Fluorescent Hand of a Madagascar Giant Day Gecko Wins 48th Annual Nikon Small World Photo Microscopy Competition

2022-10-11

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The winners of the 48th annual competition showcase a spectacular blend of science and artistry under the microscope

MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nikon Instruments Inc. today unveiled the winners of the 48th annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. This year's first place prize was awarded to Grigorii Timin, supervised by Dr. Michel Milinkovitch at the University of Geneva, for his remarkable image of an embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko. Masterfully blending imaging technology and artistic creativity, Timin utilized high-resolution microscopy and image-stitching to capture this species of Phelsuma grandis day gecko.

Fluorescent Hand of a Madagascar Giant Day Gecko Wins 48th Annual Nikon Small World Photo Microscopy Competition

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来源: PRNewswire

Nikon Small World

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来源: PRNewswire

Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis)

A visually stunning and painstaking technique, Timin used image-stitching to merge hundreds of images together to create the final image of his gecko. Preparing the sample was an added challenge. Timin performed whole-mount fluorescent staining and tissue clearing to capture the entire embryonic hand with a confocal microscope.

"This embryonic hand is about 3 mm (0.12 in) in length, which is a huge sample for high-resolution microscopy," said Timin. "The scan consists of 300 tiles, each containing about 250 optical sections, resulting in more than two days of acquisition and approximately 200 GB of data."

The final result gives a glimpse into the hidden beauty and complexity of the gecko, highlighting the nerves in a cyan color and the bones, tendons, ligaments, skin and blood cells in a range of warmer colors. "This particular image is beautiful and informative, as an overview and also when you magnify it in a certain region, shedding light on how the structures are organized on a cellular level," said Timin.

He went on to say, "The Nikon Small World Competition is a great opportunity to share how impressive nature is on a microscopic level, not only within a scientific community but also with the general public."

"Each year, Nikon Small World receives an array of microscopic images that exhibit exemplary scientific technique and artistry. This year was no exception," said Eric Flem, Communications and CRM Manager, Nikon Instruments. "At the intersection of art and science, this year's competition highlights stunning imagery from scientists, artists, and photomicrographers of all experience levels and backgrounds from across the globe."

Second place was awarded to Dr. Caleb Dawson for his image of breast tissue showing contractile myoepithelial cells wrapped around milk-producing alveoli. Taking a week to process, the myoepithelial cells were stained with multiple rounds of fluorescent dyes and captured with a confocal microscope.

Third place was captured by Satu Paavonsalo and Dr. Sinem Karaman for their image of blood vessel networks in the intestine of an adult mouse.

In addition to the top three winners, Nikon Small World recognized 89 photos out of thousands of entries from scientists and artists across the globe.

The 2022 judging panel included:

Dr. Gustavo Menezes, Associate Professor and Head of the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais

Dr. Nikolay Nikolov, Senior Video Journalist at The New York Times

Annaliese Nurnberg, Photo Editor at The Washington Post

Dr. Clare Waterman, Cell Biologist and Member of the National Academy of Sciences

For additional information, please visit www.nikonsmallworld.com, or follow the conversation on Facebook, Twitter @NikonSmallWorld and Instagram @NikonInstruments.

NIKON SMALL WORLD WINNERS

1st Place

Grigorii Timin & Dr. Michel Milinkovitch

University of Geneva

Department of Genetics and Evolution

Geneva, Switzerland

Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis)

Confocal

63X (Objective Lens Magnification)

2nd Place

Dr. Caleb Dawson

WEHI, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Department of Immunology

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Breast tissue showing contractile myoepithelial cells wrapped around milk-producing alveoli

Confocal

40X (Objective Lens Magnification)

3rd Place

Satu Paavonsalo & Dr. Sinem Karaman

University of Helsinki

Individualized Drug Therapy Research Program, Faculty of Medicine

Helsinki, Finland

Blood vessel networks in the intestine of an adult mouse

Confocal

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

4th Place

Dr. Andrew Posselt

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

Department of Surgery

Mill Valley, California, USA

Long-bodied cellar/daddy long-legs spider (Pholcus phalangioides)

Image Stacking

3X (Objective Lens Magnification)

5th Place

Alison Pollack

San Anselmo, California, USA

Slime mold (Lamproderma)

Image Stacking, Reflected Light

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

6th Place

Ole Bielfeldt

Macrofying

Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Unburned particles of carbon released when the hydrocarbon chain of candle wax breaks down

Brightfield, Image Stacking

2.5X (Objective Lens Magnification)

7th Place

Dr. Jianqun Gao & Prof. Glenda Halliday

University of Sydney

Central Clinical School / Professor Glenda Halliday's Lab

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Human neurons derived from neural stem cells (NSCs)

Confocal, Fluorescence

20X (Objective Lens Magnification)

8th Place

Dr. Nathanaël Prunet

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Department of Biology

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Growing tip of a red algae

Confocal

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

9th Place

Dr. Marek Sutkowski

Warsaw University of Technology

Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics

Warsaw, Poland

Liquid crystal mixture (smectic Felix 015)

Image Stacking, Polarized Light

40X (Objective Lens Magnification)

10th Place

Murat Öztürk

Ankara, Turkey

A fly under the chin of a tiger beetle

Image Stacking

3.7X (Objective Lens Magnification)

11th Place

Ye Fei Zhang

Jiang Yin, Jiangsu, China

Moth eggs

Image Stacking

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

12th Place

Brett M. Lewis

Queensland University of Technology

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Autofluorescence of a single coral polyp (approx. 1 mm)

Fluorescence, Image Stacking

20X (Objective Lens Magnification)

13th Place

Randy Fullbright

Fullbright Studio

Vernal, Utah, USA

Agatized dinosaur bone

Image Stacking

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

14th Place

Nadia Efimova

Amicus Therapeutics

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Differentiated cultured mouse myoblasts with lysosomes (cyan/green), nuclei (yellow), F-actin (magenta)

Confocal

40X (Objective Lens Magnification)

15th Place

Dr. Ziad El-Zaatari

Houston Methodist Hospital

Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine

Houston, Texas, USA

Cross sections of normal human colon epithelial crypts

Brightfield

20X (Objective Lens Magnification)

16th Place

Dr. Olivier Leroux

Ghent University

Department of Biology & Department of Plants and Crops

Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Longitudinal section through a white asparagus shoot tip

Fluorescence

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

17th Place

Dr. Daniel Wehner & Julia Kolb

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Department of Biological Optomechanics

Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany

Tail fin of a zebrafish larva with peripheral nerves (green) and extracellular matrix (violet)

Confocal

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

18th Place

Dr. Julien Resseguier

University of Oslo

Department of Biosciences / Immunology

Oslo, Viken, Norway

Network of macrophages (white blood cells) of an adult zebrafish intestine

Confocal, Deconvolution, Fluorescence

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

19th Place

Dr. Tagide deCarvalho

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

Keith R. Porter Imaging Facility

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Bacterial biofilm on a human tongue cell

Confocal

63X (Objective Lens Magnification)

20th Place

Hui Lin & Dr. Kim McBride

Nationwide Children's Hospital

Center for Cardiovascular Research

Columbus, Ohio, USA

Human cardiomyocytes (heart cells) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells

Fluorescence

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dr. Dylan T. Burnette

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

A crawling cell

Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM)

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Dr. Amy C. Engevik

Medical University of South Carolina

Department of Regenerative Medicine & Cell Biology

Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Intestinal villi (brush border in magenta)

Fluorescence

20X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Dr. Laurent Formery

University of California Berkeley

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Pacific Grove, California, USA

Two-month old juvenile sea star (Patiria miniata)

Confocal, Fluorescence, Image Stacking

20X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Karl Gaff

Dublin, Ireland

Midge larva collected from a fresh water pond

Polarized Light

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Gerd Günther

Düsseldorf, Germany

Young stem of garden bamboo (Fargesia sp.)

Fluorescence

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Dr. Zhiguo He

University Jean Monnet

School of Medicine

Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, Rhône-Alpes, France

The actomyosin network at the apical pole of human corneal endothelial cells (revealed by immunofluorescence)

Fluorescence

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Bre Hewitt

Drexel University

Department of Biology

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Migrating human fibroblast stained for the golgi (orange), the actin cytoskeleton (magenta), and the nucleus (cyan)

Confocal, Fluorescence

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Reuben Philip

Mount Sinai Hospital

Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A cell with extra centrosomes beginning to divide

Confocal

60X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Alison Pollack

San Anselmo, California, USA

Slime mold (Didymium clavus)

Image Stacking, Reflected Light

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Jan Rosenboom

Rostock, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany

Diatom (Actinoptychus sp.)

Differential Interference Contrast (DIC), Image Stacking

100X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Dr. Igor Siwanowicz

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

Janelia Research Campus

Ashburn, Virginia, USA

Radula (rasping tongue) of a marine snail (Turbinidae family)

Confocal

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Sebastian Sparenga

McCrone Research Institute

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Recrystallized Vitamin C

Polarized Light

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Dr. Andrea Tedeschi

The Ohio State University / Wexner Medical Center

Department of Neuroscience

Columbus, Ohio, USA

Murine sensory-motor cortex following mild traumatic brain injury in a transgenic mouse (expressing Thy1-GFP)

Confocal

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Wim van Egmond

Micropolitan Museum

Berkel en Rodenrijs, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Larva of an anemone, found in marine plankton

Darkfield

6.3X (Objective Lens Magnification)

Ye Fei Zhang

Jiang Yin, Jiangsu, China

Butterfly egg

Image Stacking

10X (Objective Lens Magnification)

About Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition

The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition is open to anyone with an interest in photography or video. Participants may upload digital images and videos directly at www.nikonsmallworld.com. For additional information, contact Nikon Small World, Nikon Instruments Inc., 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747, USA, or phone (631) 547-8569. Entry forms for Nikon's 2023 Small World and Small World in Motion Competitions are available at https://enter.nikonsmallworld.com/

About Nikon Instruments Inc.

Nikon Instruments Inc. is the US microscopy arm of Nikon Healthcare, a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for biomedical applications. For more information, visit https://www.microscope.healthcare.nikon.com/ or contact us at 1-800-52-NIKON.

SOURCE Nikon Instruments Inc.