Footage of zebrafish's 'inner ear' development wins science video prize

The Nikon International Small World Competition announced on April 27 the winners of the fourth annual Nikon Small World in Motion Photomicrography Competition, which aims at bringing to the fore the cutting-edge techniques of scientific imaging. According to the press release, this year's prize was awarded to Dr. Mariana Muzzopappa of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona; and Jim Swoger of the Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, for their “stunning capture of the development of a zebrafish lateral line – a process that could provide insight into curing deafness in humans.” 

The Nikon Small World competition invites entries that comprise “any movie or digital time-lapse photography taken through the microscope and adds a new, distinct discipline to the competition,” which are judged on "the basis of originality, informational content, technical proficiency and visual impact."

The prize-winning time-lapse footage was created by Dr. Muzzopappa and Swoger using an imaging technique called Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy, which uses sheets of lights to illuminate sub-cellular activity. The pair demonstrated the development of the zebrafish lateral line, the human counterpart of the inner ear, which helps the fish sense movement in the water surrounding it. Combining transgenes in the fish and labeling undifferentiated and support cells, they tracked hair cell differentiation in zbrafish throughout a 36-hour timeframe that they presented in this short time-lapse video:

The researchers who were honored with second and third places in the competition for their video entries are Dr. Douglas Clark of Paedia Corporation for a time-lapse look at crystals forming in a single drop of a saturated solution of caffeine in water; and Dr. John Hart, professor emeritus of the University of Colorado, Boulder, for his video of volatile oil film on a water surface, respectively.

Congratulations to all the winners!