MELVILLIE, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- What looks like the familiar green lines of a heart monitor printout in a textured navy blue sea is actually a close-up of a mosquito heart, and the winner of the 2010 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. Jonas King, from Nashville, Tennessee, USA, took the photo of anopheles gambiae (mosquito heart) magnified 100 times and using fluorescence technology. The image is both beautiful and scientifically significant, as it is used in King's research on how mosquitoes carry and transmit pathogens including malaria.
Nikon Small World recognizes King's image, along with the other winners from this year, for showing the duality of how photomicrographs can carry both scientific and artistic qualities. This year's competition received more than 2,200 entries this year - a new record - from scientists and artists across the world.
"Mosquitoes remain one of the greatest scourges of mankind and this image of the mosquito heart helps us understand how they transport nutrients, hormones, and even pathogens such as malaria throughout their bodies," said King, a researcher at Vanderbilt University. "I'm happy that such an important and aesthetically pleasing image was selected as the winner of the Nikon Small World competition, which in my mind is the most respected competition devoted entirely to microscopy."
Celebrating its 36th year, Nikon Small World is the oldest, largest and most respected competition of its kind. It has become the top forum for showing the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope, and it celebrates the world's best photomicrographers who are creating beautiful imagery while demonstrating a variety of scientific disciplines. Nikon Small World recognizes photomicrographers for successfully capturing vibrant images that represent the intersection of science and art.
"It is a privilege to honor some of the world's foremost researchers and photomicrographers for their amazing work with Nikon Small World," said Eric Flem, Communications Manager, Nikon Instruments. "We are thrilled that we continue to receive images that awe and surprise us every year – ranging from everyday household items to microscopic specimens used for science's most pressing research. This competition truly demonstrates the fun of science as well as the importance of the many microscopic techniques and processes in use today."
The top five images this year include King's mosquito heart, Dr. Hideo Otsuna's image of a five-day old zebrafish head, Oliver Braubach's photo of zebrafish olfactory bulbs, Riaccardo Taiariol's photomicrograph of a wasp nest, and Viktor Sykora's darkfield image of a bird of paradise seed. Nikon has also awarded several "Honorable Mentions" and "Images of Distinction" this year to outstanding photomicrographs that demonstrate superior technical competency and artistic skill.
This year's judges were once again comprised of top science and media industry experts: Jeremy Kaplan, Science & Technology Editor, FoxNews.com; Betsy Mason, Science Editor, Wired.com; Alison J. North, Ph.D., Director of the Bio-Imaging Resource Center and Assistant Professor, Rockefeller University; Shirley A. Owens, Ph.D., Retired Director of the Confocal Lab in the Center for Advanced Microscopy, Michigan State University, and former Small World winner.
Top images from the 2010 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 2010 NIKON SMALL WORLD WINNERS
The following are the Top 20 and Honorable Mentions for Nikon Small World 2010. The full gallery of winning images, along with Images of Distinction can be viewed at www.nikonsmallworld.com.
| 1st Place |
| Jonas King |
| Vanderbilt University, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Nashville, Tennessee, USA |
| Anopheles gambiae (mosquito) heart (100X) |
| Fluorescence |
| 2nd Place |
| Dr. Hideo Otsuna |
| University of Utah Medical Center, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy |
| Salt Lake City, Utah, USA |
| 5-day old zebrafish head (20X) |
| Confocal |
| 3rd Place |
| Oliver Braubach |
| Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Dalhousie University |
| Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Zebrafish olfactory bulbs (250X) |
| Confocal |
| 4th Place |
| Riccardo Taiariol |
| La Spezia, SP, Italy |
| Wasp nest (10X) |
| Extended Depth of Field Stereomicroscopy |
| 5th Place |
| Viktor Sykora |
| Institute of Pathophysiology, First Medical Faculty, Charles University |
| Prague, Czech Republic |
| Strelitzia reginae (bird of paradise) seed (10X) |
| Darkfield |
| 6th Place |
| Dr. John Huisman |
| Murdoch University, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology |
| Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia |
| Martensia sp. (red seaweed), living specimen (40X) |
| Brightfield |
| 7th Place |
| Yongli Shan |
| The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center |
| Dallas, Texas, USA |
| Endothelial cell attached to synthetic microfibers, stained with microtubules, F-actin and nuclei (2500X) |
| Fluorescence, Confocal |
| 8th Place |
| Honorio Cocera-La Parra |
| Geology Museum, University of Valencia |
| Benetusser, Valencia, Spain |
| Cacoxenite (mineral) (18X) |
| Reflected light |
| 9th Place |
| Dr. Duane Harland |
| AgResearch Ltd. |
| Lincoln, New Zealand |
| Ctenocephalides canis (flea) (20X) |
| Fluorescence |
| 10th Place |
| Yanping Wang |
| Beijing Planetarium |
| Beijing, China |
| Crystallized soy sauce (16X) |
| Reflected and Transmitted Light |
| 11th Place |
| Dr. Paul D. Andrews |
| University of Dundee |
| Dundee, Scotland, UK |
| Telophase HeLa (cancer) cells expressing Aurora B-EGFP (green) (100X) |
| Deconvolution |
| 12th Place |
| Dr. Gregory Rouse |
| Scripps Institution of Oceanography |
| La Jolla, California, USA |
| Juvenile bivalve mollusc, Lima sp. (10X) |
| Darkfield |
| 13th Place |
| James Nicholson |
| NOAA NOS NCCOS Coral Culture and Collaborative Research Facility |
| Charleston, South Carolina, USA |
| Orange Fungia (mushroom coral), live specimen (166X) |
| Fluorescence |
| 14th Place |
| Dr. Stephen Lowry |
| University of Ulster |
| Portstewart, Co. Londonderry, UK |
| Spiral vessels from banana plant stem (32X) |
| Polarized light |
| 15th Place |
| Dr. Ralf Wagner |
| Dusseldorf, Germany |
| Divaricatic acid from Evernia divaricata (lichen), recrystallized from acetone (10X) |
| Polarized light |
| 16th Place |
| Dr. Robert Markus |
| Institute of Genetics, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences |
| Szeged, Hungary |
| Mirabilis jalapa (four o'clock flower) stigma with pollen (100X) |
| Epifluorescence and 3D reconstruction |
| 17th Place |
| Charles Krebs |
| Charles Krebs Photography |
| Issaquah, Washington, USA |
| Ichneumon wasp compound eye and antenna base (40X) |
| Reflected (Episcopic) Light Illumination |
| 18th Place |
| Gerd Guenther |
| Dusseldorf, NRW, Germany |
| Soap film (150X) |
| Incident Brightfield |
| 19th Place |
| Cameron Johnson |
| The University of Auckland |
| Auckland, New Zealand |
| Wistar rat retina outlining the retinal vessel network and associated communication channels (100X) |
| Confocal |
| 20th Place |
| Dr. John Hart |
| Hart3D Films and Dept. Atmospheric and Oceanic Sci. Univ. Colorado, Boulder |
| Boulder, Colorado, USA |
| Crystallized melt of sulfur and acetanilide (10X) |
| Transmitted Light, Crossed Polars |
| Honorable Mentions |
| Dr. Marie Andersson |
| UCMR/Dep. Molecular Biology, Umea Universitet |
| Umea, Sweden |
| Anopheles (mosquito) eye (20X) |
| Confocal, Fluorescence |
| Antonio G. Valdecasas, Jose M. Becerra |
| Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC |
| Madrid, Spain |
| Female Axonopsis (water mite), ventral side (200X) |
| Dr. Robert Berdan |
| Science & Art Multimedia |
| Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Trout alevin (larva) (10X) |
| Rajdeep Deb |
| Assam University, Department of Chemistry |
| Assam, India |
| Checkerboard domain of a bent core liquid crystal (40X) |
| Dr. Edward Leighman Gafford |
| Ventura, California, USA |
| Recrystallized sulfur (63X) |
| Gerd Guenther |
| Dusseldorf, NRW, Germany |
| Paramecium caudatum fed with Congo red-stained yeast, living specimen (600X) |
| Darryl Hover |
| Salem, Oregon, USA |
| Sodium saccharin crystals (100X) |
| J. Claire Hoving |
| Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University Of Cape Town |
| Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa |
| Anisakis pegreffi (parasitic worm) (40X) |
| Dr. John Huisman |
| Murdoch University, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology |
| Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia |
| Griffithsia monillis (red seaweed) (10X) |
| Laurie Knight |
| Tonbridge, Kent, UK |
| Turbinate eyes of male mayfly (10X) |
| Charles Krebs |
| Charles Krebs Photography |
| Issaquah, Washington, USA |
| Crab larva, living specimen (6.68X) |
| Dr. Alvaro Migotto |
| Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de Sao Paulo |
| Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil |
| Echinaster brasiliensis (starfish) embryo, four cell stage (60X) |
| Fabrice Parais |
| DREAL de Basse-Normandie |
| Caen, France |
| Trichoptera Hydropsyche angustipennis (caddisfly) larva, posterior claws (30X) |
| Dr. Maria Prado-Figueroa |
| INIBIBB (CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Sur) |
| Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Human brain sections (63X) |
| Yanping Wang |
| Beijing Language and Culture University |
| Beijing, China |
| Snowflake (16X) |
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) 547-8569.
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. Now in its 93rd year, 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.