Microscopy Focus
Mosquito Heart Captures First Place in Small World Competition
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. Celebrating its 36th year, the competition received more than 2,200 entries in 2010 – 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.”
“It is a privilege to honour 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 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition is open to anyone with an interest in photography. For additional information, please visit
www.nikonsmallworld.com, or follow the conversation on Facebook and Twitter @NikonSmallWorld
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
Popular vote winner.
A female black bean aphid (apetrous aphid fabae) with its offspring still inside inspired the public and received the distinction of being the Popular Vote winner for the 2010 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
The image, taken by Dr. Tomas Cabello of the Universidad of Almería in Roquetas de Mar, Spain, was the public’s favorite from among the 120 finalists featured at
www.nikonsmallworld.com
Dr. Cabello’s winning image was also chosen as an Image of Distinction in this year’s competition by Small World’s panel of expert judges.
Dr. Cabello teaches and conducts research in agricultural entomology, specializing in greenhouse crop pest species such as the black bean aphid, which is unique in that it demonstrates live birth instead of laying eggs like most insects.
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