Photomicrography Contest

The Ralph and Mildred Buchsbaum Prize for Excellence in Photomicrography Ralph and Mildred Buchsbaum at the Bermuda Biological Station, July, 1935

(Photo courtesy V. Pearse)

Do you have a favorite photomicrograph you’d like others to see? It could be the winner!

Buchsbaum Photomicrography Contest Rules

  1. There are separate categories for color and black-and-white photomicrographs.
  2. Photomicrographs taken using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and any kind of light microscopy, including confocal scanning laser microscopy, are eligible.
  3. The contest is open to all SICB meeting participants; up to 3 entries each. AMS membership is welcomed but not required.
  4. Submissions must be unmounted prints, with maximum dimensions of 8 X 10 inches, unlabeled and unsigned. A single line of information identifying the subject (e.g., “Mouthparts of a mite”) and stating the microscopical technique (e.g., “SEM”) should be below the photograph.
  5. Entries will be accepted on the morning of the first full day of the meetings at the AMS booth in the exhibit hall, where they will be displayed as a group. The deadline for submitting entries is before the exhibits close for lunch that day.
  6. Voting begins on the afternoon of the first meeting day and ends before exhibits close at the end of the second full day. All meeting participants who visit the AMS exhibit are allowed one ballot for each contest category.
  7. The winning entries in the color and black-and-white categories and entries awarded “Honorable Mention” will be determined by a tally of the ballots and will be announced at the AMS booth on the morning of the third day of the meetings. The prizes will be awarded at the AMS Luncheon. Contest winners are invited to the luncheon as the guests of AMS.
  8. All entries must be reclaimed on the afternoon of the third meeting day, before the exhibit hall closes.
  9. The author retains all rights to the entry. The author grants permission to AMS to publish the image in Invertebrate Biology and on the AMS web site. If the image has been published previously, the author should obtain appropriate permission from the holder of the copyright.


2010 WINNERS

Grayscale Division

2010grayscalewinnerforweb

Megan Schwartz,
University of Puget Sound

A nemertean pilidium larva
Confocal projection of a phallocidin-labelled larva

Color Division

2010colorwinnerforweb

Christopher Laumer,
Harvard University

The freshwater turbellarian Strongylostoma sp.
Head, showing eye pigmentation, adenal rhabdites, and orange lipid bodies surrounding the gastrodermis.
Differential interference contrast optics.

2009 WINNERS

Grayscale Division

Carolina Peñalva-Arana
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, US

The water flea Daphnia pulex
Male abdominal claw. Scanning electron micrograph. Scale, 25 µm

Color Division

Sara Lindsay, Universtiy of Maine

Maldanid polychaete
Posterior segments, stained with methyl green. Stereomicroscope. Width, ~4 mm

2008 WINNERS

Grayscale Division

reft_bw_2008_web

Grayscale division: Abigail Reft, The Ohio State University


Shell of the wood-boring bivalve, Xylophaga microchira. Toothed ridges are made up of “teeth,” each ~10µm wide. Contraction of the posterior adductor muscle draws these diagonal ridges across the wood, shearing off wood fragments that are then ingested.
Scanning electron microscopy.

Color Division

plachetzki_color_2008_web

Todd Oakley and David Plachetski, University of California Santa Barbara
Tentacles of Hydra magnipapillata.
Cell nuclei (blue) were labelled with DAPI, neuronal cells (red) with an antibody against acetylated beta-tubulin and a cy3-conjugated secondary, and filamentous actin (green) with FITC-conjugated phalloidin. Maximum width of tentacles, 80 µm.
Confocal microscopy.

2007 WINNERS

Grayscale Division

reft_bw_2007_web

Abigail Reft, The Ohio State University


Fired stenotele nematocyst of Hydra.
Scanning electron microscopy.



 Color Division

hejnol_color_2007_web

Andreas Hejnol, University of Hawaii at Manoa


Veliger larva of the snail Crepidula fornicata. Red is cell-tracing dye Ruby-red, which was injected into the 4A macromere; counterlabelled with phalloidin (green: actin) and DAPI (blue: nuclei). Epifluorescence microscopy.

2006 WINNERS

Grayscale Division

Bruno Pernet & Julianne Piraino of California St. Univ. Long Beach and Smithsonian Marine Station, Fort Pierce, FL
Larva of an unidentified phyllodocid polychaete.

Color Division

Sara Lindsay, University of Maine

Jaws of a juvenile nereid polychaete.
Differential interference contrast microscopy.

2005 WINNERS

Grayscale Division

Joris M. Koene of Vrije Universiteit

Love darts of four species of land snails
Xerarionta kellettii (top left), Leptaxis erubescens (top right), Cepaea hortensis (bottom left), and Monachoides vicinus (bottom right). Scanning electron micrographs.

Color Division

Monika C.M. Müller of Universität Osnabrück

The nervous system of a chimeric specimen of the polychaete Dorvillea bermudensis.
Labelled with antibodies against acetylated alpha-tubulin; colors represent depth coding, with more ventral structures in red, and more dorsal in blue. Confocal microscopy.

2004 WINNERS

2004 Winner of the Bauchsbaum Prize

Patricia Lee & David Matus of University of Hawai\u2019i

Pilidium larva of the nemertean Cerebratulus sp.
Labelled with phalloidin (green: actin) and DAPI (blue: nuclei). Confocal microscopy.

2003 WINNER

2003 Winner of the Bauchsbaum Prize

Steve Kempf of Auburn University

The larva of Nereis sp.
Labelled with antibodies for serotonin (red) and acetylated tubulin (green) to show the nervous system and ciliary bands, respectively. Confocal microscopy.

2002 WINNER

2002 Winner of the Buchsbaum Prize

Matt Hooge of the University of Maine

The acoel turbellarian Praeconvoluta tornuva.
Labelled with phalloidin and viewed with epifluorescence microscopy. Orange particles are autofluorescing diatoms in the digestive syncitium.