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

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Show Your Teeth

Super-resolution microscopy reveals architecture of cells' podosomes – actin structures involved in motility and engulfing

16 August 2022

Show Your Teeth

Phagocytes are immune cells with a big appetite. They usually engulf whole pathogens, but this phagocyte has been fooled – placed over a glass plate loaded with tempting antibodies it stretches out over something it can never consume. This ‘frustrated’ phagocytosis allows researchers to peek at the molecular machinery involved, poking a microscope into the opening 'jaw' of a phagocyte. A technique called iPALM highlights its skeleton of tiny actin filaments that rearrange to form rings of pointy structures called podosomes – sometimes known as phagocytic teeth – used to latch onto targets at the beginning of phagocytosis. Rainbow colours highlight actin fibres at different depths, giving researchers hints to the 3D structure of podosomes, that future drug treatments may influence to improve the fight against disease-carrying pathogens.

Written by John Ankers

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.