Caffeine Crystals,’ Photograph by Annie Cavanagh & David McCarthy

Annie Cavanagh & David McCarthy won the ‘Wellcome Image Awards’ with their photograph titled ‘Caffeine Crystals.’
The ‘Wellcome Image Awards‘ reward the creators of the most informative, striking and technically excellent images among recent acquisitions to Wellcome Images, as chosen by a panel of judges.

Caffeine is a bitter, crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. In plants, caffeine functions as a defence mechanism. Found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves and fruit of some plants, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide that paralyses and kills certain insects feeding on the plant. The main crystals of caffeine were 400-500 microns long; however, this crystal group formed on the end of the larger crystal and measures around 40 microns in length.