Image of the Day: Coronavirus Under the Scope

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases releases a series of images that offer a close up look at the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Amy Schleunes

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ABOVE: The SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus (yellow), isolated from a patient, emerges from cultured cells (blue and pink).
NIAID-RML

New scanning and transmission electron microscope images of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus taken at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Rocky Mountain Laboratories show the virus’s similarities to the viruses that caused a MERS outbreak in 2012 and a SARS outbreak in 2002, according to a NIAID blog post. “That is not surprising,” the post says. “The spikes on the surface of coronaviruses give this virus family its name—corona, which is Latin for ‘crown,’ and most any coronavirus will have a crown-like appearance.”

Amy Schleunes is an intern at The Scientist. Email her at aschleunes@the-scientist.com.

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Meet the Author

Amy Schleunes
A former intern at The Scientist, Amy studied neurobiology at Cornell University and later earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa. She is a Los Angeles–based writer, editor, and communications strategist who collaborates on nonfiction books for Harper Collins and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and also teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University CTY. Her favorite projects involve sharing the insights of science and medicine.
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