To draw attention to the aesthetic value in scientific illustrations while still conveying scientific merit, the µTAS Conference features an award titled, “Under the Looking Glass: Art from the World of Small Science” sponsored by NIST and Lab on a Chip. Applications are encouraged from any person attending the µTAS Conference and the winner will be selected by a panel of senior scientists in the field of µTAS.
Maria Cristina Letizia, EPFL, SWITZERLAND
Art in Science 2017 Award Winner: This image was obtained during the filling of microfluidic chambers with Pluronic F-127 with the purpose of functionalizing the chip.
Vaibhav Jain, Purdue University, USA
Art in Science 2016 Award Winner: The Rising Sun. Dark field micrograph of sweat advancing in a paper channel dyed with Cobalt chloride dehydrate (Blueish), changing it to cobalt chloride hexahydrate (Reddish orange).
Matteo Cornaglia, EPFL, SWITZERLAND
Art in Science 2015 Award Winner: Through Warhol’s Eyepiece by Matteo Cornaglia. 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.
David Castro, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, SAUDI ARABIA
Art in Science 2014 Award Winner: Al Kora, The Sphere by David Castro. Top view of a rotating ~40 uL aqueous droplet, suspended at the interface between two fluids (perfluorohexane and mineral oil) inside a square cuvette. The droplet contains an assay of functionalized latex beads, agglutinating in the presence of human C-reactive protein. Photograph by David Castro and David Conchouso.
Ye Wang, Eindhoven University, THE NETHERLANDS
Art in Science 2013 Award Winner: Structure and rheology of complex fluids by Ye Wang. Artificial cilia (microhairs) made with Polydimethylsiloxane and magnetic nanoparticles using a glass mold made by femtolaser modification and hydrofluoric acid etching.
Yi Zhang, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Art in Science 2012 Award Winner: Stretching the Rainbow by Yi Zhang. A tiny water droplet held in place by surface energy traps and stretched using a magnetic field to pull on magnetic particles within it.
Dong Jin Shin, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Art in Science 2011 Award Winner: Yin and Yang in a Droplet by Dong Jin Shin. A snapshot of the mixing of two types of quantum dot solutions inside a sessile droplet driven by a microfluidic magnetic gyromixer.
Nicholas Gunn, University of California, Irvine, USA
Art in Science 2010 Award Winner: Cell Block 9 by Nicolas Gunn. A colorized SEM micrograph showing fibroblast cells cultured on microscale pedestals.
Jungkwun Kim, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, USA
Art in Science 2009 Award Winner: Micro world: united we stand by Jungkwun Kim and Yong Kyu Yoon. SU-8 shapes defined by multi- directional ultraviolet lithography, where glass with a pre-patterned chromium layer is used as a photomask as well as a substrate.
Yu-Wen Huang, Texas A&M University, USA
Art in Science 2008 Award Winner: City Lights by Yu-Wen Huang. The image is a micro- graph of a solution of unlabelled double-stranded DNA, electrophoretically concentrated near a 50 mm-wide electrode.