HIV aids 3D reconstruction of an actual Human Cell expressing HIVirus

3D reconstruction of an actual Human Cell expressing HIV (Green Fluoresence). Another human protein is also shown (Red Fluoresence).
I made this movie using Osirix (for Macintosh) which combines many 2D images taken by confocal microscopy. The microscope took a “stack” of pictures, one “slice” every 3 ten millionths of a meter–moving from the bottom to the top of the cell. The movie, therefore is, technically speaking, a rotating 3D rendering/reconstruction of a whole bunch of 2D images of a translucent cell.

Techincal notes: this HeLa cell was transfected with fluorescent HIV along with another fluorescent protein and fixed 24 hours later onto a glass slide. A few days later, I took the images you see as a movie, 21 Feb 2007. HIV is seen mostly in the cytoplasm of the cell and at the plasma membrane of the cell. The other protein is mostly found in the nucleolus, a sub-nuclear structure where ribosomes (protein factories) are made. However, it appears that some of the red protein also co-localizes with HIV at the edges of the cell.