A selection of winning images from the Center's 2019 microscopy contest.
A selection of winning images from the Center's 2019 microscopy contest. Clockwise, from top left: a healthy human finger by Jorge Martin, a staff research associate in the lab of Dr. Deborah Krakow; a developing embryonic mouse spinal cord by Soizic Riche, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Samantha Butler; and the spiral cavity of the inner ear by principal investigator Ivan Lopez.

Enter the Broad Stem Cell Research Center's 2023 light microscopy image and video contest

By Tiare Dunlap | Feb 01, 2023 Center News Education & Training

The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA is announcing a light microscopy image and video contest to recognize and celebrate the very best in scientific imaging at UCLA. 

Prizes will be awarded to submissions that exhibit exceptional structure, color, composition, informational content, visual impact and microscopic technique. 

Eligibility:

The contest is open to anyone at UCLA. Images and videos must have been captured using light microscopes located at UCLA. 

Videos must be under 20 seconds and can be any digital time-lapse microscopy imaging. Images and videos that have been heavily manipulated or photoshopped beyond the standard cropping and color channel adjustments may be disqualified at the discretion of the judging panel.

Contest dates: February 1 - March 31, 2023

Submit your images and videos using the entry submission form. 

Prizes will be awarded for the following categories: 

  • First place image
  • Second place image 
  • People's choice image
  • Best undergraduate submission (may be image or video)
  • First place video
  • Second place video

Prizes include: An iPad, Apple watch, AirPods, Nintendo Switch, Theragun and HomePod Mini. Each contest winner will also receive free microscopy time in the BSCRC-MCDB Microscopy Core.

Submissions must include the following information to be eligible for the contest:

  • Your UCLA email address
  • Name(s) of the individual(s) who helped produce the image or video
  • Name of your principal investigator
  • Brief title (max 7 words)
  • Technique and instrument used to capture the image or video
  • Magnification
  • Scientific caption (max 3 sentences)
  • Lay-friendly caption: A max 2-sentence description of image or video in jargon-free language that explains: what is pictured (e.g. tissue type, cells pictured, are distinguished by color, process or phenomenon that is seen) and why this is being studied (what is your research aim or what is the scientific significance of the image)?
    • Example of a lay-friendly description: Microscopic image of a mini brain organoid, showing layered neural tissue and different groups of neural stem cells (in blue, red and magenta) giving rise to neurons (green). This mini brain organoid was created to help our lab study how the Zika virus destroys neural stem cells.

Only complete submissions will be considered; maximum 3 submissions per individual entrant. 

Submit images or videos here. Submissions will be accepted until March 31, 2023. 

Questions? Email BSCRC-MCDB Microscopy Core Director Ken Yamauchi keny@ucla.edu 

Please note: By submitting to this contest, you give the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center non-exclusive permission to use your submissions for communications and development purposes. 

Support for a portion of this contest is provided through the generous philanthropy of Dr. Mark Terasaki in memory of Dr. Paul Terasaki.