Developing musculature (teal) and central nervous system (orange) in the Drosophila embryo. Striking similarities in brain and nerve cord development between insects and vertebrates have led to many important discoveries.

25x magnification. Confocal micrograph.

(For aficionados, the blue cellular component labelled here is the cytoskeletal component actin - Rhodamine-Phalloidin stain - to label musculature; the orange is the pan-neuronal transcription factor, ElaV.)

Imaged using an Olympus Fluoview 1000 in the laboratory of my gracious mentor, Dr Nick Brown (Cambridge University), with funding from the BBSRC, and gratitude to my PhD supervisor, Dr Katja Roper (MRC-LMB, Cambridge University).