14 July 2005

Cell suicide image captures award

An image taken by a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Dundee showing the death of a human cancer cell has won an award and will be exhibited at the Wellcome Trust, in London.

Dr Paul Andrews took a timelapse series of images that show a cancer cell in the process of committing cell suicide, otherwise known as programmed cell death or apoptosis. Programmed cell death is a means of the body ending the life cycle of damaged, unneeded or unwanted cells.

Dr Andrews' image, entitled "Human HeLa cancer cell undergoing apoptosis (cell suicide)", was selected by a panel of judges to receive a Wellcome Trust Biomedical Image Award, and will be exhibited in the foyer of the Wellcome Trust Library in London from 13 July 2005. Paul's image is one of only twenty four to be exhibited from the hundreds of recently collected images in the Wellcome Trust Medical Photographic Library.

A reception and opening exhibition of the Biomedical Image Awards will take on Wednesday, 13 July and Dr Mark Lythgoe from The Institute of Child Health will present the winners with their awards.

Dr Andrews works in the Division of Gene Regulation and Expression in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Notes to Editors

The Wellcome Trust is an independent biomedical research-funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry welcome in 1936. It is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. Reflecting the profound impact today's research will have on society, the Wellcome Trust also seeks to raise awareness of the medical, ethical and social implications of research and promote dialogue between scientists, the public and policy makers.

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By Angela Durcan, Press Officer 01382 344768, out of hours: 07968298585, a.durcan@dundee.ac.uk