In this sense, the disease is defined by movement. To study them, the moving cilia must be observed with video and not just still images. This is a challenge given their small size and rapid movement, and they still need to be photographed alive. This rules out many advanced microscopy techniques, particularly those based on intense light or fluorescent dyes.
Xu is an optical engineer whose work includes developing advanced imaging systems to observe cell structure in motion. He recorded the movement of the cilia using diffractive high-resolution microscopy, which uses multiple light waves and a digital micromirror to precisely shape the light. This minimizes how much light reaches the living sample while still allowing the rapid movement of the cilia to be captured with high resolution.
“To understand this disease, you need to observe about 10 seconds of movement, not just a still image,” Xu said. “When people watch cilia beat, they immediately understand that something beautiful and important is happening inside us. I think this competition makes microscopy a common language.”
Nguyen Nam Nhat of Vietnam took second place with a video of a tiny roundworm and a single-celled organism; Benedikt Pleyer of Bavaria, Germany, took third place with a video of jellyfish larvae floating in water droplets; Andrew Moore from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US took fourth place with a video of synchronized cell division in neighboring cells; and Patrick Hickey of Hypha Research Ltd. in Edinburgh, Scotland, took fifth place with a video about the dynamics of mitochondria and chloroplasts in turtle vine leaf cells.
The winning entries and several honorable mentions can be found here.
