Rosebud Kidney (Greg Dressler, Ph.D., associate professor, Pathology) This image of a mouse kidney at an early stage of embryonic development illustrates the intimate relationships between cells of the nephron (red) and the branching collecting ducts (green). The purple/blue dye marks the boundary of each tubule and each new nephron from the surrounding space. Studying mouse kidney development can help us learn more about human kidney diseases such as Wilm’s tumor and polycystic kidney disease.

Life not only imitates art ... sometimes life is art. A collection of images produced by members of the U-M Center for Organogenesis, created using light and electron microscopes, shows the abstract and artistically captivating side of incredibly tiny biological elements. While mouse skin, a zebrafish retina, a marine flatworm ovary and the muscles of a snake may not sound like classic photographic subjects, the 50 images, 11 of which are shown here, demonstrate the beauty of microscopic photographic art.

“People aren’t used to looking at biological specimens as art, but they have natural symmetries — the same things you’d see in a nature photograph,” says Deborah Gumucio, Ph.D., professor of cell and developmental biology, co-director of the Center for Organogenesis, and one of the organizers of the project. “Every time scientists take a picture under the microscope … we think about image composition, balancing the field, and color,” Gumucio adds. “These photographs have tremendous depth. When you put that together with the underlying biology, it takes on yet another dimension.” Gumucio’s colleagues on the project are K. Sue O’Shea, Ph.D., professor of cell and developmental biology; Kim-Chew Lim, research assistant professor of cell and developmental biology; and Rebecca Pintar, administrative specialist in the Center for Organogenesis. The scientists-turned-artists responsible for the images include graduate and undergraduate students, professors, staff members and house officers.

The photographs are being sold to raise funds for graduate and postgraduate training and were first made available for purchase to the public via a booth at the 2005 Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. They will also be on display in the soon-to-be-completed Biomedical Science Research Building and in the Life Sciences Institute. For information on purchasing images from the collection, e-mail bioartography@umich.edu, or visit www.bioartography.com.

-MF