Celebrating art, science and cells

The winning images for the GE Healthcare 2012 Cell Imaging Competition were displayed in Times Square, New York, on NBC Universal’s high-definition screen over three days in April.

Announced earlier this year, the three winning images included one from Australian research scientist Anushree Balachandran.

Balachandran, who works at fertility clinic Genea in Sydney, won first prize in the High-Content Analysis category for her image of oligodendrocyte precursors derived from Huntington’s disease-affected human embryonic stem cells. She took the photo with a high-performance, laser-based, confocal microscope while working on differentiating precursor stem cells into adult-like cells.

Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder which affects muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline.

The two other winners were Jane Stout, from Indiana University in the United States, who won first place in the Microscopy category for her image of a metaphase epithelial cell. And Markus Posch from the University of Dundee in the UK, who was the regional winner in the microscopy category for his prometaphase human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell image.

All three winners have also been given a trip to New York to see their images displayed.

The competition attracted over 100 entries from researchers investigating conditions such as cancer, HIV and neurodegenerative disease at the cellular level. An expert scientific panel of five judges shortlisted the finalists for each category, which then went forward to the public vote for which over 15,000 votes were cast.