20 BioScapes Contest Photos--Life Viewed through the Microscope
Winners and other images from the 2008 BioScapes Photo Competition use light microscopes to portray extraordinary images of biological specimens
20 BioScapes Contest Photos--Life Viewed through the Microscope
- Mr. Thomas Deerinck--Honorable Mention Cerebral cortex vasculature: In situ imaging of the superficial vasculature of rat cerebral cortex by wide-field confocal microscopy. Efforts are underway to improve visualization of specific features of the brain using in situ multiple-dye labeling. Montage was created using 50 optical sections.
Thomas Deerinck, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research University of California, San Diego, U.S. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® - Dr. Giuliano Zanchetta--Honorable Mention This image reproduces the focal conics texture of the columnar liquid crystalline (LC) phase of small fragments of double-stranded DNA (12-nucleotide-long, self-complementary sequences: CGCGAATTCGCG). Image captured using polarized light.
Giuliano Zanchetta, Milan, Italy. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® - Dr. Sara Lindsay--Honorable Mention Muscles in a marine worm head. Feeding, burrowing and building tubes in sand and mud requires coordination of a surprisingly complex complement of muscles in marine worms. In this depth-coded confocal image, the muscles of a spionid polychaete are revealed in a 20X, depth-coded, maximum-intensity projection, montage of two separate images.
Sara Lindsay, University of Maine, Orono, Maine., U.S. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® - Dr. Michael Veeman--Honorable Mention Juvenile sea squirt (Ascidiella aspersa). The three sets of rings are the forming musculature around the oral [top] and atrial [lower two] siphons. Other visible structures include the esophagus, stomach, endostyle, peripharyngeal band and gill slits. Maximum intensity projection of 153 confocal microscopy slices.
Michael Veeman, University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif., U.S. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® - 9. Mr. Charles Krebs Jewel beetle, Chrysochroa fulgens, including part of the beetle's eye [upper right], viewed at approximately 40X using diffuse reflected light. Multiple images were combined for extended depth of field. The extraordinarily pure color is the result of iridescence caused by complex layers of chitin nanostructures.
Charles Krebs, Issaquah, Wash., U.S. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® - 5. Dr. Shirley Owens Silphium perfoliatum. The cup plant, showing mature pollen in branched stigmata. The pollen grains are numerous and small with spiked outer walls. Sixty optical sections were used for the extended-focus image.
Dr. Shirley Owens, Michigan State University, Flushing, Mich., U.S. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® - 4. Dr. Albert Pan "Brainbow" zebra fish. Neurons are labeled in multiple colors with Brainbow fluorescence microscopy. Three fluorescent
proteins (cyan, yellow and red) are randomly taken up by various neurons, offering a palette of dozens of colors to help scientists follow complex neural pathways. Shown here is a five-day-old zebra fish larva viewed from the dorsal side, captured using a 20X objective.
Dr. Albert Pan, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.S. 2008 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®
