Award-winning photography usually brings images of breathtaking scenery or wildlife to mind. However, award-winning scientific photographs focus on intricate biological systems that are invisible to the naked eye or mysterious electronic devices that seem to function on a subatomic level. These are the types of photographs entered into photo competitions such as the Nikon Small World and Olympus Bioscapes.
This year, both competitions honored researcher and microscopist Thomas Deerinck of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) at the University of California, San Diego for a photograph of a mouse’s retina.
The Olympus and Nikon competitions strive to honor scientists who produce excellent photographs with the latest advances in electron and light microscopy. Many of these images aid research efforts not only in biology and medicine, but also in the material sciences such as the semiconductor industry.
“To work out what cells we’re going to see, how we’re going to prepare them, what kind of imaging mode we’re going to use “¦ I produce tons of images,” Deerinck said.
In 2006, both competitions selected Deerinck’s photo of a mouse retina as a prize-winning image. This colorful picture shows the inside of a mouse’s eyeball ” specifically, the mouse’s retina, with a special focus on the optic fiber layer. The image was created for one of the many research projects at NCMIR, the study of a disease called neurofibromatosis. Animal models, like that of the mouse in Deerinck’s winning image, are often used in the laboratory to simulate the devastating effects of the disease in humans. Although the disease is not usually lethal, it can cause childhood blindness, scoliosis and various kinds of skin abnormalities. All of these conditions are the result of the body’s tendency to develop tumors.
In the photo of the mouse’s eyeball, the tumor that researchers are trying to recreate is called an optic nerve glioma. This is what causes blindness in the one-in-4,000 babies born with this genetic condition.
“There is a lot of work going on to try to create animal models for this disease, since we really don’t have the opportunity to do human experimentation,” Deerinck said.
He continued to explain that as soon as an animal model is created for this condition, scientists can begin to work on drugs that might interfere with the progress of the disease. However, it is very difficult to create an animal model that matches a disease in humans.
“That’s the problem with genetic disorders,” Deerinck said. “They are very difficult to cure ” they are just who you are.”
So what is the need for special techniques to capture such images? Why do scientists not use regular light photography to examine their work? The clarity and resolution of a standard light photograph cannot produce the level of detail that scientists need to really see the small details of a research subject.
Near the end of World War II, electron microscopy was invented and suddenly widened the capability of scientists to see beyond simple tissues and cells to the smaller organelles and DNA beneath.
“With the advent of computers and lasers, people are now building much more sophisticated light microscopes [as well],” Deerinck said.
This development has led to the use of fluorescently labeled proteins as biological markers in the living body. With the aid of these markers attached to cells and tissues, microscopists can see specific proteins and DNA sequences with a light microscope.
“And so, it’s really led to a whole renaissance in light microscopy,” Deerinck said.
These new fluorescent techniques are featured in Deerinck’s Olympus-winning photo. The retina of the mouse is lit up by fluorescently labeled antibodies and then captured by a light microscope.
“We’re involved in developing the technology that allows you to do that, as well as using the technology to do research projects,” Deerinck said.
And, as Deerinck experienced this year, along with that work comes recognition and the honor of a prize. As winner of the 2006 Olympus competition, Deerinck and his wife attended a Dec. 10 ceremony at the Horton Grand Hotel in the Gaslamp district. As a prize, they received $5,000 worth of photo equipment.
Back in 2002 when he won first prize in the Nikon Small World competition, he and his wife received a free trip to New York to attend an awards ceremony at Grand Central Station. It was “one of the coolest places,” he said.
The 2002 prize money sent him and his family to Aspen for a ski trip and paid for several new advanced cameras from Nikon.
The first prize photograph in the Olympus Bioscapes competition was on display recently at the San Diego Natural History Museum. This image also won a sixth prize in the Nikon Small World competition in the fall. Several of Deerinck’s other photos were recognized with honorable mention awards.