Nikon International Small World Exhibition
photography through the microscope
May 4 - June 5, 1998


The Nikon International Small World Competition is dedicated to furthering excellence in photomicrography.

Combining microscopy and photography, a photomicrographer is able to capture images of a world not visible to the naked eye. A photomicrograph is a technical document that can  be of great significance to science or industry, but a good photomicrograph is also an image whose structure, color, composition, and content create an object of beauty open to multiple levels of comprehension and appreciation.

The subject matter for this year's competition was unrestricted and any type of light microscopy technique was acceptable. Entries were submitted to Nikon and then judged by an independent panel of experts who are all recognized authorities in the area of photomicrography. The entries were judged on the basis of originality, informational content, technical proficiency, and visual impact. The prize winning entries are on a U.S. wide tour throughout 1998.

Seventeenth Prize
Karl E. Deckart
Eckental, Germany
Gear-wheel of a watch (10x)
Brightfield/DIC

Fourth Prize
David K. Terbush
The George Washington University Medical Center
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Ctenocephalides (flea) (10x)
Rheinburg illumination

First Prize
Barbara A. Danowski
Department of Biology, Union College
Schenectady, New York, USA
Mouse fibroblasts (160x)
Fluorescence
 

Barbara A. Danowski is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Union College.

She started using florescence photomicrography in graduate school and she has been relying on it to document what she sees under the microscope ever since. Much of Danowski's research focuses on observing activity at the cellular level and photomicrography enables her to record her findings visually. She incorporates her interest in micrography into her teaching by leading her classes in an immunofluorescence micrography lab, in which cell proteins are highlighted by antibodies which glow under certain kinds of light. students are often amazed at the beautiful arrangement of molecules inside cells which suddenly become visible through this technique.

Danowski's immunofluorescence micrograph shows the distribution of two proteins inside mouse fibroblasts. The green fibers are actin filaments, which are part of the cells' cytoskeleton. the orange streaks indicate the cells adhesion or 'feet'. the round nucleus appears red. Fibroblasts, which are connective tissue cells found in all organisms, synthesize and secrete collage.