Subspecialties Microscopy and imaging, Histology, Neurology, Cytology, Biochemistry and molecular biology, Forensics

Portraits of Pathology

In a discipline as visually oriented as pathology, all practitioners are artists. For the third year running, you – our readers – prove that bold statement to be true with images that reflect unique insights into the delicate, beautiful structure and function of the human body

07/19/2018

This watercolor was painted from a picture the artist made using an AI algorithm to combine a photo of a gynecological slide (superficial squamous cells) with a portrait of Georgios Papanicolaou.

Ali Al-Nasser, Dasman Diabetes Institute, Kuwait

Brenner tumor (chocolate-covered espresso beans; thinly sectioned purple potato).

Adenomatous polyps (thinly sectioned purple cauliflower).

At The Ohio State College of Medicine, Dr. Charles L. Hitchcock gave many pathology lectures using a time-honored pathology education tool: food analogies. Like many pathologists, he compared small cell carcinoma to oats and the nuclei of Brenner tumors to coffee beans, making it easier for students to identify micrographs during exams. He also used analogies that he may have invented himself, such as comparing Reinke crystals to Twizzlers and ovarian cysts to chocolate cream puffs. These culinary photographs are my tribute to Dr. Hitchcock, who taught so many classes so much.

Cynthia Schwartz, The Ohio State University, USA

PAS/d stain of vegetable material.

Christina A. Arnold, The Ohio State University, USA

A series of artistic images created using fluorescence deconvolution microscopy.

Brian J. Poindexter and Roger J. Bick, Multi-User Fluorescence Imaging and Microscopy Core Lab, UT McGovern Medical School, USA

From outside in: skin, muscle, bone, marrow, blood, kidney, bladder, lung, liver, colon, brain (top center), and heart (bottom center).

Aadil Ahmed, Loyola University Chicago, USA

40X PAS stain of skin performed for a foreign body reaction.

40X hematoxylin and eosin stain of a squamous cell carcinoma.

Mary E. Landau, MPathy Art, USA

Microliths in a cryptorchid testis.

Debra Zynger, The Ohio State University, USA

These pieces are made of Japanese mulberry paper and the gilded edges of old books using a technique called quilling or paper filigree. The artist says, “I find quilling exquisitely satisfying for rendering the densely squished and lovely internal landscape of the human body in cross section.”

Lisa Nilsson, Artist, USA.

Photographed by John Polak.

For six months of 2018, Pittsburgh-based artist Ashley Cecil served an artist-in-residence at the Richards-Zawacki Lab at the University of Pittsburgh – making artwork about the vulnerable state of amphibians. This particular piece focuses on the lab’s extensive study of chytridiomycosis. Caused by a fungus, this fast-spreading disease is fatal to a staggering number of amphibian species worldwide, in some cases causing extinction. A histological section of an infected frog inspired this visual interpretation of the impact of the disease on one particularly striking species, the Panamanian golden frog.

Ashley Cecil, Artist and Illustrator, USA

Nejib’s stain of the corneum layer in a patient with congenital bullous ichthyosiform erythroderma.

Gross pathology of the gallbladder, close-up.

Luis Humberto Cruz Contreras, Hospital Materno Infantil Irapuato, Mexico

These images showcase the beauty in even the simplest of microscopic images.

Katelyn Dannheim, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, USA

Image of an injured eye examined for a forensic investigation.

Narsing A. Rao, USC Roski Eye Institute, USA

These images show hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of enucleated eyes from a four-year-old patient with retinoblastoma. Diffuse growth of primitive undifferentiated cells with scant cytoplasm and oval nuclei showing finely granular chromatin and absence of nucleoli can be seen, as well as invasion of the neoplasm into the optic nerve.

Alicia Nunez Abreu, Hospital HOMS, Dominican Republic

Email*

Choose a password*

I have read and understand the Privacy Notice *

Stay up to date with our other newsletters and sponsors information, tailored specifically to the fields you are interested in

I want to stay up to date with the Retina field I want to stay up to date with the Infectious Diseases field I want to stay up to date with the Pathologist Educator field

When you click “Subscribe” we will email you a link, which you must click to verify the email address above and activate your subscription. If you do not receive this email, please contact us at [email protected].
If you wish to unsubscribe, you can update your preferences at any point.