Fruit Fly Embryo Montage - Utilizing the color channels option in Photoshop, Dr. Paddock produced this montage of the Drosophila embryo displaying a wide variety of different color combinations.

Butterfly Wing Scale in Autofluorescence - Confocal microscopy, especially in combination with fluorescent labels, is often used to examine optical sections from fairly thick biological specimens. The digital image presented in this section features autofluorescence of a butterfly wing scale (illustrating the striated surface structure) captured in a thin optical section with a confocal laser scanning microscope.

Islands of Color - Cells in tissue culture exhibit a dazzling array of colors when stained with multiple fluorescent probes and imaged with a confocal laser scanning microscope.

Fruit Fly Embryo Nervous System - Fluorescence image of a Drosophila (fruit fly) embryo nervous system captured in a serial optical section by confocal laser scanning microscopy. This double-labeled fluorescent specimen reveals peripheral neurons in green and glial cells in red.

Salt Crystals and Cells - Reflected light microscopy was utilized to capture the beautiful digital image featured in this section of a combination of salt crystals and cells on an electron microscope specimen grid. The display of color on the surface of the salt crystals is due to interference patterns from surface reflections.

Fruit Fly Embryo Blastoderm - Laser scanning confocal microscopy image of a triple-labeled Drosophila embryo at the cellular blastoderm stage. The specimen was immunofluorescently labeled with antibodies to the hairy protein in red, the Kruppel repressor in green, and the giant protein in blue. This amazing image won the BioTechniques cover of the year in 1993.

Compact Disc - Lands and pits dotting the surface of a compact disc are revealed in this confocal reflected light digital image. Each of the tiny "dots" in the disc is designed to deflect light from a laser to create the necessary binary code for deciphering the information encoded on the disc.

Image Processed Compact Disc - Using the power of digital image processing, Dr. Paddock translates the pit and land pattern from the two-dimensional reflected light image of a compact disc into the spiral arrangement actually utilized on the disc. To go a step further, he also adds some special touches to create a masterpiece of digital imaging.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Discs - Leg, Haltere, and Wing - A fluorescence digital image of three imaginal discs from the larval third instar developmental stage of Drosophila (fruit fly): a leg, haltere, and wing, all labeled with a green fluorescent dye attached to the Cubitus interruptus (Ci) protein. Imaginal discs are larval tissue structures that develop into adult appendages.

Butterfly Wing Scales (Phalloidin) - A whole mount of butterfly pupal wing epithelium labeled with phalloidin is the subject of this section. Visitors should note the fluorescently-stained wing scales, which emit a beautiful green fluorescence when excited by light from the microscope illuminator.

Butterfly Wing Scales - A whole mount of butterfly pupal wing epithelium labeled with phalloidin is featured again in this section. Although stained with phalloidin similar to the image above, this image does not have a green color channel.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Discs - Haltere and Wing - Featured in this section are fluorescence digital images of triple-labeled Drosophila (fruit fly) haltere and wing imaginal discs, labeled with fluorescent antibodies to apterous (wingless mutant) in red, vestigial (short winged mutant) in blue, and Cubitus interruptus (Ci) in green.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Wing - A composite image series of a wing imaginal disc from a Drosophila (fruit fly). Different color combinations of this double-labeled sample reveal achaete (hairy wing) genes in red/yellow, yellow/white, purple/white, or blue/white and apterous genes in green, blue, green, and red, respectively.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Third Instar Wing - A fluorescence digital image of a Drosophila third instar wing imaginal disc labeled with apterous (a wingless mutant) in blue, vestigial (a small-winged mutant) in red and Cubitus interruptus (Ci) in green. This image won 18th place in the Nikon Small World competition in 1997.

Fluorescent DNA in Tissue Culture Cells - By injecting multiply-labeled DNA into tissue culture cells, Dr. Paddock was able to produce this beautiful image using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The various fluorescent colors each represent different target genes for the probes utilized in the experiment.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Third Instar Wing Montage - In fruit flies, imaginal discs are developmental tissues from which many adult structures, such as eyes, wings, and halteres, are formed. In the third instar phase, a larva has molted three times, and it will do so once more to emerge as an immobile pupa. The image in this section is a composite montage prepared from a digital image of a tripled labeled fruit fly imaginal disc.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Haltere - The haltere, a club-shaped balancing structure supported by the thorax muscles, is one of the fruit fly's many limbs. Fruit flies typically have a single pair of these appendages. The digital image featured in this section was recorded on a confocal laser scanning microscope using a fluorescently labeled specimen (Drosophila third instar larval stage haltere imaginal disc).

Nuclei in Butterfly Wing Epithelium - Cellular nuclei present in the butterfly pupal wing epithelium tissue are the subject of the digital image presented in this section. The nuclei were imaged with a confocal laser scanning microscope and color-mapped with post-acquisition digital image processing software.

Ordered Nuclei in Butterfly Wing Epithelium - The orderly arrangement of nuclei in the wing epithelium of a pupal butterfly is evident in the digital image presented in this section. The image was captured using a confocal laser scanning microscope and enhanced with digital image processing techniques.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Second Instar - The fruit fly is a favorite specimen for biological research, and it has been utilized in the studies of a vast array of subjects ranging from sleep disorders to cocaine addiction. The digital image presented in this section features a double-labeled fluorescence image of a Drosophila imaginal disc from the second larval instar development stage.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Eye (Low Magnification) - Presented in this section is digital image captured with a confocal laser scanning microscope of a Drosophila (fruit fly) eye imaginal disc from the third instar larval stage that has been has been double-labeled using green and red fluorophores.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Eye (Higher Magnification) - The Drosophila (fruit fly) eye has been the subject of extensive research, ranging from mutations that cause eye discolorations to the fascinating compound structure, which is build into a formation of 800 individual eyes called ommatidia. The digital image presented in this section features a double-labeled fluorescence image of a Drosophila imaginal disc from the second larval instar development stage. This is a higher magnification version of the previous image in the gallery.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Third Instar Eye (Low Magnification) - The fruit fly (Drosophila) is commonly utilized in laboratory research in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. For example, sleep disorder studies have employed the fruit fly as a laboratory specimen with notable results. Featured in this section is a fluorescence digital image captured with a confocal laser scanning microscope of a triple-labeled Drosophila eye imaginal disc recovered from the third instar larval stage.

Fruit Fly Imaginal Disc - Third Instar Eye (High Magnification) - Presented in this section is a fluorescence digital image captured with a confocal laser scanning microscope of a triple-labeled Drosophila eye imaginal disc recovered from the third instar larval stage. This image is a higher magnification view of the previous image.

Fruit Fly on Butterfly Wing - The colorful scales attached to the butterfly's wings often form beautiful patterns and large, colored spots. These spots serve as an effective survival mechanism in that they make the butterfly appear larger than its actual size. The digital image presented in this section features a Drosophila fruit fly resting near the eyespot on a butterfly wing.

Butterfly Wing Scale Montage - Using the color channel feature from Photoshop, Dr. Paddock has assembled a montage image of butterfly wing scales that exhibit a wide spectrum of color. The digital image presented below shows four color palette selections from this process.

Fruit Fly Embryo Color Depth - Presented in this section is a color-mapped image of a Drosophila embryo, featuring stripes of the engrailed gene, which circle the embryo. The engrailed gene helps to direct fruit fly wing development, and mutations in this gene can affect how the wings appear in adult flies.

Cell Outlines in Butterfly Wing Epithelium - The beautiful digital image presented in this section is a color-mapped fluorescence rendition of cell outlines in butterfly pupal wing epithelium tissue. The image was captured using a confocal laser scanning microscope and manipulated using digital image processing software.

Butterfly Wing Scales and Nuclei - Fluorescent labeling with dual probes (green and red) reveals both cellular nuclei and wing scales in the digital image presented in this section. Imaged with a confocal laser scanning microscope, the wing tissue shows nuclei in green and developing scales in red.

Stress Fibers in 3T3 Cells - Reflected light confocal microscopy can reveal details not visible using standard transmitted light techniques. Dr. Paddock utilized this technique to capture stress fibers in Swiss mouse embryo (3T3) fibroblast cells grown in monolayer cell culture.

Fibroblasts in Reflected Light - Living cells in culture can be examined by a variety of optical techniques, but reflected light microscopy can reveal details not afforded by other methods. The image presented in this section reveals variations in a fibroblast cell that are observed with two different reflected light modes.

Muscle Tissue - Striations in muscle tissue are revealed with phalloidin-stained specimens when imaged with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The digital image presented below illustrates an alternating red, green, and blue pattern that is characteristic of this type of tissue.

Processed Muscle Tissue - Using the power of digital image processing, Dr. Paddock has transformed a remarkable confocal microscopy image of muscle tissue into a work of art. The concentric rings in the image represent striated fibers in the tissue.

Cells on a Glass Fiber - Living tissue culture cells are captured growing on a glass fiber with the aid of reflected light microscopy. This unusual image reveals a single cell in the center of the image that appears to display fibroblast morphology.

Darkfield Cell - Edges of the cell membrane are revealed in this darkfield image of a living fibroblast growing in monolayer tissue culture. This technique is useful for capturing details in difficult specimens that cannot be imaged using other methods.

Endoplasmic Reticulum - Utilizing a double fluorescent label, Dr. Paddock has managed to capture dynamic endoplasmic reticulum structures in living plant cells with the confocal laser scanning microscope.

Butterfly Wing Development - Distalless expression in larval wing imaginal discs in both the Junonia and Bicyclus genus is correlated with the eyespots in adult wings in this Java video sequence.

Butterfly Wing Development (Sequence 2) - Distalless expression in larval wing imaginal discs in both the Junonia and Bicyclus genus is correlated with the eyespots in adult wings in this Java video sequence.

Drosophila Embryogenesis - Embryogenesis in Drosophila as visualized by laser scanning confocal microscopy is the subject of this Java video sequence.