Photos display the art of science

It’s called microscopy. It uses high-powered camera lenses, lasers, and fluorescent dying techniques to photograph life on the cellular level.

A photo exhibit at the Wistar Institute is full of bright orange swirls and fluorescent squiggles. But these aren’t abstract artwork. They are scientific documents.

It’s called microscopy. It uses high-powered camera lenses, lasers, and fluorescent dying techniques to photograph life on the cellular level. At the Wistar Institute researchers use it to study how cancer cells metastasize. A show of international award-winning microscopy images is now hanging in the lobby.

James Hayden won 4th place for his picture of anglerfish ovaries. He says the images need bright colors so that scientists can tell what’s what on a microscopic level.

Hayden: The reason for doing that was not scientific – it was more playing with the equipment – but in the end, what came out was a very wonderful differentiation of the parts if the tissue.

Several images in the show are the result of failed experiments. The third-place winner – a silicon photoresist experiment which unfortunately came out wrinkled – resembles a Native American image of a radiating sun.

[Note: When originally published, the location of the Small World exhibit was incorrectly identified. The exhibit is on display at the Wistar Institute. Wistar is an independent research institute.