MBL Image Takes 1st Place in 2022 Photo Contest | Optics & Photonics News

Image of the diatom Trigonium taken with an orientation-independent differential interference contrast (OI-DIC) microscope, invented at MBL. Credit: Michael Shribak

A honeycomb-like image of the marine diatom Trigonium, taken by MBL Senior Scientist Michael Shribak, has won First Place in the 2022 Photo Contest sponsored by Optics & Photonics News.

OPA is published monthly by Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America), the leading society for optics and photonics.

Shribak captured the image on a microscope he and the late MBL Distinguished Scientist Shinya Inoué first introduced in 2006 and which Shribak continues to develop for use with a variety of organisms.

Called the OI-DIC microscope, it is particularly suited for imaging transparent organisms, such as the medusa Clytia in this 2018 collaboration with Jocelyn Malamy of University of Chicago. The microscope enables live imaging of dynamic cellular processes at high resolution, without the need for dyes or labels in the sample.

The award announcement is here. Congratulations!

Diatom Trigonium taken on OI DIC microscope
Label-free quantitative phase image of the diatom Trigonium. Image taken with an orientation-independent differential interference contrast (OI-DIC) microscope with a 60× water-immersion objective lens. The image width is 90 µm. Specimen was provided by diatom artist Osamu Oku (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5980661). Credit: Michael Shribak