2024 KINSC Scientific Imaging Contest Winners Announced

Selection of the winners is based on both the quality of the image and the explanation of the underlying science.

This year, submissions were reviewed by the KINSC Steering Committee along with guest judges, Eric Schoneveld, Associate Professor of Visual Studies, and John Muse, Assistant Professor and Director of Visual Studies.

First Place: Indy Srijumnong ’24

The Spectra of M92

The spectra of the globular cluster, Messier 92 (M92), captured by the 16” telescope at Haverford College’s Strawbridge Observatory. Taken on the night of April 22th, 2024 as a part of my senior thesis project. Messier 92 is located in the northern constellation of Hercules. Comprised of over 300,000 stars densely packed within a spherical region spanning about 100 light-years across. The image shows the spectra of the stars within Messier 92. Each spectrum contains the chemical signatures from various elements, providing insights into the cluster's story of cosmic origins.

Second Place: Rebecca Osbaldeston ’24

Zebrafish Brain Expressing CaMPARI 2.0

This is an image of a larval zebrafish brain expressing a green fluorescent protein called CaMPARI 2.0. When the larvae are exposed to UV light, and calcium is released in the brain from neural activation, the CaMPARI 2.0 protein is able to bind to the calcium and permanently convert to a red fluorescent protein (pictured as magenta). This particular image shows the pattern of neural activation in a free-swimming fish exposed to repeated loud sounds.

Third Place: Sophia Wagner ’24

Anatomy of a Living Fossil

The Umbrella Pine, Sciadopitys verticillata, is a rare conifer species endemic to Japan, also planted in Haverford’s Arboretum. Called a “living fossil,” the species has been on earth for 230 million years. Imaged is a cross-section of a branch of the tree stained with toluidine blue O. The dark blue parenchyma cells in the center form the pith and the light blue region shows xylem cells, which transport water and dissolved minerals throughout the plant. Out of focus in indigo is the phloem. Together these tissues comprise the anatomy of a unique tree’s branch.

Honorable Mention: Alex Wood ’24

Fly Embryo in Gastrulation

This photo depicts a D. simulans 291 fly embryo during the gastrulation process of development where it is tranitioning from a simple single layer blastula to a complex multi-layered gastrula and begins forming the 3 primary germ layers. This is where the basic body plan of the fly is being laid out. The embryo was fixed in development using Methanol and then imaged on the confocal using an antibody stain where blue represents DNA, green represents Wolbachia bacteria, and red represents microtubules.

Honorable Mention : Celeste Cubbage ’24

Plasma in an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Device

This is a fusor that I built for my senior thesis project with the Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory. The potential difference between the vacuum chamber and the spherical wire grid accelerates ions toward the center, creating a bright plasma core. The jet of plasma protruding from the core is caused by asymmetry in the grid. The color of the plasma depends on the composition of the gas, which is mainly Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Argon. The emission spectrum of each element influences the color of the plasma: oxygen plasma is blue, nitrogen is violet-blue, and argon is blue-pink.

Honorable Mention: Sayo Kapila ’25

In Development

An approximately 2-day-old chick embryo was mounted onto a slide by Professor Rachel Hoang and visualized under a dissecting microscope on April 11th, 2024 for the evolution and development class. Many early structures that are key to vertebrate development are visible in this image, including the somites (which will form the vertebrae and back muscles), spine, brain, eyes, and heart (shown protruding on the right side of the body). It also shows the vitelline veins and arteries, which transport blood from the yolk sac to the embryo and back to provide the embryo with oxygen and nutrients.

Honorable Mention: Abby Bonner ’25 & Colby Freeman

Beautiful Beginnings

In Superlab, we investigated the localization patterns of the intracellular bacteria, Wolbachia, in Drosophila embryos during the early stages of embryogenesis. Using immunohistochemistry techniques, we stained embryonic DNA in blue, microtubules in red, and Wolbachia in green. This image of a D. sechellia embryo, which was too old for our specific analysis, was captured using confocal microscopy with a 40x objective. Most notably, the emerging formation of the brain and spinal cord, depicted in blue, can be seen stretching along the bottom of the embryo and arching up toward the center.