Nikon Instruments Announces Judges For 45th Nikon Small World Competition

MELVILLE, N.Y., June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nikon Instruments Inc. today announced the judging panel for the 2019 Nikon Small World photomicrography and Small World in Motion video competitions, which will be held June 25-27 at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Submissions are evaluated on creativity, informational content, technical prowess and visual impact. Denisa Wagner, Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the head of the Wagner Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, Rita Strack, Ph.D., Senior Editor of Nature Methods, Tom Hale, Staff Writer at IFLScience and Ben Gaurino, Science Reporter at The Washington Post will make up the panel selecting 2019's winning images and videos.

Now in its 45(th) year, the Nikon Small World competition is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and excellence in photomicrography and video. The competition will honor the top 20 photography and top 5 video winners in addition to awarding Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction. Top submissions will be recognized for their outstanding ability to capture visually compelling and scientifically significant moments under the microscope.

Throughout its history, the Nikon Small World competition has showcased brilliant imagery and artistic feats in biology, chemistry, and the unseen world around us. Recent winners have ranged from a close-up of a credit card hologram to developing neurons in a zebrafish.

The ability of the competition to bring science to a mass audience relies on both the talent of the entrants and expertise of the panel of judges. More detail on this year's panel:

    --  Dr. Denisa Wagner, Edwin Cohn Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical
        School and the head of the Wagner Lab at Boston Children's Hospital: Dr.
        Wagner has dedicated her career to the fields of vascular cell biology
        and the causes of inflammation and blood clots. For many years, her
        laboratory's research has focused on adhesion molecules (cell adhesion
        molecules help cells stick to each other and to their surroundings) and
        their function in normal physiology and in pathological situations. One
        of her labs current interests is the biology of neutrophil extracellular
        traps (networks of extracellular nuclear DNA) and the study of their
        production using time-lapse microscopy.
    --  Dr. Rita Strack, Senior Editor at Nature Methods: Dr. Strack has been an
        editor at Nature Methods since November of 2014. Her primary areas of
        coverage for the journal are imaging, microscopy, and probes, but her
        interests and expertise also extends to molecular biology, structural
        biology, and biophysics. She attended the University of Chicago, where
        she earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2010. Strack did a postdoctoral
        fellowship at Weill Cornell College of Medicine, where she spent
        countless hours on the microscope getting beautiful images to better
        understand the toxic RNAs associated with Fragile-X tremor, an
        adult-onset neurodegenerative disease.
    --  Tom Hale, Staff Writer at IFLScience: Hale is a London-based journalist
        at beloved popular science publication IFLScience. He is an experienced
        science writer, researching and sharing insights on everything from new
        species and biomedical breakthroughs to climate change and viruses. He
        has also written on art in culture, his working appearing in
        publications such as VICE's Motherboard and FACT Magazine.
    --  Ben Guarino, Science Reporter at The Washington Post: A top science
        writer for The Washington Post, Guarino focuses on the practice and
        culture of science. Before making the switch to journalism, Guarino
        studied bioengineering and worked at the Spine Pain Research Lab at the
        University of Pennsylvania. He has also worked as a freelance science
        journalist, an associate editor at the Dodo and a medical reporter at
        the McMahon Group. His work has also appeared in publications like The
        Verge and The Huffington Post.

"At the heart of the Nikon Small World competition is a desire to bring stunning scientific imagery to the general public," said Eric Flem, Communications Manager, Nikon Instruments. "We are excited to bring together another incredible panel of expert judges whose penchant for art and science will bring the best microscopy to an audience with a desire to learn about the world around them."

The Nikon Small World in Motion video winners will be announced in September, and winners of the Small World photomicrography competition will be released in October.

For additional information, please visit www.nikonsmallworld.com. To get an inside look at the judging process and experience, follow the hashtag #NikonSmallWorld and conversation on Facebook, Twitter (@NikonSmallWorld) and Instagram (@nikoninstruments).

About Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition
The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition is open to anyone with an interest in photography or video. Participants may upload digital images and videos directly at www.nikonsmallworld.com. For additional information, contact Nikon Small World, Nikon Instruments Inc., 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747, USA or phone (631) 547-8569. Entry forms for Nikon's 2019 Small World and Small World in Motion Competitions are available at www.nikonsmallworld.com.

About Nikon Instruments Inc.
Nikon Instruments Inc. is the US microscopy arm of Nikon Healthcare, a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for biomedical applications. For more information, visit https://www.microscope.healthcare.nikon.com/ or contact us at 1-800-52-NIKON.

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