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SHARP SCIENCE

The Virus Up Close: How Scientists Visualize Microscopic Enemies.

Visual artist Austin Athman colorizes a SARS-CoV-2 image at NIH-NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Lab.

You might have seen beautifully colored images of magnified viruses and bacteria in news stories and on the covers of scientific journals – particularly the SARS-CoV-2 images (the virus that causes COVID-19) appearing everywhere.  While the 

SARS-CoV-2 

Image of Novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, magnified 30,000 to 90,000 times their actual size, emerging from the surface of cells (gray) cultured in the lab, after duplication. 

This scanning electron microscope image shows Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (orange)—also known as 2019-nCoV—the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (gray) cultured in the lab.

Photo Credit: NIH 

INFECTED CELL 

“Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2"

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Cells Die When Heavily Infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

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Colorized scanning electron micrograph of dying (apoptotic) cell (red) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. Photo Credit: NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility, MD.

SARS-CoV-2

EMERGING FROM CULTURED CELL.  This scanning electron microscope image shows novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH