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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