Bio-Rad image competition attracts entries of outstanding quality and scientific interest
20 February 2003
And the Winner is? Bio-Rad image competition attracts entries of outstanding quality and
scientific interest
After an overwhelming response, Bio-Rad has doubled the number of award winners in its 2002 Image Competition. In conjunction with the Journal of
Cell Biology (JCB), Bio-Rad has chosen six winning entries for their combination of structural clarity and scientific content from the many high
calibre images it received.
The overall winners were Colette Cywes and Michael Wessels from Channing Laboratory at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital in Boston,
USA. Their image, which shows that binding of Group A Streptococcus (GAS)
to polarised keratinocyte monolayers stimulates localised rearrangement of
the actin cytoskeleton, won them a year's subscription to JCB.
For showing how new neurons generated in the adult brain receive synaptic inputs, Henriette van Praag from The Salk Institute for Biological studies
in La Jolla, California, received the second prize of $250 vouchers from Molecular Probes Inc. And Edward Brown, Emmanuelle di Tomaso, Naoto Koike,
and Rakesh K. Jain from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical
School received the third prize of $100 vouchers from Molecular Probes Inc. Their entry showed a U87 glioblastoma tumour implanted in the brain of an
immune deficient (SCID) mouse, imaged through a cranial window.
Bio-Rad also gave special gift packs to three additional runners-up in recognition of the quality and quantity of the images that the competition
attracted. David Ehrhardt of the Carnegie Institute in Washington, USA, received his prize for an image of microalgae engineered to thrive on
exogenous glucose in absence of light by introduction of glut1. Juan P. Couso and Maximo I. Galindo from the University of Sussex, UK, received a
gift pack for their image of a pair of Drosophila leg promordia that demonstrates ectopic dlim 1 and Bar genes are under the control of the Ras
pathway. Finally, Junji Matsumura of Kyushu University, Japan received a prize for an image showing impregnation of radiata pine wood by vacuum
treatment and identification of flow paths using fluorescent dye and
confocal.
All the winning entries have been published in Dispatches, the regular
Bio-Rad Cell Science newsletter, which can be viewed at www.cellscience.bio-rad.com
.
About Bio-Rad Cell Science Division
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supports the high quality product range worldwide. Bio-Rad encourages the
exchange of information and holds regular regional user meetings for the benefit of researchers internationally. For further information visit
www.cellscience.bio-rad.com or contact Bio-Rad Cell Science Division at
Bio-Rad House, Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 7TD, UK.
FOR FURTHER EDITORIAL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
John Waite or Silvia Esteban
Catalyst Communications Bio-Rad Cell Science Division
T: +44 (0) 20 7932 2500 T: +44 (0) 20 8328 2111
F: +44 (0) 20 7932 2519 F: +44 (0) 20 8328 2500
E: john.waite@catalystpr.com
E: silvia_esteban@bio-rad.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
Electronic files of the winning full colour images are available. If you would like to view thumbnail images or receive the high resolution images,
please contact John Waite on 020 7932 2500 or john.waite@catalystpr.com
1st Prize
Binding of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) to polarised keratinocyte monolayers
stimulates localised rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton. GAS (labelled red) are closely associated with actin (labelled green) filament
projections.Reproduced with permission from Nature 414 copyright 2001 Macmillan
Magazines Ltd. Details in Cywes C, et. al. Nature, 414:648-652, 2001
2nd Prize
New neurons are generated in the adult brain. Mice received injections of
retrovirus expressing green fluorescent protein which only labels dividing
cells into the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Hippocampal sections were
double-labelled with the neuronal marker calbindin (blue, C5?) and the synaptic vesicle protein marker synaptomphysin (red, Cy3?) show that new
neurons receive synaptic inputs. Details in van Praag et. al. Nature 415, 1030-1034, 2002
3rd Prize
A U87 glioblastoma tumour implanted in the brain of an immune deficient (SCID) mouse, imaged through a cranial window. Tumour expresses eGFP under
control of a constitutively active promoter. Tumour cells are highlighted
with GFP in green pseudocolour, angiogenic tumour blood vessels with i.v. injection of tetramethylrhodamine (TMR) in blue pseudocolour and collagen
fibres imaged with second harmonic generation (2HG) in red pseudocolour.
Runner-up 1
Microalgae engineered to thrive on exogenous glucose in absence of light by
introduction of glut1. Colour merge showing glut1:GFP in green and chloroplast autofluorescence in red in a diatom.
Details in Zaslavskaia, et. al. Science 2001, 292: 2073-2075
Runner-up 2
Pair of Drosophila leg promordia. In the centre, which forms the adult leg
tip, there is expression of dlim1 (green, FITC) in a central circle and Bar
(red, rhodamine) in a ring around it. Dorsal ectopic expression of a constitutively activated form of the Drosophila EGF receptor induces
ectopic dlim1 and Bar, showing that these genes are under the control of the Ras pathway.
Runner-up 3
Impregnation of radiata pine wood by vacuum treatment and identification of
flow paths using fluorescent dye and confocal. Staining in FITC (green) and autoflurorescence (red).
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