1st prize:

"Oxygen molecules play a game of Catan"

Daan Weits
(UU)
Microscope: Apotome Zeiss

 Expression of an oxygen biosensor in a gemma of Marchantia polymorpha, an ancient liverwort species that is a model plant for evolution. The output of the oxygen biosensor is red fluorescence (false color blue) in the presence of oxygen and green fluorescence in hypoxic cells..

2nd prize:

"The Visitor"

Alessandro Corsini

 (Hubrecht)

Microscope: Nikon/Andor X1 spinning disk microscope, 30X objective.

 A mouse small intestinal organoid that experienced cell division mis-orientation during its growth. Blue is DNA, red is actin, and green is tubulin. During their normal growth, these organoids are rounded and have a well-organized layer of cells surrounding a lumen. Cells maintain this structure by dividing all in the same direction. However, when the orientation of cell division is altered, cells start to aggregate in multiple layers and form multiple lumens, mimicking a tumorigenic process. Organoids now look completely different. In this case, the face of ''a visitor from beyond the stars''..

3rd prize:

"The worms have eyes"

Mette Schroeder

(UU)

Microscope: confocal spinning disk

C. elegans worm with various fluorescent markers:
red = membrane marker,
blue = nucleus,
green = translation spots.

1st prize:

"A cellular landscape"

Jan van der Beek

(UMC Utrecht)
 Microscope: FEI Tecnai 20

 An EM image of a busy part of a HeLa cell. Clearly visible are the Golgi, lysosomes, mitochondria and part of the nucleus. .

1st shared 2nd prize:

"The C. elegans Ribosome Rainbow"

Vera van Schijndel

(UU)

Microscope: Talos Arctica

A slice of a tomogram displaying a highly organized structure of endoplasmic reticulum membranes decorated with ribosomes, resembling a Rainbow-like shape.

2nd shared 2nd prize:

"Tropical island"

René Scriwanek

(UMC Utrecht)