Scientific Image Prize winner announced

Congratulations to Graham Keep from our Structural Biology Program announced as the 2016 Scientific Image Prize winner at our Annual General Meeting for his image titled ‘Membrane proteins collide’ Here’s the top six finalists in this year’s Prize.

Judged by renowned contemporary art dealer, valuer and adviser Annette Larkin who has over three decades of specialist experience in the Australian and international art markets. Annette manages major corporate collections, works closely with private collectors of significant Australian and International art and is highly respected as a valuer of many areas of collecting.

Graham Keep – Structural Biology Program

Image title – Membrane proteins collide

Lay description – a scientists interpretation of when proteins on the cell surface collide and release energy. These two proteins are the same protein, one facing out of the cell, toward the viewer and the other facing inward into the cell (potentially releasing iron into the cell). This protein is a major player in iron metabolism and its analog is a determinant in both mammalian anaemia and hemochromatosis (iron overload disease).

Judge’s comment – “I love the energy and movement of the collision caught in this image. The randomness is captured like a spray of flowers or fireworks.”

Rohit Jain – Immune Imaging Program

Image title – Bloom

Lay description – the petal in the image is a sectional view (parallel to the long axes) of a single intestinal crypt within the large intestine. Red represents the protective layer of epithelial cells, green highlights the regions containing cells (green colour marks nuclei) and purple/white represents various structural components of the crypt. The intestinal crypts are responsible for absorbing nutrients and water. The large intestine house nearly 100 trillion commensal bacteria which aid in digestion and produce vitamins for absorption.

Judge’s comment – “Where my first choice is all about randomness and an explosion, the symmetry found in living creatures at such a microscopic level, never ceases to amaze me and to capture it so wonderfully and in my favourite colours too.”

Natalia Pinello and Chau To Kwok – Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Group

Image title – Macrophages in the night

Lay description – mouse monocytes were differentiated into macrophages.

Judge’s comment – “These cells seem to have personalities and there is definitely a story of attraction and rejection happening during this night scene.”

Christine Yee – Liver Injury and Cancer Program

Image title – Farcimen botellus botulus

Lay description – you are what you eat.

Judge’s comment – “Islands in the Sea – this reminds me of a photograph of a landscape taken from a plane, and then turned into a negative.”

Kristina Jahn – Cytometry and Imaging, Science Support

Image title – Mickey Mouse – Spaced Out

Lay description – a pine pollen slide was imaged under a confocal microscope showing the typical structure of the pollen grain. The pollen is auto-fluorescent in different colours which has been used here.

Judge’s comment – “Love the sculptural affect of these floating Mickey’s.”

Rohit Jain – Immune Imaging Program

Image title – On the forest floor

Lay description – at first glance, the image appears to represent sprouting vegetation on the forest floor or in a garden. Contrary to this perception, the image captures the adhesion of Leishmania parasites to the collagen matrix. Unlike most other pathogens that attempt to evade initial immune response, Leishmania parasites adhere to the collagen matrix within the skin and relish the immune cell onslaught. They use immune cells as ‘Trojan horses’ to survive and disseminate leading to the disfiguring and debilitating disease called cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Judge’s comment – “Is that really inside of us? Like lush green hedges in a purple haystack. Fabulous clarity.”