Skip to main content

Image Award Winners

The Koch Institute Image Awards recognize the extraordinary visuals produced by biomedical research at MIT. Every year ten images are selected for display in the Koch Institute Public Galleries. Explore the exhibits below to see all winning images from 2011 on.

Polymer Rising: A Shining Example for Global Vaccine Equity

Remodel Organism: Tissue Origami in a Fruit Fly Embryo

Grains of Truth: Evolution Shapes Cells

Dancing With The Cells: Spotlight On Plasma Membrane

Just Grow With It: Partnering with Patients to Create Desmoid Tumor Models

More to the Point: Precision Oncology Meets Discovery Science

Capture the Flags: Monitoring Disease-Associated Immune Activity

That Takes Nerve: Co-Culturing an Interest in Cancer Neuroscience

Tail as Old as Time: Germ Cell Development in the Fruit Fly

Shell Game: Microparticles Meet Immune Cells

Nutrient Galaxy: Novel Materials to Fortify Foods

Feel the Pressure: Sensing Motion in the Digestive Tract

Copper Seashells: A Bio-Inspired Catalyst for Photosynthesis

Astrocyte Highways: The Secret Garden of the Central Nervous System

Vaccine Breakthrough: Enhanced Mucosal Delivery to Improve Immune Protection

Array of Light: Fine-Tuning the Production of 3D-Printed Microneedles

What a Dump: Intercellular Flow for Egg Development

Organoid Oncology: Making Sense of Sensitivity

Young at Heart: Progenitor T Cells Drive Immunotherapy Response

Model Disease Behavior: Organoids Meet Epidemiology

Feast or Famine: Stem Cell Regeneration in the Intestinal Crypt

Making the Cut: Probing Enzyme Activity with Nanosensors

Mind the Zap: Using Electricity to Grow Blood Vessels

Nucleotide Pool: Understanding Disruptions in Cell Division

Serve and Protect: A Microparticle to Fight Malnutrition

Then and Now: Evolution of a Miniature Mesh

Through the Ages: Exploring Mitochondrial Shape and Function

To the Point: Microneedles for Diagnosis and Drug Delivery

Tortuous Trafficking: Nanoparticles Traverse the Blood Brain Barrier

Trash Talk: Putting a Stop to the Garbage Collection

20,000 Nanoleagues Under the SEM: Exploring the Power Within

A Vax Seen: Scanning Lymph Nodes for Signs of Antigen

Brains and Brawn: Building a Neuronal Network

Calling the Shots: A Flexible Platform for All-in-One Delivery

Cloak and Swagger: Learning From the Enemy

Co-Culture Club: Using Organoids to Study How Cancer Grows

Microbial Multiverse: Dropping in on Diversity

Ocean Plankton: Generating The Oxygen We Breathe

Trick Or Treat: Probing Cancer's Response to Chemotherapy

Visualizing Vasculature: Uncovering Essential Proteins

A World Within:
Mapping the Body’s Social Network

Behind the Screens: Dropping in on Combinatorial Biology

Circuit Training: Shining a Light on Neural Development

Epigenetics Express: Tracking DNA Methylation in Real Time

In Good Shape: Using Machine Learning to Improve Cancer Therapy

Living Drug Factories: The Secreted Life of Therapeutic Proteins

Motion in the Ocean: Using Sea Urchins to Understand Cell Migration

Natural Born Killers: Activating the Immune System to Fight Disease

Nothing to Sneeze At: Inspiration and Respiration in a Dish

Where the Wild Types Are: Exploring the Roots of Developmental Biology

A La Node: Nanoparticle Vaccines Jumpstart the Immune System

Every Rosette Has its Thorn: Maintaining Stability in a Mutable World

Exposed Brick: Building a Case for Immune Clearance of Aneuploid Cells

First Impressions: Large Tiny Structures Where New Memories Form

Heads or Tails: Measuring Changes in Metastatic Behavior

Hitting the Sweet Spot: Capturing the Pancreas in a Protein

Into the Fold: Using Origami to Beat Metastasized Cancer

More Than Skin Deep: Taking Control of Injury Response

Order From Chaos: The Making of an Organ

Spatial Expressions: Snapshot of a Growing Tumor

Body of Knowledge: Self-Organizing Brain Cells

Downstream Dreams: Investigating Melanoma in Zebrafish

Hashtag No Filter: Visualizing Breast Cancer Conversations

Making Waves: Delivery for Ageless Skin

Microfluidics for the Masses: Measuring Cell Growth Rates

Mind the Gap: Studying the Tumor Extracellular Matrix

Pushing Boundaries: Ovarian Cancer Hides in Plain Sight

Shape Shifters: Cancer Cells in Motion

Snap ChAT: A Flatworm Creates a New Profile

Tiny Trojan Horses: Tumor-Penetrating Nanoparticles Infiltrate Cancer Cells

Beyond the Red: Seeing Tumors in a New Light

Duct Duct Goose: Chasing Down Answers in Developmental Biology

Gut Reaction: Novel Transplants for Biological Understanding

Head in the Game: Using Cancer Cells to Study Neural Development

Hungry Like the Macrophage: Empowering the Immune System to Eliminate Tumors

Launching a Satellite Liver: Tissue Engineering in Action

Nerves of Gold: New Potential for Regenerative Medicine

Sphere, There, and Everywhere: Interrogating Tiny Tumors

Stem Education: Imagine the Possibilities

Suit Your Cell: Designing Custom Biomaterials

'C' Food: Hungry Bacteria Devour Carbon From Phytoplankton

Easy Breezy: Particles Prop Open Therapeutic Windows

Gland of Opportunity: Cell Biology Branches Out

Gone Fishing: Searching for Clues About Metastasis

Gut Instinct: Screening for Signs of Cancer

Into the Breach: On-Demand Pharmacies for Programmable Drug Delivery

License to Kill: Empowering the Immune System to Fight Cancer

Masters of Disguise: Stealthy Spheres and Clever Camouflage

Metabolism to Dye For: Diversity in Complex Systems

Resistance is Fertile: Studying Neuron Sensitivity in Culture

Biopolymer in Bloom: A New Environment for Studying Cell Growth

Blood, Heat, and Tumors: Improving Drug Delivery with Gold Nanorods

Collateral Damage: Investigating the Side Effects of Chemotherapeutics

Ganglion Style: Crowdsourcing Science Through Online Games

Rainbow Connections: Mapping Neural Pathways in the Brain

Silencing Echoes: Cleaning Up Networks

Something Fishy: The Secret Lives of Zebrafish

Target Practice: Improving Gene Therapy With Nanotechnology

The Bad Seed: Modeling the Growth of a Tumor

The More the Messier: Understanding Complicated Cell Division

A Dangerous Meeting: Blood Vessels and a Tumor Come Together

Bacterial Supernova: Programming E. coli to Release Drugs into a Tumor

Cancer Deconstructed: Investigating the Role of Non-Cancerous Cells in a Lung Tumor

Cellular Injections: Using Nanowires to Investigate the Causes of Leukemia

Feel the Pulse: Smooth Muscle Cells Respond to Stretching Forces

Flower Power: Searching for New Engineering Tools Inside a Plant

Molecular Watercolor: Mixing Fluorescent Proteins to Label Families of Cells

On the Scent: Investigating an Anti-Aging Gene Inside the Nose

Patch of Light: Trying to Understand a Newly Discovered Autism-Linked Gene

Sushi Implant: Seaweed-Encapsulated Cells for Treating Diabetes

Bacterial Conversations: Self-Organizing Communities of B. subtilis

Breaking Rank: How Identical Cells Take on Different Fates

Building a Bio-Highway: How Does a Lymphatic Vessel Develop?

Building a New Hip: Cartilage Grown on a Woven Polymer

Crossing Over: Cells Move Through an Epithelial Bridge

Form and Function: Using a Curved Surface to Change Cell Behavior

Immuno Forest: Microneedles for Delivering Vaccines into the Skin

Modeling the Mind: Neurons Derived from Skin Cells

Motor Control: How Does a Cancer Cell Power its Movement?

Neural Mapping: Understanding How the Cerebellum Is Wired

A Miniature Mesh: Using Viruses to Construct Nanomaterials

A Penetrating View: Seeing Fine Nerves in a Zebrafish Tail

Friend or Foe? Wound-Healing Cells Quarantine Foreign Materials

Hitting a Nerve: Delivering Drugs into a Neuron

Making it Stick: Therapeutics Cling to a Blood Vessel

Metastatic Breast Cancer Invades a Lung

Seeing the Signal: How Blood Vessels React to Change

Sunrise in the Eye: The Making of a Retina

Under Pressure: Mural Cells Wrap Tightly around Blood Vessels

Yearning to Connect: Nerve Cells Reach for One Another