Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Fixing Filters
30 May 2017

Fixing Filters

We’re all wasteful. Waste products ooze out from almost every busy cell in our bodies. And eventually this unwanted cargo needs to be syphoned off and disposed of. Our kidneys filter the rubbish from the recyclable, and the first step in the process is carried out by a tuft of blood vessels called the glomerulus. Lining these vessels are tiny filter cells called podocytes. But these are often a weak point exploited by kidney diseases, and can be harmed by the very drugs designed to stave off further illness. To study kidney function, researchers wanted to grow glomerulus structures on an artificial chip, but struggled to reliably generate the crucial podocytes. But they’ve now overcome this barrier, by steering stem cells to develop into podocytes, pictured here in purple on an artificial surface. Now they can begin to filter out the most promising new therapies for kidney disease.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.