Beautiful science

Welcome to our science gallery! Here you can find some hand-drawn illustrations, journal cover designs, and eventually also some microscopy. Feel free to explore, download, and use these high-resolution visuals to inspire your own presentations, teaching materials, or projects.

Terms of Use: All images in this gallery are free to download and use for non-commercial purposes only. We kindly ask that you provide the proper attribution as indicated below whenever these visuals are shared or published.

Replaying the tape of life

Evolutionary cell biology explores the origins, principles, and functions of cellular features through the lens of evolution. Laboratory evolution can be used to expand the experimental toolbox of this emerging field by ‘replaying the tape of life’ in the lab.

© Jana Helsen, 2023, Replaying the tape of life

Karyotype evolution and the spindle

Differently sized chromosomes being segregated by a simple spindle. The image is composed of real microscopic time lapses in budding yeast: mitotic time lapses of the spindle for the ‘chromosomes’ and mitotic time lapses of the kinetochore for the ‘spindle’.

© Jana Helsen, 2024, Karyotype evolution and the spindle

Evolution at the centre

This mosaic represents the evolutionary history of the centromere – the central chromosomal region essential for cell division. The centromere is shattered, representing its rapid evolution and the vines represent its evolutionary history.

© Jana Helsen, 2025, Evolution at the centre