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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 3-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:

1.Dr. Jennifer L. Peters and Dr. Michael R. Taylor, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; “The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo”

2.Walter Piorkowski, “Live newborn lynx spiderlings”

3.Dr. Dylan Burnette, National Institutes of Health; “Human bone cancer (osteosarcoma) showing actin filaments (purple), mitochondria (yellow), and DNA (blue)”

4.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)”

5.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 Miś

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 aDrosophila melanogasterlarva 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 containingElimia 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 ofAllium sativum(garlic)

Epi-Illumination

20th Place

Dorit Hockman

Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

University of Cambridge

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Embryos of the speciesMolossus 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), andCyclidium(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.