Ghost in the cell

UGA’s Audrey Ward won Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Yeast Microscopy Competition in the category of Best Special Effects and Editing with “Ghost in the Cell,” this spectral shot of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

To create the image, she and Yee Mon Thu of Colby College used calcofluor-white staining of the cell wall of the yeast species, which has been used in winemaking, baking and brewing since antiquity. Ward edited the final image that was submitted to the contest, part of the Yeast Genetics and Genomics (#YGG2022) Annual Course hosted by Cold Spring Harbor.

Ward is a Ph.D. candidate in the Douda Bensasson Lab in the Department of Genetics, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She is studying environmental adaptation of the non-model yeast species Lachancea thermotolerans. Before enrolling at UGA, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Alabama.

Image: Genetics Ph.D. candidate Audrey Ward and Yee Mon Thu of Colby College created this microscopy image, “Ghost in the Cell,” using calcofluor-white staining of the cell wall of the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The image won Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Yeast Microscopy Competition in the category of Best Special Effects and Editing. (Image courtesy of Audrey Ward)