ASM's 2021 Agar Art Contest will open for submissions in September.

Traditional Category

1^st Place

"A colleague of mine once said that a microbiologist is like a gardener.  Just like a gardener uses seeds, soil, and water to grow flowers and plants, a microbiologist uses microorganisms, like bacteria and yeast, to grow them in nutrient-filled agar petri dishes.  And just like a garden showcases a variety of flowers, a chromogenic agar medium displays a colorful variety of Candida species.  A CHROM Candida is an agar medium containing chromogenic substrates that selects for Candida species and differentiates them based on the differences in colony morphology and color.  Yeasts have specific enzymes that degrades the substrates which releases different colored compounds into the agar.  The leaves and the grape vines are colonies of Candida albicans and Candida dubliniensis that appear green and metallic green on chromagar.  Candida tropicalis colonies appear blue as seen on the gardener's hat and watering pot.  The pink apron and pink flowers are from Candida krusei.  The grapes are the lavender and mauve colonies of Candida glabrata.  While the gardener's white dress is Candida parapsilosis.  Chromagar is a useful tool in the identification of Candida species.  Plus, its vibrant colors brightens one's day, just like a garden!"

2^nd Place

"Peacock is the national bird of India. It represents regality, beauty, prosperity, harmony, and optimism. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and exotic creations of nature. Various traditional art forms in India are inspired by the magnificent symmetric arrangement of the peacock's plumage and its flexible neck.   An integration of these traditional art forms with agar art is being presented through this "Microbial peacock."  Here, the body of the peacock is made of Escherichia coli; and the individual tail feathers are an alternate arrangement between Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, the two most commonly encountered human pathogens. The small colonies around the head of the peacock and the eyeball are made of Enterococcus faecalis, a gut bacterium that produces tiny and distinct colonies."

3^rd Place

"At Galapagos Islands near a little country named Ecuador, a blue and green pastel color like Candida Chromogenic sea, hides a spotted eagle ray. This gorgeous creature swims in total freedom and softly glides across the water.  Its body is painted in blue C. tropicalis and green C. albicans which make a splashed pattern of colorfully bright green spots.  This spotted ray pectoral fins´ look like an eagle wings moving graciously in the water.  Unfortunately, as beautiful as this ray is, it is considered near threatened on the IUCN red list.   Sometimes when it migrates in search of food out of Galapagos Islands, the eagle ray also can be seen swimming near different types of algae, which are represented in this Micro-Nature. The first one at the right side is Gelidium Corneum alga, painted with C. krusei. The alga is used to make agar-agar, one important component of culture media. In addition, it is also employed in both pharmaceutical and food industry. The other alga Asparagopsis Armata is commonly known as Harpoon Weed red alga, painted with a mixture of C. glabrata and C. parapsilosis.   This Harpoon Weed alga is also used to make agar for human consume, cosmetical products and others.   The sea floor is softly painted with C. albicans.  On the whole, this living microorganism’s art, shows the strong connection between the living Candida and the culture media, as well as, in the marine life different organisms interact with each other!"

People's Choice

"This piece is a memorable to me because the wolf represents my girlfriend. Her last name is “lubo” which sounds like “lobo”, meaning "wolf" in the Filipino language. I made this because each time I see a wolf I remember every moment we spent together. The full moon represents the distance and nights we have wait before we can see each other again. Reason being, we are in a long distance relationship. I chose the moon because I only get to see her one month in a year during the school vacation.  The agar I used was Baird Parker agar (BPA). BPA was poured in an A4 container so that I have a bigger freedom to draw. I used this agar because the yellow BPA gives a perfect contrast against the black wolf drawn using Staphylococcus aureus. The shine effect was caused by a yellow light and taken in a dark room environment, giving BPA a natural glow. Lithium chloride and potassium tellurite act as selective agents in BPA. Egg yolk is the substrate to detect lecithinase production and lipase activity. S. aureus develops dark grey to black colonies due to tellurite reduction. S. aureus also produces lecithinase which break down the egg yolk, forming clear zones around the colonies. An opaque zone of precipitation may also grow due to lipase activity."

Open Category

1^st Place

"'Strands of Antisense' is an abstracted artwork of the skin microbiome. A microbiome is defined as the collective genetic material of all the microbes that live inside and on the human body. The piece itself was partially created using natural stains from various fruits and vegetables which all have their own individual microbiomes. In a lab environment, scientists use agar plates to isolate and identify specific cultures of bacteria. That said, a square centimeter of skin alone houses over one billion microorganisms including a wide variety of fungus, viruses and bacteria. Despite all of the hand washing, sanitizing and bathing humans do, we still have 10 times as many microbial cells as human cells throughout our body at any given moment. The world of microbes is ruled by form and function. Complex interactions that may seem insignificant at first, but are integral to the human body. I believe there is beauty to be found in the unseen."

2^nd Place

"Fungi play important roles in many aspects of human life, including medicine, food, and agriculture. A one health approach recognizes that people, animals, and the environment are interconnected. This clay sculpture represents the interconnection between clay a fine-grained natural soil material (the environment) and human mycosis. Clay develops plasticity when wet, as well as Aspergillus, Penicillum, Rhizopus, and Fusarium can cause invasive infection after a flood or as Fusarium can cause opportunistic infection in aquatic animals. Sculpting is the art of shaping and carving a moldable material, in a similar way mould species are able to form biofilms that contribute to persistent infection. In recent years it has been recognized the role of the environment and fungicides in the patient response to antifungals drugs.  Is time to develop interdisciplinarity research studies where animals, plants, and human disease interactions can be explored through coordination and collaborative actions, and as in clay call all actors to sculpture and shape a one health approach."

3^rd Place

"The '12 Days of Agar Art' is a fun spin on the traditional Christmas carol "The 12 Days of Christmas." In this cumulative music video, we introduce a new concept in microbiology for each new day. All the images were created with Agar Art using the bioluminescent (glowing) bacterium Photobacterium leiognathi, which is presented on Day 1. This bacterium produces a blue hue bioluminescence, some of the agar art images were false-colored for festive fun. This fun music video helps to show the diversity and beautiful side of microbes."

People's Choice (image)

"This masterpiece was inspired by the rose in “Beauty and the Beast”. It was a memorable moment driven from my childhood as it was one of the first cartoons that I could recall. It is such an honor to be able to display and share my childhood to everyone in this agar art contest. Reason being, this cartoon was so dear to me as I used to watch it with my mom before she became a single parent and had to work for us. It was a time when she was still a homemaker and the moments were so precious to me. The agar that I used for this project is nutrient agar, dyed pink for the rose and green for the fallen leaves. The bacteria I used for this project is a Gram positive, orange bacteria where I got from environmental sampling. The bacteria is perfect to outline the leaf veins. Furthermore I used a flower mould and a strong metal coil to hold the agar and make it look like a rose. I also used a glass container and led lights to give it a magical and mystical look. Finally the photo was taken inside a black box with yellow light giving it a glowing effect."

People's Choice (video)

"Just before quarantine, I started my biggest hand embroidery project to date the pandemic shirt. I painstakingly embroidered depictions of 41 bacteria, viruses, prions, and other disease-causing microbes. I chose each microbe based on its shape (for visual appeal) and pathogenicity (for cool factor). The complete list of microbes presented on the shirt is in the YouTube description box, but a few examples include the following. Ebola, a flavivirus that has a 98-99% death rate in infected humans and also has a really interesting shape. Vibrio cholera, Camplobacter jejuni, and Clostridioides difficile which I embroidered on the bottom of the back half of the shirt because they cause gastrointestinal stress. The general diseases syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea which were placed on the bottom front or back of the shirt. I also included COVID-19 on the arm of the shirt along with Polio and Dengue virus. I thought they kind of looked like Army badges. On the other arm of the shirt I embroidered the words "WASH YOUR HANDS" as a friendly reminder for all of us during this time. For most of the embroideries I used a satin stitch (a filler stitch, similar to coloring) to fill in the shape, but in the case of Strep throat I used hundreds of French knots to give the piece a 3D effect and some texture. I also carefully chose colors for each embroidery so the shirt would feel colorful and bright, but also if I thought a particular color would be funny or interesting. Black Plague for example was stitched entirely in black thread while Yellow Fever has a prodomint yellow palette. I also used split stitches and whipped back stitches to create flowy flagella for pieces such as Helicobacter pylori or Proteus mirabellus. I have wanted to make a piece like this for years, but it wasn't until quarantine (when I had lots of extra time on my hands) that I actually got to do it. I have been fascinated by germs and microbes ever since I was a child. It's one of the biggest reasons I got in to science in the first place. This shirt is my way to show the world how fascinating and beautiful microbes are. They are each unique and fascinating, even if they aren't always pleasant when we get them. I hope that by wearing this shirt I will get the opportunity to talk with new people about the beauty of the microbes in the world."


 

Kids

1^st Place- Traditional Category

"The goal of this work was to demonstrate kids what they have in their nose. How many times have we seen a kid putting the finger on their nose and then touching their food, or carry on playing like if nothing happened? Ariana Gestal Gurr wanted to know what is in her nose and for that she put the finger in her nose and drew a heart because "she loves the good microbes". The day after I showed her what she had in her nose and she said "Oh, mommy that's nasty". We talked about the good guys, the microbiota that helps you to prevent disease, that helps you to be strong, and powerful like a superhero. Then we talked about bad guys and how they can take over and kick the good guys so that they can make you sick. She has stopped putting fingers in her nose and now she is constantly washing her hands."

2^nd Place- Traditional Category

"Aziliz is 5 years old. She is intrigued by microbes and dinosaurs. This is her very first streak plate. She combined her two passions and used microbes (the tiniest living things on earth) to create a dinosaur (the most gigantic creature that has ever lived). In her work, a red dinosaur (made with Serratia marcescens) is staring at the orange sky at sunset (created with a blend of Serratia marcescens and Micrococcus luteus)."

1^st Place- Open Category

"I drew many different types of microbes, they come in all different colors, shapes, and sizes. Each microbe has a different job, some are like doctors, some are like fighters, and some are not nice to other microbes. They all live together in one place, doing their own job like artists work to mix paints and make new colors."
 

 

Professional Category

1^st Place

"On the plate is a simple portrait of a Koi fish with a lotus flower. However, hidden within the lines are nine different organisms used to bring the picture to life. The lotus flower is made of Micrococcus luteus as a starting point for the center of the flower. Radiating out of it are petals made of Escherichia coli outlined with Staphylococcus saprophyticus to add depth and color to each individual stroke. Surrounding it is a lotus leaf thick like the organism it is made of, Proteus vulgaris. The Koi, on the other hand, is made of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a mucoid and almost metallic organism, the color of which is enhanced with Staphylococcus aureus which outlines each individual scale and gives shape to the body. A subtle orange tinge was given to the fins with Proteus mirabilis while the eyes are a piercing metallic blue haloed with red that is created by Citrobacter freundii. To encompass it all in calm blue water is Enterococcus faecalis."

2^nd Place (tie)

"Ruth Bader Ginsburg (R.B.G.) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In her 60-year legal career she has tirelessly fought for women’s rights and gender equality. From her humble upbringing in Brooklyn New York, to breaking down barriers on her path to serving as an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court for over 25 years, Ruth Bader Ginsburg rightfully has become known as the Notorious RBG. This agar art portrait of R.B.G., with her iconic lace collar and dark-rimmed glasses, was painted on V.R.B.G. agar media (which is an acronym for the components in the media which include the dye Violet Red, Bile, and the sugar Glucose). This media is typically used to selectively grow Gram-negative bacteria and assess if they can metabolize, through fermentation, the sugar glucose. Bacteria that can ferment glucose will produce acidic products which will turn the media bright pink. The microorganism used to paint this portrait was the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, strain K-12. Typically, this bacterium looks white; however, as it can ferment the glucose in the media, it appears bright pink on this V.R.B.G. agar plate."

"Ablution means “to wash away”. It also means ritual washing associated with religious observance. In hot, arid and water-stressed region like Middle East urinary tract infection (UTI) is common. So one must not only wash externally but drink plenty of water too. Hydration is key in preventing UTI. For this reason I depicted desert, camel and date tree representing landscape of Middle East. I chose CLED agar used in isolating and enumerating bacteria in urine. Desert is Staphylococcus aureus, causing UTI among patients with urinary tract catheterization. Camel is Escherichia coli. E.coli-caused UTIs occur in the lower urinary tract or even to the kidneys. Trunk of the tree Providencia stuartii, opportunistic pathogen seen in patients with severe burns or long-term indwelling urinary catheters. Leaves are Proteus mirabilis, frequently pathogen of urinary tract, particularly in patients undergoing long-term catheterization. CLED agar is electrolyte deficient which suppress the swarming of Proteus. However in this art I incubated the agar at 36°C for 18hrs then further 24hrs at 4°C. Swarming still occurs if incubated too long but at lower temperature swarming is slow, my purpose for this art. I wanted a bit of swarming to look like leaves of the palm tree."

3^rd Place

"This 3D agar art represents a volcanic eruption on an island, spewing lava down the mountainside towards the beach, surrounded by corals. The red corals surrounding the island have been made with a microorganism isolated from food, incubated on PCA medium dyed with Brilliant Blue colorant. The volcanic mountain is made of PDA medium shaped as a mountain, inoculated with the mould Cladosporium cladosporioides. The lava spouting forth from the crater was made by dropping agar stained with red food colouring. The idyllic beach at the foot of the volcano was made by pouring the beige-coloured spores of the mould Aspergillus ochraceus."

People's Choice

"Hungarian folk art occupies an important space in the country's culture: colorful embroidery, pottery, lace produced by craftsmen are displayed in museums or you can see them everywhere in the countryside. These masterpieces can be so colorful and amazing like bacteria on chromogenic agar plates. When I was a child I attended folk dance classes and it was a great experience when we could put the beautifully embroidered clothes on. I tried to give something back from that feeling through this artwork."

All 2019 Professional Finalists

Maker Category

1^st Place

"My piece is a bacterial self-portrait, utilizing both Serratia (red) and Micrococcus (yellow) bacteria. I was only given 4 bacterial species to work into my design. This piece was made possible with the help of my school's Biology department. I am a Digital Media Arts student at Prairie View A&M University, and through this project we were able to connect the worlds of design and microbiology. It was an overall great experience and a really cool medium to use in design!"

2^nd Place

"I recently discovered that from around 30 trillion cells in the human body—less than a third—are human. The other 70-90% are bacterial and fungal and, ninety-nine per cent of the unique genes in the human body are bacterial. Only about one per cent is human. Ironically, there is a negative stigma associated with bacteria, and many people are afraid of bacteria and fungus even though our bodies are covered by the same. After news of E-coli found in McDonald's lettuce broke out, people became terrified of it even though most E. coli are harmless and are an essential component of a healthy human intestinal tract. To create my piece, I used e.coli with a plasmid containing LacZ and Kanamycin resistance. The woman in this image is formed by bacteria, as is the bird on her knee, her shoes, her clothes and the environment surrounding them. This piece will either help lessen the stigma associated with bacteria or induce a panic attack for germaphobes."

3^rd Place

"Our agonised face seems like this on Monday morning as symbolising the anxiety of the lab staff. We tried to copy the famous panting of Edvard Munch with these colorful bacteria colonies."

Kids Category

1^st Place

"In this world, it seems like we all live in different places, cities, or countries, but in reality, we all live in the same world with plants, animals, and microorganisms. The houses and buildings symbolize humans, nowadays, we all seem to be inside tall buildings sitting in front of computers all day, not going outside. The flowers represent plant life, the ones that provide us with oxygen and we provide with CO₂. The little squiggle on the side stands for the animals and microorganisms, animals are a food source for us, and when they die, their bodies can provide nutrients for the plants that grow in that soil following them."

2^nd Place

"Manal loves honey bees and so do most kids! They love its shape, colour and of course the most delicious thing out there that it makes for us all - honey! It lives next to flowers and gardens which adds a beautiful context to where they live and also to what Manal sketches in her note book. Honey bees make large colonies and are responsible for pollination which lies at the basis of not just all the food we get but also the very process of evolution. Honey bees also find a special place in medieval books and sacred texts, including the Quran, Bible and Rigveda. Honey bees represent giving and doing good. Manal gets excited whenever she hears about it. Honey bees is only what she could think of when we gave her an agar plate."

3^rd Place

"microbes living on the surface of leaves at the beginning of the fall season"

Professional Category

1^st Place

"On the picture is shown the battle of two microbes, as the battle of two seasons. On one side Staphylococcus, white as winter snow and Bacillus mycoides, they grow fast and cover every other microbes, but when they meet beautiful spring flowers, made by Serratia marcescens, they retreat, because antibiotic, produced by Serratia inhibit their growth. They melt, as warmth of the spring melts the snow; on other side of the plate spring wins, flowers of resistant Micrococcus, Rhodotorula and their mix are growing, as after winter always comes the spring and nature awakes."

2^nd Place

"This is my ode to the Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh. It has often been speculated that Van Gogh suffered from a condition called Xanthopsia, an extreme vision bias for yellow. It is also told that during his illness he had painted one of the most celebrated masterpieces in yellow, Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers. If we were to turn our attention to the microbial world, the color yellow or golden resonates with none other than Staphylococccus aureus. I have used a multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolate collected from the nasopharynx of a preterm neonate to paint my own version of 'Vase with Sunflowers' in Mannitol salt agar. I definitely want to contribute to the prevention of antimicrobial resistance through research, but, I also hope to increase awareness about antimicrobial resistance among the general population in my country through microbial art. I would like to start by conversing with school-going children using visuals and agar art to convey the ill effects of antibiotic overuse. Once convinced, these children would go back home and convince their families to listen, comprehend and stop the rampant use of over-the-counter antibiotics."

3^rd Place

"This bacterial agar art was made from two petri dishes representing the microbial communication between the mother and the child within her womb, connected by a red string. Microbes were isolated from the artist Maria Peñil, by pressing an agar plate on to her breast. Unidentified pink colonies isolated around the nipple area were used to draw the pink hues around the membrane glands, while recombinant E. coli expressing the violacein biosynthetic pathway were used to draw the dark-violet mammary glands. The yellow hues are Nesterenkonia, the orange placenta is Deinococcus radiodurans while the red embryo and the red nipple is Serratia marcenses. Intriguingly, the white Bacillus at the edges of womb were isolated from the hand of the 1-year old daughter of the artist, continuing the microbial connection between the mother and the child."

People's Choice

"Salmonellosis is among the most common foodborne diseases, with millions of human cases occurring worldwide every year. Outbreaks of Salmonella Typhimurium infections in humans are linked to intake of contaminated food products from poultry, cattle and pigs, fresh vegetables and fruits. In order to see these “invisible” microorganisms, scientists use petri dishes with agar media to grow bacteria and see them in a macroscopic way, known as a bacterial colony. In this artwork, María Laura Echarren, a student of my group, used wild type Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (stars) and genetically modified Salmonella strains expressing a green-fluorescence protein (constellations). The stars were created by plating diluted media onto an agar plate and constellations were print with minidroplets of media. Each dot is a separate bacteria colony, visualized under UV-light. North Hemisphere shows: Leo, Pegasus, Ursa Minor. And South hemisphere: Orion, Sourthen Crux, Phoenix. Because we are microscopic in the immensity of the universe, like bacteria are for us, she got inspired to create this micro-universe of Salmonella constellations."

All 2018 Professional Finalists

Maker Category

1^st Place

"Vibrant and vigorous Serratia marcescens is always a favorite of the agar art aficionados. This bacterium changes color depending on its environment, and age of the culture. Here it's in vibrant orange with a dark red fringe and purple halo. On soft agar, its tentacles will swarm all across the plate - rather like the octopus of the microbial world..."

2^nd Place

"Barack Obama's presidential campaign inspired me to become involved in my community. While in graduate school, I was a passionate advocate for scientists, science outreach, and science communication. Now I continue this work as a science policy advocate with ASBMB. This agar art depicts President Obama's official portrait, so different from his predecessors in so many ways. This work represents my passion for art, science, advocacy, and hope that any "skinny kid with a funny name" can inspire so much change."

3^rd Place

Kids Category

1^st Place

"One day there were two people on a safari. As they walked through the tall African grasses they came upon an area that was so thick and tall that the two travelers immediately knew they had to go around the area. Suddenly a magnificent butterfly flew out of the tall grasses and seemed to take a look around, once it spotted the two travelers, it quickly dove back into the grass."

2^nd Place

"Blue Tulip in a field of daisies."

 

3^rd Place

1^st Place

"This image of a sunset in Montauk (The End), New York, was created by "printing" nanodroplets of media containing baker's yeast with pigment-encoding plasmids (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) onto a large agar plate (12cm by 8cm). Each dot is a separate yeast colony. The image is printed pixel by pixel, generating a composite image which we term "biopointillism". The colonies grow to create the image and the pigments slowly develop over days or weeks. The different colored yeast strains were constructed by genetically engineering the yeast to produce pigments naturally made by bacteria, fungi, coral and anemones. This method allows for up to 24,576 biopixels per image, yielding intricate designs and details. Using genes from other organisms to make biological compounds paves the way toward harnessing yeast in the production of other useful molecules, from food to fuels and drugs."

2^nd Place

"Coral reefs are underwater ecosystems that host an array of organisms. A diversity of bacterial communities can be found in corals, but trying to identify these bacteria have been hampered due to their large numbers. These bacteria help the coral by providing nutrients and producing antimicrobial agents against infections caused by potential pathogens. 

We chose CLED agar as our canvas to mimic water. Serratia marcescens was used for our purple sea fans and Caulerpa. S. marcescens is not only an opportunistic pathogen in humans, but also causes “white pox” in Elkhorn coral. Staphylococcus aureus was used for our brain coral, a pathogen that causes a wide range of infections (e.g., abscesses, endocarditis) and can be found in contaminated water.  The white coral are Candida tropicalis that illustrate coral bleaching that has become more prevalent due to climate change.  

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a commonly isolated pathogen in healthy and immunocompromised hosts but ubiquitous in the environment. Plasmids carrying multi-drug resistance genes, and hypervirulent strains causing serious, life-threatening infections are being increasingly recognized. Within this picture there is a mucoid bacilli that is strategically placed within one of the plates. Can you find it?"

All 2017 Finalists

3^rd Place

"For this painting I used microbes and fungi on Brain-Heart infusion agar. The white color, which is on the face and the dress of the girl and the boy, is Staphylococcus epidermidis.It is a part of the normal human flora, typically, the skin flora, Iisolated them from my own skin. The pink color of the girl’s dress and the tree flowers is by made of the Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, it’s a common environmental inhabitant. It can be isolated  from soil,  milk, and air samples. I have got it from air. Rhodotorula can cause disease  in immunosuppressed people. The yellow color of the lady’s hair is Micrococcus luteus, it is urease and catalase positive. An obligate aerobic microbe, M. luteus is found in soil, water, air and as part of the normal flora of the mammalian skin. The green is Xanthomonas axonopodis. Xanthomonas are exclusively pathogenic to a large group of plants, such as citrus trees, cotton, beans, and grapes. I got the other colors by doing the following: first of all I put Rhodotorula mucilaginosa on petri dish and waited until it grew. Then I added Micrococcus luteus and in the end - Staphylococcus epidermidis, since it grows faster than other microbes and fungi."

People's Choice

"We have used chromogenic media (HiCrome M1353). The Streptococcus faecalis breaks down the chromogenic substrate, specifically and the blue-colored chromophore is liberated. This blue color is imparted to the colony & slightly diffuses. This creates a shade of blue on the light colored background of the medium, the colonies are very distinctly visible."

1^st Place

"Fertilization is the first competitive event of plants and animal life. It is a process involving the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote. Millions of spermatozoa race and compete to be the first to penetrate the egg, but only one of them finally meet the egg and create zygote leading to the development of embryo. 

In this artwork, I used four bacteria as paint and a selective agar medium as canvas. The red colored paint was Staphylococcus aureus, which is an opportunistic pathogen in both humans and animals. The green color was Staphylococcus xylosus, is a commensal organism in human skin, and the white was Staphylococcus hyicus, an animal pathogen responsible for grassy pig disease. The yellow colored organism was Corynebacterium glutamicum, a non-pathogenic but industrially important bacterium for production of amino acids such as L-glutamate and L-lysine. Other colors were from mixture of two or more of these four organisms."

2^nd Place

"Some Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are referred to as MRSA  since they are resistant to methicillin and other antibiotics. These “superbugs” are real threats to human and animal health. Staphylococci possess an enzyme, called catalase, which converts hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. In particular, the MRSA isolated in our lab was grown on agar and then treated with hydrogen peroxide to produce a foam (i.e., oxygen production). The catalase-positive MRSA was therefore used to evoke a beer through its image. Our piece of Agar Art  took inspiration from the scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski (“The map is not the territory it represents”, 1931) and from the surrealist painter René Magritte who drew a pipe with the caption Ceci n’est pas une pipe meaning that  the image of the pipe is not a pipe (The Treachery of Images, 1928-1929). The work presented here stems from a simple catalase reaction; nonetheless it expands Korzybski’s and Magritte’s work to the bacterial world. It also represents our attempt to reach a synthesis between Science and Abstraction, Metalanguage and Microbiology.  The Agar Art plate was prepared during a Microbiology Class addressed to High School Students  from Liceo Enrico Fermi and Liceo Gaetano Salvemini, Bari, Italy."

All 2016 Finalists

3^rd Place

"Microbial pathogens were painted with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli MG1655 on Hektoen enteric agar to yield black and yellow colonies, respectively. Salmonella spp. produce hydrogen sulfide which precipitates thiosulfate and ferric ammonium citrate in plates. E. coli ferments sugars and acidifies the agar, causing the yellow color change. Salmonella spp. and E. coli are enteric pathogens, although they can be a part of normal microflora in some species. Microbes are often in balance with their environment and other pathogens, but to everything there is a season and outbreaks occur every year. We designed a 12-year calendar which represents significant human outbreaks that occurred from 2005-2016. Although pathogenic, some of the depicted organisms can be beneficial for humans. For example, Salmonella spp. have the potential to be used as new treatments for some cancers and E. coli produces vitamins K and B6 in the intestine of mammals. Thus this work represents the delicate balance of microbes, their hosts and the environment."

People's Choice

"Bacteria can produce biofilm formation when they under threat like hostile immune system in order to protect themselves  from harmful conditions. When it happens, a differentiation  of the gene regulation reflects as a change in behaviour. To this end, individuals must behave not only for their but also the group’s benefits . Some members of the company don’t make an effort for the construction of biofilm but they still bask protection of it.
This strategy seen in wolves that hunt together. When the game begins, some wolves are more active to get the prey and take more risks whereas the others spend less energy but at the end, all members of pack shares the food."

1^st Place

"Neurons and biological shapes is a common theme in the works of the artist Maria Penil. Here she painted with yellow Nesterenkonia, orange Deinococcus and Sphingomonas isolated for their attractive colors as contaminants in the Berkmen lab. After growing the plates for 2 days at 30^oC, the artist usually lets the plate sit for few more days before permanently sealing the work in epoxy."

2^nd Place

"Microorganisms reside everywhere, yet they are too small to be seen with the human eye. New York City (NYC) is a melting pot of cultures - both human and microbial - and every citizen has a personalized microbiome. Collectively, we shape NYC’s microbiome by our lifestyle choices, and this unseen microbial world significantly impacts us. 

The Urban Biome Map is a collaborative project between citizen scientists and artists, aiming to make the invisible visible and to raise awareness for the urban microbiome to the general public in a fun hands-on activity. 

We invited the public to learn about microbes by creating a city map using harmless Escherichia coli K12 bacteria engineered with colorful fluorescent proteins like GFP, RFP or YFP as paint. More than fifty participants applied bacterial suspension cultures onto square petri plates containing standard LB selection media. The plates were prepared with stencils of NYC’s street grid, allowing participants to paint the bacteria into the patterns. After a short incubation time, participants returned to print the grown colonies on paper. The bacterial prints were reassembled into the map of NYC, blending the individual prints into a collective artwork and creating an everlasting microbial map of NYC."

All 2015 Entries

3^rd Place

"Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast. It is the active agent responsible for our most basic foods - bread, wine, and beer since ancient civilizations. It has been long since humans have tried to understand how to make them more productive. However, it was not until the Genomic Era that this organism has been thoroughly studied, leading us to the “Harvest Season” of Yeast knowledge, now. This is one of the most intensively studied eukaryotic model organisms in molecular and cell biology, much like Escherichia coli as the model bacterium. Many proteins important in human biology were first discovered by studying their homologs in yeast; these proteins include cell cycle proteins, signaling proteins, and protein-processing. The organism used for this piece of art were metabolically engineered on the b-carotene pathway, resulting in a color palette of colonies of our choice, from yellow to red. The painting depicts a humble farmhouse with the wheat production laced in the countryyard.  Amazed by the plasticity of this organism for engineering during the Yeast Genetics & Genomics Summer Course at CSHL I got inspired to paint this agar with the message: “Look at the Yeast field, for they are already white for harvest!”."

People's Choice

"This work by the artist Maria Penil brings the communicative microscopic world to our macroscopic visual delight. In what appears to be a red Serratia cell communicating with a yellow Nesterenkonia, fine tendrils of orange Deinococcus and Sphingomonas reach out for each other as if to say "now this is what I call a winner of Agar Art Competition"."