Event ASM Agar Art Contest
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2021 ASM Agar Art Contest
1st Place
At first glance, you can see a cluster of waterlilies blooming on clear lakes. But once you have a closer look you will recognize that those lilies are actually microorganisms growing on cystine-lactose-electrolyte-deficient (CLED) agar plates. In fact, they were drawn with Rhodococcus rhodochrous, an orange appearing bacterium which is primarily found in soil and water. It was applied with brushes to achieve the fine strokes in the blossoms. The green pads were realized by making a solution comprising sterile water and Micrococcus luteus and applying it to the agar with a brush as well. The white, fluffy looking parts of the lilies come about due to Geotrichum candidum, a mildew, living in dairy as well as the human buccal mucosa and lungs.
The scientific background behind the yellow parts of the waterlilies is a fascinating discoloration of the CLED agar. Containing the pH sensitive indicator bromothymol blue, which turns yellow at an acid pH, meaning a pH lower than 7, a color shift from blue to yellow is caused by the presence of acids, lactic acid for example. Lactic acid is formed by the well-known bacterium Escherichia coli when fermenting the lactose which is found in the agar. The composition of agar plates was chosen to resemble giant lotus pads swimming on a lake, now creating tiny lakes for the waterlilies themselves. The concept consists of five smaller (9 cm/3,54 in in diameter) and two bigger (14,5 cm/5,71 in in diameter) agar plates. They are sitting on a LED-light plate, providing bright lights from below and accentuating the strokes in the blossoms. Before taking the picture, the plates were incubated for five days at room temperature.
2nd Place
3rd Place
People's Choice
1st Place
Since the COVID pandemic began, every day has brought new challenges. This inspired me to create my piece of agar art to portray the theme of resilience. The symbolism of this creation is twofold. The snail’s shell, with its beautiful spiral curves, is in the shape of a helix. The helix is a traditional symbol of resilience, growth, and evolution. It represents the ability to withstand change by adapting and growing in the face of adversity. While in the midst of the COVID crisis we may have felt at times that we were circling in a vortex with no way out, humankind has persevered and has begun to emerge from this spiral.
The snail itself is also deeply rooted in symbolism. Snails have been traditionally associated with the qualities of wisdom, slow progress, persistence, and patience. Its slow and steady nature have allowed this creature to adapt to many variations in its environment. It is also uniquely able to withstand change by carrying its home on its back. The snail can retreat into its home during times of adversity and then emerge when it feels safe again. Similarly, humans retreated to their homes during the height of the COVID crisis and are now slowly and cautiously re-emerging and striving to get back to normal life.
In this creation, I used CHROMagar Candida plates and created my depiction of a snail using various yeast species. This medium contains substrates linked to colorless molecules which yield a specific color when processed enzymatically by certain yeast species. This helps a microbiologist rapidly identify individual yeast species based on the colony color they display when grown on this agar.
Yeast species are also amazingly adaptable and resilient. Just think about the dried yeast used to make bread. Here is an organism too small to see with the naked eye that is a single cell with no brain and yet can survive extreme drying (where it can sit dormant in a package for at least 2 years) and with a little warm water, comes back to life. Microbes are amazingly resilient! Here’s to hoping the same for humankind!
2nd Place
This mosaic was inspired by monarch butterflies, which symbolize hope and transformation. A large tree teeming with flowers stands to the left, which provides shelter to butterflies when they need to rest or wait for the weather to clear up. Many butterflies are enjoying flight or visiting flowers for nectar. Three caterpillars are resting on a large leaf. Two caterpillars are hungrily eating while a third caterpillar has dropped into its “J” shape, getting ready to pupate. Just behind the striped caterpillars is one that already pupated and is now a chrysalis, representing the first of two dramatic transformations. The oval chrysalis looks like a green jewel sparkling in the sun.
In Hawaii, monarch butterflies are non-migratory, which means they can be found throughout the year. Monarch Butterfly Friends Hawaii was formed as a support group and information resource for Hawaiian residents to protect and nurture these inspiring insects. The frequent rainbows in the sky and unique ecosystem make us feel #luckyweliveinHawaii every day. For our out-of-state collaborators, we are happy to share our year-round experience with monarchs any time!
The artists created their design online using BioArtBot.org—a website that lets anyone make art with biology—and the works were printed with a liquid handling robot at Counter Culture Labs.
3rd Place
Butterflies come in such a variety of colors and sizes showcasing the wonder that nature has to offer. The life cycle of caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly is an amazing awe-inspiring process, with such gorgeous end results. As a pollinator, butterflies are crucial to continued health of our planet. However, as their natural habitat disappears so do the butterflies. Planting a pollinator garden is a great way to build back their natural habitat and brighten up your yard at the same time! Our piece is inspired by the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies we’ve seen visiting our gardens. They are the state butterfly of NC, and their bright yellow color is a wonderful surprise when spotted in your garden.
Not only are butterflies beautiful they are an essential part of our ecosystem. The agar we use in our lab is the same. It is an essential part of our workflow, but it can also be beautiful. This piece is made up of two media types we use in our lab for the isolation of Enteric Pathogens, most commonly Salmonella and Shigella. The Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate (XLD) Agar was used for most of the plates in the piece with Salmonella enterica used for the black colonies, E. coli for the yellow, and Shigella flexneri for the clear/pink colonies. The Brilliant Green agar was used for the chrysalis’s plate and the ‘brilliant’ green color is made with E. coli. Using the different colony appearances, we can pick out the most suspicious colonies to test so we can isolate the pathogen, or we can use the plates to make beautiful art pieces.
People's Choice
1st Place
The artists created their design online using BioArtBot.org - a website that lets anyone make art with biology - and the works were printed with a liquid handling robot at Counter Culture Labs.
2nd Place
1st Place
This piece tries to capture the magic of fluorescence microscopy. As a graduate student who studies marine microbes, I frequently count bacteria and viruses from seawater. In order to see these tiny, microscopic organisms, I stain them with a fluorescent dye. Then, all the microbes will glow bright green under a fluorescence microscope and resemble a starry night sky. In this piece, I adapted that concept and painted the bacteria and viruses using fluorescent paint. In broad daylight, they are difficult to see. However, under a black light, a galaxy of viruses and bacteria illuminate the ocean. Despite the amount of time I spend looking at microscope images, I am always in awe of their beauty. Through this painting, I hope to share the feeling of being immersed in this microscopic universe while conceptualizing fluorescence microscopy.
2nd Place
I was inspired by an ASM talk by Kate Rubins, who was the first person to sequence DNA in space and do remarkable microbiology experiments, pushing the boundaries of what is possible as a microbiologist. Here, old Petri dishes with microbes from Earth's soil are aligned to represent each planet of our solar system. I wonder, what other microbes are out there?
3rd Place
“A Microbial Aquarium” by Yujia Feng from the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada.
To be brutally honest, this piece was made because I heard of the competition on Twitter, and I happened to be taking an intro to microbiology course this year. I decided to combine my knowledge from the course and apply it to this piece, focusing mostly on marine microbes because I've always found it cool to imagine if bacteria were the size of whales.This particular piece features such a concept, using an aquarium full of giant microbes as a showcase. Notable microbes featured are 2 giant Vibrio folgerii, which are found within a certain species of squid and help them glow. These bacteria have 2 chromosomes that are prominently featured in the animation as writhing blobs within the bacteria's cytoplasm along with the ribosomes, a feature shared by other bacteria within the Vibrio genus.
Other notable microbes featured are several colonies of trichodesmium cyanobacteria, which are sitting on the floor of the aquarium; 2 colonies of ambiguous streptococci, 2 colonies of bacilli, many different shapes of diatoms, 1 staphylococcus colony and 4 bacteriophages floating up and down. Of course, we can't forget about the humans sitting in front of the aquarium, who are covered by microbes.
People's Choice
We wish you a healthy and happy 2022 with full of joy of science in advance. This abstract painting agar-plate demonstrates a new-year celebration in front of a Christmas tree on a snowing night. You can watch the beautiful colors and patterns of fireworks created by bacteria on a selective agar plate. Christmas tree microfluidic device, which is a tool to mix 3 different fluids inside the channels, positioned inside the agar layers. Escherichia coli, which is abundant in the environment and the intestines of animals, wanted to join the Christmas party passing through the microfluidic channels. Interestingly, 3 different strains of E. coli refused to mix in the channel and spontaneously spread on the agar plate. Fireworks look great, don’t they? This is what we call a real celebration. Turn the volume up. Enjoy the moment!
1st Place
Hi everyone, my name is Xinyu, and I turn 6 this year. In my world of imagination, microbes looks like monsters and they come in different shape and sizes. Most microbes are essential to life on Earth. However, some of them are harmful to humans, animals and plants and can cause disease. In my art piece, I drew angry microbe monsters to represent microbes that are harmful and friendly microbe monsters to represent microbes that are useful.
2nd Place
3rd Place
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