01 October 2025
Model T Leukaemia
The thymic niche is the framework of cells, such as thymic epithelial cells (TECs), and factors that nurture the immune system's T cells to develop in the thymus (a gland that lies in your upper chest between the lungs). Here, using computational tools and modelling to create a virtual thymus researchers demonstrate that changes to the niche composition can provoke the massive proliferation akin to T-cell leukaemia (TECs are represented as grey with other cell types in colours)
Read the published research article here
Written by
- Video from work by Erika Tsingos, Advaita M Dick & Baubak Bajoghli
- Computational Developmental Biology Group, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Utrecht University, Netherlands; Department of Hematology, Oncology, Immunology, and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany
- Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Published in eLife, September 2025
Search The Archive
Submit An Image
Like us on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
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.
BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.