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If you do n’t think bacterium are beautiful , think again . This year ’s Agar Art Contest , an one-year competition hosted by the American Society for Microbiology , is the source of some dead on target bug masterpieces . For the contest , microbiologist and artists " paint " strands of bacteria on agar , a gelatinlike substance used to make biological cultures . Here are some of the winners and crowd front-runner from the foreign competitor : [ translate the full narrative about the Agar Art Contest ]
brilliant bacteria
The first place prize in the contest pass to Mehmet Berkmen of New England Biolabs and artist Maria Penil , who used yellow and orange - colored bacteria to paint the nerve cellphone they painted in their submission , call " Neurons . " ( reference : American Society for Microbiology / Mehmet Berkmen and Maria Penil from Massachusetts . )
microbic map
Christine Marizzi submit this intricate mathematical function of New York City , and the interesting composition earned her second place . A community educator , Marizzi worked with citizen scientist and artists at Genspace : New York City ’s Community Biolab to create this street map of the Big Apple . ( Credit : American Society for Microbiology / Christine Marizzi and Genspace : New York City ’s Community Biolab . )
Ode to autumn
Third piazza went to Maria Eugenia Inda , a postdoctoral researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Labs in New York , who created this petri dish chef-d’oeuvre , " Harvest time of year , " using yeast . The bacteria - laden picture feature a diminutive farmhouse palisade by wheat fields . ( acknowledgment : American Society for Microbiology / Maria Eugenia Inda from Argentina . )
People ’s Choice
This entry from Berkmen and Penil ( the same twosome that gain first place in the rivalry ) took home the " Viewers ' Choice " award . ( recognition : American Society for Microbiology / Mehmet Berkmen and Maria Penil from Massachusetts . )
Probiotic picture
These flower bloom are the piece of work of researchers from IPLA - CSIC , a dairy research institute in Spain . The bacteria used to paint the flower is a democratic probiotic , Bifidobacterium animalis subsp . lactis . ( acknowledgment : American Society for Microbiology . )
botanic sunshine
This piece , entitled " Flowering Sunshine , " was resign by Manal Hamed of Qatar . ( credit rating : American Society for Microbiology / Manal Hamed of Qatar . )
cloak-and-dagger garden
This entry , title " The Wild Garden of the Gut Bacteria , " was submitted by Nicola Fawcett of the University of Oxford . Fawcett said she was inspired to create this whirlpool floral piece by the bona fide " garden " of bacteria that lives , you guessed it , in the human gut . ( credit rating : American Society for Microbiology / by Nicola Fawcett of England . )
Microbe master key
Just when you thought Vincent van Gogh ’s " The Starry Night " could n’t get any more beautiful , someone go and recreates this masterpiece out of bacterium . Melanie Sullivan , a researcher at the Washington University School of Medicine , paint these petri dishes using a miscellany of bacteria , including one — Acinetobacter baumanii — that can be harmful to people with weakened immune systems . ( Credit : American Society for Microbiology / Melanie Sullivan of Missouri . )
Viral art
Submitted by Paul Rowley of the University of Colorado , Boulder , this geometrically themed slice shows virus particles . The physical body were painted using a strain of barm calledS.cerevisiae , which was infected with a computer virus called L - A. ( Credit : American Society for Microbiology / Paul Rowley of Colorado . )
