Lab on a Chip Blog

Lab on a Chip and the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) were pleased to present the Art in Science award titled “Under the Looking Glass: Art from the World of Small Science” at the µTAS 2015 Conference.

The award highlights the aesthetic value in scientific illustrations while still conveying scientific merit. Many fantastic submissions were received this year with the winner selected by a panel of senior scientists who attended the conference.

And the winner is…

“Through Warhol’s eyepiece” photographed by Matteo Cornaglia, Laboratory of Microsystems, EPFL, Switzerland.

The winning artwork, “Through Warhol’s eyepiece” photographed by Matteo Cornaglia from the Laboratory of Microsystems, EPFL in Switzerland, was created by on-chip multi-dimensional imaging of C.elegans embryogenesis as observed through an Andy Warhol microscope, equipped with a 63x oil immersion objective and a pop art optical filter. For the first time, automated longitudinal studies of C.elegans embryos are made possible by microfluidics. For this artwork, 20 embryos are isolated from an on-chip worm culture upon egg laying and transferred into dedicated micro-incubators for long-term time-lapse imaging of the whole population at single-organism resolution. Each colour corresponds to a different instant of the same population development.

And the runners up are…

“Reflections of micro-ocean escaping” photographed by Maoxiang Guo, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.

A tiny drop of liquid is encapsulated in a polymer microwell, covered with thin gold film. As the device is heated, the liquid is expanding, creating a bulge in the gold film, stress and ripples in the rest of the gold sheet.

“Microparticle Microgalaxy” photographed by Ghulam Destgeer, Department of Mechanical Engineering (KAIST), South Korea.

Microparticles are manipulated inside a sessile droplet of water placed on top of a vibrating acoustofluidic platform. Surface acoustic waves leaking into the water drive the concentration of the larger diameter (yellow) particles while smaller (blue) particles remain scattered in the background. The particles resembles stars spread in a celestial galaxy.

A big thank you to all the contributors this year.

Lab on a Chip and Dolomite Microfluidics are pleased to announce Dan Kirby and the Ducrée Lab, Dublin City University the winner of the 2015 µTAS Video Competition supported by the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS).

At the µTAS conference in October 2015 Lab on a Chip Executive Editor, Sarah Ruthven (right) and Dolomite Microfluidics Group Chief Executive Officer, Mark Gilligan (left) presented Dan Kirby (centre) with the award and a $2500 gift certificate to spend on Dolomite equipment.

Registered µTAS participants were invited to submit short videos with a scientific or educational focus. Videos could be fun, artistic or just surprising and unusual to be in contention for the prize. The winners, the Ducrée Lab, produced a video titled “Spin me right round” focussing on centrifugal microfluidics. They recreated a classic 80’s music video in the lab to highlight the new areas of research in lab-on-a-disc platforms. They hope that viewers enjoy the “new spin” they have put on biomedical diagnostics!

Thank you very much to all the participants for submitting such high quality entries.

Congratulations to the Ducrée Lab!

Lab on a Chip is proud to announce the second μTAS Video Competition, created in partnership with Dolomite Microfluidics and supported by the CBMS (the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society).

We invite registered μTAS participants to submit short videos (see full conditions of entry below) that are either scientifically or educationally focused. Videos may be fun, artistic or just surprising and unusual in order to meet these criteria.

Dolomite Microfluidics, innovators in microfluidic solutions, are supporting this competition with $2500 worth of Dolomite equipment as the prize.

If you think you have the necessary visual science to take home the prize, have a read of the entry conditions below!

Deadline: 26th October 2015

Video Award Submission Process – Easy 3 Step Process

Step 1. Sign-In to the Electronic Form Using Your Registration Number

Please have your Registration Number accessible. If you are unable to locate your Registration Number, please contact microtas2015@hdasan.com.

Step 2. Fill in Remaining Information on Electronic Submission Form

Please fill in remaining information on the electronic submission form including title of image and your caption.

Step 3. Upload Your Video

All entries are to be submitted online via this website as .mpg, .mp4, .mov, .avi or .wmv. Entries will not be accepted by email or post. Once your entry has been successfully uploaded and submitted, you will be given an entry number and you will be sent a confirmation email with the information you provided, minus the video. The ability to submit an video will close Monday,26 October 2015 at 23:59 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA time (HST. GMT minus 10 hours).

Guidelines:

1. Only participants registered for the MicroTAS conference can take part and submit videos

2. Videos must be either scientific (demonstrating interesting aspects) or educational (enhancing understanding) with respect to micro- or nanofluidics

3. Videos can be presented in a fun way

4. Videos can be presented in an artistic way

5. Videos can be presented in a surprising or unusual way

6. Videos can be enhanced by audio, animations, or annotations, if necessary

7. Videos should be no longer than 2 minutes each

8. Videos should have a file size less than 25 Mbytes (please use appropriate video compression)

9. Videos must be viewable on a PC without special software (.mpg, .mp4, .mov, .avi or .wmv)

10. Videos can be uploaded between July 25 and October 26, 2015

11. All submissions are submitted on the basis that they may be used by LOC and/or CBMS for promotional purposes in any form

12. Assessment by an international panel of judges will take place at MicroTAS 2015. The judges’ decision will be final, and no discussion will be entertained.

13. The prize will be awarded at MicroTAS 2015, and a written voucher for the equipment will be handed over to the person submitting the winning entry.

Finally, just for a bit of inspiration, here’s a classic Lab on a Chip video from our YouTube channel…enjoy!

The Productizing Science© Competition provides entrants with the opportunity to take advantage of Dolomite’s experience in developing successful scientific products. Entrants were asked to submit an abstract detailing their innovative scientific concept, and an outline of how the concept could be commercially successful.

Out of all the high quality entries received, Zimmertech excelled with their electrochemical sensor development kit. This innovative concept shows real potential for benefiting the microfluidics market and will aid the development of portable hand-held diagnostic devices for disease detection, allowing laboratory-based assays to be performed in the field.

“We are delighted to announce Zimmertech’s Electrochemical sensor development kit as the winner  of the Dolomite and Lab on a Chip‘s Productizing Science® Competition 2015. Zimmertech’s technology will be combined with Dolomite’s outstanding R&D capabilities to develop an easy to use product for rapid investigation of electrochemical sensor concepts and assays.  We look forward to commercialising the product in 2016 and thus truly Productizing Science®.”

Mike Hawes, Chief Commercial Officer, Dolomite Microfluidics

Congratulations to Zimmertech AS and thank you to everyone who took part in the competition!

The µTAS 2015 Conference is featuring an Art in Science competition titled Under the Looking Glass: Art from the World of Small Science

Deadline 26th October 2015 at 23:59 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA time

Since the earliest publications of the scientific world, the aesthetic value of scientific illustrations and images has been critical to many researchers. The illustrations and diagrams of earlier scientists such as Galileo and Da Vinci have become iconic symbols of science and the scientific thought process.

In current scientific literature, many scientists consider the selection of a publication as a “cover article” in a prestigious journal to be very complimentary.

Are you attending the µTAS 2015 Conference?

Would you like your image to be featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip?

Would you like to win a financial reward?

To draw attention to the aesthetic value in scientific illustration while still conveying scientific merit, NIST and Lab On a Chip are sponsoring this annual award. Applications are encouraged from authors in attendance of the µTAS Conference and the winner will be selected by a panel of senior scientists in the field of µTAS.

Applications must show a photograph, micrograph or other accurate representation of a system that would be of interest to the µTAS community and be represented in the final manuscript or presentation given at the Conference.

They must also contain a brief caption that describes the illustration’s content and its scientific merit. The winner will be selected on the basis of aesthetic eye appeal, artistic allure and scientific merit. In addition to having the image featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip, the winner will also receive a financial award at the Conference.

Art Award Submission Process – Easy 3 Step Process

Step 1. Sign-In to the Electronic Form Using Your Abstract/Manuscript Number

Step 2. Fill in Remaining Information on Electronic Submission Form

Step 3. Upload Your Image

To read the full guidelines, please visit the competition website.

Good Luck!

You can also take a look at the winners from last year on our blog.