MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nikon is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Small World Photomicrography Competition, with this year's top honors going to Dr. Jennifer Peters and Dr. Michael Taylor of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Their photomicrograph, "The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo" is believed to be the first-ever image showing the formation of the blood-brain barrier in a live animal.
Nikon Small World recognizes excellence in photomicrography, honoring Drs. Peters and Taylor along with 97 other winners from around the world – some of whom won multiple times – who submitted images that showcase the delicate balance between outstanding scientific technique and exquisite artistic quality.
"Year over year, we receive incredible images from all over the world for the Nikon Small World Competition, and it is our privilege to honor and showcase these talented researchers and photomicrographers," said Eric Flem, Communications Manager, Nikon Instruments. "We are proud that this competition is able to demonstrate the true power of scientific imaging and its relevance to both the scientific communities as well as the general public."
First place winners Peters and Taylor partnered to capture the image highlighting their research of the blood brain barrier. "We used fluorescent proteins to look at brain endothelial cells and watched the blood-brain barrier develop in real-time," said Drs. Peters and Taylor. "We took a three-dimensional snapshot under a confocal microscope. Then, we stacked the images and compressed them into one – pseudo coloring them in rainbow to illustrate depth."
The top five images this year come from a wide variety of artistic visual concepts and scientific disciplines who all share a common goal of outstanding photomicrographs that demonstrate superior technical competency and artistic skill.
Top Five Images:
- Dr. Jennifer L. Peters and Dr. Michael R. Taylor, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; "The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo"
- Walter Piorkowski, "Live newborn lynx spiderlings"
- Dr. Dylan Burnette, National Institutes of Health; "Human bone cancer (osteosarcoma) showing actin filaments (purple), mitochondria (yellow), and DNA (blue)"
- Dr. W. Ryan Williamson, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); "Drosophila melanogaster visual system halfway through pupal development, showing retina (gold), photoreceptor axons (blue), and brain (green)"
- Honorio Cócera-La Parra, University of Valencia; "Cacoxenite (mineral) from La Paloma Mine, Spain"
This year's judges were once again comprised of top science and media industry experts:
Daniel Evanko, Editor, Nature Methods; Martha Harbison, Senior Editor, Popular Science; Dr. Robert D. Goldman, Stephen Walter Ranson Professor and Chair, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and Liza A. Pon, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and Director, Confocal and Specialized Microscopy Shared Resource, Columbia University.
Top images from the 2012 Nikon Small World Competition will be exhibited in a full-color calendar and through a national museum tour. For additional information, please visit www.nikonsmallworld.com, or follow the conversation on Facebook and Twitter @NikonSmallWorld.
THE OFFICIAL 2012 NIKON SMALL WORLD WINNERS
The following are the Top 20 and Honorable Mentions for Nikon Small World 2012. The full gallery of winning images, along with Images of Distinction can be viewed at www.nikonsmallworld.com.
| 1st Place | |
| Dr. Jennifer L. Peters and Dr. Michael R. Taylor | |
| St. Jude Children's Research Hospital | |
| Memphis, Tennessee USA | |
| The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo | |
| Confocal | |
| 20x | |
| 2nd Place | |
| Walter Piorkowski | |
| South Beloit, Illinois, USA | |
| Live newborn lynx spiderlings | |
| Reflected Light, Fiber Optics, Image Stacking | |
| 6x | |
| 3rd Place | |
| Dr. Dylan Burnette | |
| National Institutes of Health | |
| Bethesda, Maryland, USA | |
| Human bone cancer (osteosarcoma) showing actin filaments (purple), mitochondria (yellow), and DNA (blue) | |
| Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) | |
| 63x | |
| 4th Place | |
| Dr. W. Ryan Williamson | |
| Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) | |
| Ashburn, Virginia, USA | |
| Drosophila melanogaster visual system halfway through pupal development, showing retina (gold), photoreceptor axons (blue), and brain (green) | |
| Confocal | |
| 1500x | |
| 5th Place | |
| Honorio Cócera-La Parra | |
| Museum of Geology, Department of Geology | |
| University of Valencia | |
| Valencia, Spain | |
| Cacoxenite (mineral) from La Paloma Mine, Spain | |
| Transmitted Light | |
| 18x | |
| 6th Place | |
| Marek Mis | |
| Marek Mis Photography | |
| Suwalki, Poland | |
| Cosmarium sp. (desmid) near a Sphagnum sp. leaf | |
| Polarized Light | |
| 100x | |
| 7th Place | |
| Dr. Michael John Bridge | |
| HSC Core Research Facilities - Cell Imaging Lab | |
| University of Utah | |
| Salt Lake City, Utah, USA | |
| Eye organ of a Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) third-instar larvae | |
| Confocal | |
| 60x | |
| 8th Place | |
| Gerd A. Guenther | |
| Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Pleurobrachia sp. (sea gooseberry) larva | |
| Differential Interference Contrast | |
| 500x | |
| 9th Place | |
| Geir Drange | |
| Asker, Norway | |
| Myrmica sp. (ant) carrying its larva | |
| Reflected Light, Image Stacking | |
| 5x | |
| 10th Place | |
| Dr. Alvaro Migotto | |
| University of São Paulo, Centro de Biologia Marinha | |
| São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Brittle star | |
| Stereomicroscopy, Darkfield | |
| 8x | |
| 11th Place | |
| Jessica Von Stetina | |
| Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research | |
| Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA | |
| Single optical section through the tip of the gut of a Drosophila melanogaster larva expressing a reporter for Notch signaling pathway activity (green), and stained with cytoskeletal (red) and nuclear (blue) markers | |
| Confocal | |
| 25x | |
| 12th Place | |
| Esra Guc | |
| École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) | |
| Lausanne, Switzerland | |
| 3D lymphangiogenesis assay. Cells sprout from dextran beads embedded in fibrin gel | |
| Fluorescence, Confocal | |
| 200x | |
| 13th Place | |
| Dr. Diana Lipscomb | |
| Department of Biological Sciences | |
| George Washington University | |
| Washington, District of Columbia, USA | |
| Sonderia sp. (a ciliate that preys upon various algae, diatoms, and cyanobacteria) | |
| Nomarski Interference Contrast | |
| 400x | |
| 14th Place | |
| José R. Almodóvar Rivera | |
| University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, Biology Department | |
| Mayaguez Puerto Rico, USA | |
| Pistil of Adenium obesum | |
| Image Stacking | |
| 10x | |
| 15th Place | |
| Andrea Genre | |
| Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology | |
| University of Turin | |
| Turin, Italy | |
| Section of a Coccinella (ladybug) leg | |
| Confocal | |
| 10x | |
| 16th Place | |
| Douglas Moore | |
| University Relations & Communications/Geology | |
| University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point | |
| Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA | |
| Fossilized Turitella agate containing Elimia tenera (freshwater snails) and ostracods (seed shrimp) | |
| Stereomicroscopy | |
| 7x | |
| 17th Place | |
| Charles Krebs | |
| Charles Krebs Photography | |
| Issaquah, Washington, USA | |
| Stinging nettle trichome on leaf vein | |
| Transmitted Light | |
| 100x | |
| 18th Place | |
| Dr. David Maitland | |
| www.davidmaitland.com | |
| Feltwell, United Kingdom | |
| Coral sand | |
| Brightfield | |
| 100x | |
| 19th Place | |
| Dr. Somayeh Naghiloo | |
| Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences | |
| University of Tabriz | |
| Tabriz, Iran | |
| Floral primordia of Allium sativum (garlic) | |
| Epi-Illumination | |
| 20th Place | |
| Dorit Hockman | |
| Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience | |
| University of Cambridge | |
| Cambridge, United Kingdom | |
| Embryos of the species Molossus rufus (black mastiff bat) | |
| Brightfield | |
| HONORABLE MENTIONS | |
| Geir Drange | |
| Asker, Norway | |
| Two ants of different genus meeting on a twig | |
| Reflected Light, Image Stacking | |
| 2.5x | |
| Ralph Claus Grimm | |
| Jimboomba, Queensland, Australia | |
| Radiolaria shells | |
| Darkfield | |
| 120x | |
| Dr. Terue Kihara | |
| Senckenberg am Meer, German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB) | |
| Wilhelmshaven, Germany | |
| Pontostratiotes sp., female, dorsal view. A deep-sea copepod collected in the southeastern Atlantic at a depth of 5395m. | |
| Confocal | |
| 10x | |
| Charles Krebs | |
| Charles Krebs Photography | |
| Issaquah, Washington, USA | |
| Haematococcus (algae), Euplotes (protozoa), and Cyclidium (ciliate) | |
| Differential Interference Contrast | |
| 400x | |
| ChangHwan Lee | |
| Dartmouth College | |
| Hanover, New Hampshire, USA | |
| Ashbya gossypii (a multinucleate filamentous fungus) CLN3 mRNA (orange) and nuclei (blue) | |
| Single Molecule Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridization | |
| 63x | |
| Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht | |
| Department of Physics | |
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | |
| Pasadena, California, USA | |
| Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights | |
| Homemade Microscope | |
| 5x | |
| Douglas Moore | |
| University Relations & Communications/Geology | |
| University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point | |
| Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA | |
| Fossilized stromatolite (accumulations of cyanobacteria on a substrate) | |
| Stereomicroscopy | |
| 12.5x | |
| Nikola Rahme | |
| Budapest, Hungary | |
| Eye and first segments of Cucujus cinnaberinus (Cinnabar flat beetle) | |
| Reflected Light | |
| 18x | |
| Dr. Donna Beer Stolz | |
| Department of Cell Biology | |
| University of Pittsburgh | |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA | |
| Moth antenna | |
| Confocal Stack Reconstruction of Autofluorescence | |
| 100x | |
| Jessica Von Stetina | |
| Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research | |
| Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA | |
| Single optical section through the whole gut of a Drosophila melanogaster larva expressing a reporter for Notch signaling pathway activity (green), and stained with cytoskeletal (red) and nuclear (blue) markers | |
| Dr. Arlene Wechezak | |
| Anacortes, Washington, USA | |
| Ptilota (red algae) | |
| Darkfield | |
| 10x | |
ABOUT THE NIKON SMALL WORLD PHOTOMICROGRAPHY COMPETITION
The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition is open to anyone with an interest in photography. Participants may submit their images in traditional 35mm format, or upload digital images directly at www.nikonsmallworld.com. The first, second and third prize winners will receive a selection of Nikon products and equipment worth $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. For additional information, contact Nikon Small World, Nikon Instruments Inc., 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747, USA or phone (631) 547-4200.
The Nikon Small World logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=12577
ABOUT NIKON INSTRUMENTS INC.
Nikon Instruments, Inc. is a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for biomedical applications. Nikon provides complete optical systems that offer optimal versatility, performance and productivity. Cutting-edge instruments include microscopes, precision measuring equipment, digital imaging products and software. Nikon Instruments is the microscopy and instrumentation arm of Nikon Inc., the world leader in digital imaging, precision optics and photo imaging technology. For more information, visit www.nikoninstruments.com. Product-related inquiries may be directed to Nikon Instruments at 800-52-NIKON.
The Nikon Instruments logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8586
