develop, from a very primitive tube in the embryo, into the extremely complex adult organ. He has always employed advanced microscopy in his research and together with members of his laboratory, has received several imaging and microscopy awards. Dr McDermott's laboratory is interested in using advanced microscopy techniques to promote our understanding of the highly complex nature of brain and spinal cord  development and in how such new knowledge can provide useful clues in the search for novel therapies for nervous system disease and injury. Dr McDermott believes that scientific images such as these serve to bridge the gap between science and art and can help to foster public interest in the scientific endeavour.

Janelle Pakan completed a  Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC with Dr Kieran McDermott. Her research looked at radial glial cell migration and differentiation in the developing spinal cord using two-photon imaging of living tissue. Janelle has recently taken up a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh.

‌Myelin is getting on my nerves

Exhibited by Eric Downer, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience

This is a light microscopic image of part of the frontal lobe of the human brain of an individual with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Luxol fast blue stain has been used to demonstrate the intricate pattern of myelin fibres which are stained blue. A purple dye stains the nucleus of all cells. Myelin insulates nerve fibres , allowing efficient transmission of nerve impulses. In MS, myelin is lost, resulting in impaired nerve impulses and resultant clinical symptoms. This image was collated as part of a HRB-funded summer scholarship awarded to Mr. Richard Magee (currently a 4th year Neuroscienc e BSc student at UCC) to conduct research with Dr. Downer in collaboration with Dr. Yvonne Nolan (Dept. Anatomy and Neuroscience, UCC). Grant support from the Health Research Board (HRB) is acknowledged. Tissue samples were supplied by the Multiple Sclerosis Society Tissue Bank, funded by the Multiple Sclerosis Soc iety of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dr. Eric Downer is a Lecturer in Anatomy and Neuroscience at UCC. His research interest is in Neuroimmunology and he leads a research group that targets the role of the innate immune system in Multiple Sclerosis.

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‌RTE Six One News covered the event see video link here

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