Images of Research Competition
2013 COP Image Competition
Competition Rules
The Office of the Dean is pleased to announce 3rd COP’s “Images of Research” competition. The purpose of the competition is to assemble a portfolio of the most innovative and creative images to convey the range and profoundness of research taking place in COP. These images will be used to promote, advance and represent our College both in printed and digital media.
This competition offers COP trainees the opportunity to submit compelling digital images created in the course of their research and is open to any student enrolled in one of the COP programs or postdoc currently working in the College. Between March 25 and April 28, 2013, students and postdocs are invited to submit one image in each of the 2 categories:
After April 29, everyone in the College will be able to review the submissions and vote for the best image. Prizes will be awarded to the top three entries, regardless of a category.
An exhibit of the winning images will be on display on the COP web site. All entries will become property of the College and remain in a College of Pharmacy database. They will be used to promote the College and research going on in the College in both printed and digital media. Competition Guidelines:
The image submission is now over. To view the images and to cast your vote, go to this link. To view an image, click on the link with its name. To vote for an image, scroll down below the image and follow instructions. Please remember you can cast only single vote. The voting ends on Monday, May 13 by 9 am. 2012 Image Competition Winners 203 people voted for the best image in our COP Image Competition. The winners are shown below, with number of votes received in parenthesis. Right click on the image to see the full version. First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mention Honorable Mention 2011 Image Competition Winners 133 people voted for the best image in our inaugural COP Image Competition. The winners are shown below, with number of votes received in parenthesis. One more time, big thanks go to all our undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral trainees who participated and made this first round a success. First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mentions
Heesue Kim, PharmD program (33 votes)
Title: The Needle
The image captures the process of HPLC/MS run. Pre-clinical pharmacokinetic study of newly discovered compound (to be used in anti-bioterrorism) is done by using HPLC/MS machine. Drug concentration is measured to test its microsomal stability.
Ehsan Tavassoli, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy (31 votes)
Title: My Garden of Neurons
The use of transgenic mice and confocal microscopy methods allow for a detailed study of motor neurons (MNs) in health and disease. This image corresponds to a spinal cord section obtained from a transgenic mouse expressing yellow fluorescent protein (YFP). Stained in red by ethidium bromide, nuclei of oligodendrocytes appear as small roses dispersed amongst a garden of YFP-filled axons pseudocolored in green. At the bottom of this image, large tulip-shaped structures corresponding to cell bodies of MNs are stained orange by the combined colors of YFP and ethidum bromide. Thanks to healthy MNs we can enjoy a walk along a beautiful flower garden!
Ja Hye Myung, Biopharmaceutical Sciences (22 votes)
Title: Bloody Heart
More than a few billion hematological cells, such as leukocytes and red blood cells coexist in one milliliter of human blood. Our objective is to capture rare human disease-related cells among one million-one billion hematological cells. While screening the results, we found a heart-shaped leukocyte aggregation next to the captured target cell (a single red cell). This promising result is not only visible to the eye, but also appeals to the heart.
Tristesse Jones, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
Title: Father of Motherwort
This image depicts the pollen grains within the anther of Leonurus cardiaca L. (Lamiaceae), Motherwort, using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). It was used to authenticate the plant species for UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research in Women’s Health. Authentication is necessary to establish whether the examined plant sample is the correct species. The pollen grains are a diagnostic characteristic of this plant. The image shows the dispersal of pollen grains from the anther for pollination of the stigma. “Father of Motherwort” demonstrates how what we see from afar is more dynamic when we examine it closely.
May Fern Toh, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
Title: Joanna's Hands
This image represents the hands behind science that convert ideas into cutting-edge discoveries. It emphasizes science as a team sport and the importance of working together effectively to form the backbone of a successful lab.
Dirim Arslan, Biopharmaceutical Sciences (21 votes)
Title: Infection Day
It was the day for another experiment that was planned weeks ahead which also happened to be the same day of the 2011 Chicago Blizzard. Normally a 10 minute walk to the COP took over 45 minutes under severe weather conditions. This picture was captured right before arriving at the COP behind the frozen doors of CSN Building. And the experiment; it was a success!
My Nguyen and Misuk Bae, Biopharmaceutical Sciences (14 votes)
Title: A Crack of Dawn
The sun rising-like image on the photograph is isolated E.coli colonies grown on an agar plate after being transformed with red fluorescence protein (RFP) plasmid. The research is focused on designing hydrogel microparticles as polynucleic acid delivery system. We choose RFP plasmid as a model polynucleic acid to evaluate the transfection efficiency of hydrogel microparticles. The picture was taken under LED light bulbs in a UIC College of Pharmacy research laboratory. This creation was equally contributed by My Nguyen (undergraduate research assistant, Biology) and Misuk Bae (graduate student, Biopharmaceutical Sciences). RFP plasmid is a generous gift from Professor William Beck.
Hiten Gutka, Pharmacognosy (Biotech) (10 votes)
Title: Crystals--unraveling the secrets of Life
The focus of my research is to study the enzymes that are important in the metabolic pathways of pathogenic bacteria. Insight into the structure and function of such important proteins forms the basis for developing new drugs. Hence the title "Crystals - unraveling the secrets of Life" was chosen. Structural characterization of proteins is performed by X-ray crystallography, wherein the most difficult step is to obtain adequate quality crystals. Crystals of a phosphatase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis are captured here. These crystals were grown following standard crystallization technique (hanging drop vapor diffusion) and images captured on a microscope.
There were three images tied for the 4th place, each receiving 9 votes.
Ja Hye Myung Andrew Newsome Suzanne Quartuccio Nano-rock hits nanowires Natural Blue Martini Damage