Time-Lapse Video of Zebrafish “Inner Ear” Development Wins Small World in Motion Competition

Nikon Instruments Inc. is pleased to announce the winners of the fourth annual Nikon Small World in Motion Photomicrography Competition. First place for the 2014 competition is awarded to Dr. Mariana Muzzopappa (of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona) and Jim Swoger (of the Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona), for their stunning capture of the development of a zebrafish lateral line – a process that could provide insight into curing deafness in humans.

The mesmerizing first-place video demonstrates the development of the zebrafish lateral line, a sensory organ analogous to the inner ear of humans, that in fish senses movements in the surrounding water. Muzzopappa and Swoger captured this time-lapse footage by using a combination of transgenes in the fish to label undifferentiated and support cells, and track hair cell differentiation throughout a 36-hour timeframe. The result is an examination of organ development that is stunning not only in its visual effect, but the potential it represents for scientists to one-day replicate the process to counter hearing loss in humans.

Dr. Douglas Clark of Paedia Corporation took second place with a time-lapse look at crystals forming in a single drop of a saturated solution of caffeine in water. This 20-minute process is compressed into just 40 seconds in the video, revealing the beautifully chaotic formation of linear crystalline segments in a constrained space. Clark used polarized diascopic illumination to reveal the rainbow crystals that formed in the solution, a dynamic return to equilibrium from a liquid state.

Finally, Dr. John Hart, professor emeritus of the University of Colorado, Boulder, earned third place for his video of volatile oil film on a water surface. As a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences for many years, Hart aimed to capture the small-scale dynamics of evaporation, instability, and coalescence within the oil film that are important to the longevity of fuel spills. Hart also revealed an unexpected beauty, using reflected light differential interference contrast (DIC) techniques to capture the vibrant, almost-shimmering colors.

“The capability to capture and share the movement or development of a specimen under the microscope clearly represents one of the greater advancements in the tools available to the scientific community in recent years – and we are honored to shine a light on some of the best examples each year,” said Eric Flem, Communications and CRM manager, for Nikon Instruments. “We are continually amazed that this equipment is involved not only in doing the cutting edge science, but also enabling us all to witness it firsthand. As the deadline for this year’s competition approaches, we hope that these winning videos will inspire other scientists and science-enthusiasts to share the beauty and motion they capture under a microscope as well.”

The 2014 Nikon Small World in Motion completion was judged by Paul Maddox, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

The deadline for submissions to the 2015 Nikon Small World in Motion competition is April 30th, 2015. Submissions can be sent via www.nikonsmallworld.com.

THE OFFICIAL 2014 NIKON SMALL WORLD IN MOTION WINNERS

The following are the Top Three Winners and Honorable Mentions for Nikon Small World in Motion 2014. The full gallery of winning videos can be viewed at www.nikonsmallworld.com.

1st Place

Dr. Mariana Muzzopappa with Jim Swoger

Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain

The development of the zebrafish lateral line, the organ that senses water movements in the fish

4D SPIM (Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy)

20x/0.5

2nd Place

Dr. Douglas Clark

Paedia Corporation

San Francisco, California, USA

Time-lapse of caffeine crystallization

Polarized light

3rd Place

Dr. John Hart

Dept. Atmospheric and Oceanic Sci, Univ. Colorado

Boulder, Colorado, USA

Oil film floating on water

Reflected Light Differential Interference Contrast (Nomarski)

12.5x

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dr. Nancy Costigliola-Tarsky

Harvard Medical School

Brookline, Massachusetts, USA

Vimentin (a protein) undergoing mitosis

Confocal

40x

Mr. Ralph Grimm

Jimboomba, Queensland, Australia

Rotifer (microscopic water creature)

Differential Interference Contrast

750x

Mr. Gerd A. Günther

Düsseldorf, Germany

Sulfur crystals

Brightfield, Polarized Light

100x

Mr. Elliott Hagedorn

Boston Children’s Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Time-lapse of a 2 day old zebrafish embryo with green erythrocytes and red blood vessels

Confocal

Dr. Nils Lindstrom

The Roslin Institute

Edinburgh, Scotland

Developing mouse embryonic kidneys

Fluorescence

4x

Dr. Jeremy Logue

National Institutes of Health

Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Human melanoma (cancer) cells blebbing (distorting)

Confocal

100x

Ms. Xi Lu

University of Maryland

Washington, D.C., USA

Chitosan micromotors in water and hydrogen peroxide

Macroscope

2x, 6x

Mr. Pushkar Paranjpe

Post Doctoral Fellow

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Tracking the locomotion of a fruit fly

200 Frames/s video acquired using an AVT Pike camera

10x

Dr. Masha Prager-Khoutorsky

Centre for Research in Neuroscience

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Aplysia (sea slug) neuron

Confocal

100x

Mr. Alex Ritter with Dr. Bi-Chang Chen (Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan), Dr. Wesley Legant (Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA), Dr. Liang Gao (Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY)

National Institutes of Health

Washington, D.C., USA

Killer T cell engaging a cancer cell

Light Sheet Microscopy

1000x

Ms. Ashley Smith

CFD Research Corporation

Huntsville, Alabama, USA

Leukocyte Inflammation Response

Fluorescence

10x

Mr. Wim van Egmond

Micropolitan MuseumBerkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands

Lacrymaria olor (ciliate)

Differential Interference Contrast

160x

Mr. Shaohe Wang

University of California, San Diego

La Jolla, California, USA

C. elegans (nematode) cell division

Confocal

63x

Mr. Kevin Yehl

Emory University

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

DNA micro-machine rolling across a fluorescently labeled RNA surface

Brightfield

See the 2014 Small World in Motion winners