The November 15, 2016 issue of the journal Molecular Biology of the Cell features a cover image with a photo taken on RMC’s transmission electron microscope (TEM) by Brandon Delpi ’17 and Courtney Stevens ’15. RMC Biology Professor James Foster assembled the image from pictures acquired during a collaborative project headed by Dr. Zhibing Zhang of Virginia Commonwealth University. The accompanying paper is published in the same issue of the journal.

“A journal cover image is intended to be a more artistic, eye-catching visual telling of a story reported in the journal,” says Foster. “The data for this study had many beautiful TEM and fluorescence micrographs, but these images of developing sperm cells, called spermatids, at about the same stage of early tail development caught my eye.”

About the Image
The electron micrograph on top shows a single spermatid with a wedge-shaped nucleus and an array of microtubules extending to the right; this is the manchette, which transports proteins and other materials to the developing sperm tail. The three images along the bottom are confocal fluorescence images that have the same orientation and show the cell nucleus in blue, and the location of SPAG16L, a protein important for sperm tail formation, in red.

“This arrangement allows the viewer to correlate the high resolution EM image showing the manchette with the precise location of the SPAG16L protein along the manchette, and it almost brings to life how this protein is delivered from alongside the nucleus, down the manchette and to the forming tail on the right,” says Foster. He continues, “It’s great that our students have produced publication-quality EM images for this and other studies that are forthcoming, but it’s really exciting to have our work featured on a journal cover image. It may not be the cover of the Rolling Stone, but we’re happy with Molecular Biology of the Cell!”

Unique Opportunities
Delpi is a biology major and chemistry minor who is following a pre-med track. He says that working with the TEM was a bit overwhelming at first.

“I really thought I was going to break something, but as I continued using it I realized it is not dissimilar to a normal microscope,” he says. “You have to figure out what the appropriate depth to search at is, how to properly focus an image, and then adjust the brightness in order to ensure a good picture.” Working with Foster, he says, was a tremendous opportunity. “I cannot thank him enough. As someone who wishes to continue to research after college, it provided me with an authentic experience that not many others can say they have had.” Delpi’s post-RMC plans include medical school and a career in critical care, non-invasive cardiology, or pathology.

Stevens, who majored in biology and minored in chemistry, says using the TEM to create images was exciting.

“At RMC, I was given opportunities that most students at small colleges don’t get,” says Stevens, a veterinarian technician in Bel Air, Maryland whose future plans include research. “I’ve always loved science, and I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn about biology and microscopy at Randolph-Macon, and also to collaborate with Professor Foster and learn how the TEM works. Experiences such as this took my college experience a step further and helped to fuel my passion for learning.”