Spencer Rothfuss, Hannah Collins, and James Hayes are the winners of the 2026 Cell Imaging Shared Resource Life Is Beautiful Image Contest. Their striking images showcase the beauty and complexity of biological structures revealed through advanced microscopy.
The annual Life Is Beautiful Image Contest highlights the stunning scientific imagery captured by researchers using CISR microscopes. Submitted images are evaluated for their scientific technique and aesthetic composition, celebrating the ways microscopy can transform biological research into compelling visual art.
“I’m thrilled to see the variety of microscopy techniques, samples, and research projects represented in this year’s submissions and winners,” Jenny Schafer, managing director of CISR, said. “CISR users are asking questions across scales—we think these beautiful images are a great way to highlight Vanderbilt research!”
First-place winner Rothfuss is a graduate student in the labs of Matthew Tyska, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, and Qiangjun Zhou, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology. Collins, the second-place winner, is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Bruce Carter, the Natalie Overall Warren Professor of Biochemistry. Third-place winner Hayes is a postdoc in the Merryman Mechanobiology Laboratory, led by W. David Merryman, the Walters Family Professor and professor of biomedical engineering.
Here are the 2026 winning images.
First prize: “Nano Snowflake” by Spencer Rothfuss
Rothfuss’ winning image captures a nanoscopic ice crystal that is only 10 microns wide, sitting on a surface of vitreous ice, imaged using the Zeiss Crossbeam Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscope.
Rothfuss was using the Cryo-FIB/SEM to prepare actin networks frozen in vitreous ice for cryogenic electron tomography when the snowflake was accidentally imaged. Because the sample remained submerged in liquid nitrogen until it was loaded onto the Cryo-FIB/SEM, the unusual shape of the crystal offers clues about how it formed.
At liquid nitrogen temperatures (approximately -190°C), water vapor forms spheres of amorphous ice on the sample surface, as can be seen in the background of the image. Hexagonal ice crystals, however, typically form at temperatures above -100 °C. This suggests that the snowflake likely formed on a tool or instrument and fell onto the sample during handling.
What began as an incidental observation during sample preparation became an intricate glimpse of the unexpected structures that can emerge during scientific imaging.
Imaging technique: Electron microscopy
Microscopy technique: Focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy
microscope: Zeiss Crossbeam 550 focused ion beam scanning electron microscope
Second prize: “The Art of Recycling” by Hannah Collins
Collins’ image transforms the cellular landscape of the brain into a pop art–inspired composition centered on repetition, color and renewal.
In the adult mouse brain, you can see CD68+ lysosomes glow within perivascular macrophages, highlighting some of the cellular machinery responsible for engulfing, processing, and recycling material across the blood-brain-barrier. Glial fibrillary acidic protein marks the branching architecture of astrocytes, a type of essential glial cell that wraps around the vasculature in the brain and helps maintain the brain’s homeostasis, nourish and protect neurons, and regulate the local environment.
Dark blue microglial processes stained by IBA1 weave through the surrounding tissue. These immune cells of the central nervous system continuously survey their surroundings and respond to changes in the local environment. Cyan nuclei reveal the densely populated cellular landscape of the brain.
Presented as a repeated, tiled composition reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s pop art aesthetic, the image turns the brain’s continuous processes of maintenance, clearance, and renewal into a visual pattern. The result celebrates the often-unseen cells that maintain the neural environment that allows us to perceive, create, and appreciate art in the first place.
Imaging technique: Light microscopy
Microscopy technique: Fluorescence, confocal
Microscope: Nikon AX confocal microscope with NSPARC detector
Third prize: “Zebrafish embryonic pupil” by James Hayes
Hayes’ image shows the developing pupil of a three-day-old zebrafish embryo using whole-mount immunofluorescence staining. In a whole-mount preparation, the entire embryo is permeabilized and stained, allowing researchers to visualize structures within the intact specimen.
The protein targeted in this image is an actin-bundling protein that localizes to the zebrafish eye during eye development. The developing pupil is brought into focus, with the protein of interest highlighting cell borders. An underlying DAPI stain marks nuclei and contributes to the image’s striking, pseudo-three-dimensional appearance.
The result provides a detailed view of cellular organization during the development of the zebrafish eye while demonstrating the power of confocal microscopy to reveal intricate structures within a whole-mount specimen.
Imaging technique: Light microscopy
Microscopy technique: Fluorescence, confocal
Microscope: Nikon CSU-W1 SoRa spinning disk confocal microscope
About the Cell Imaging Shared Resource
CISR, which is housed within the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, is an institutional, fee-for-service advanced light and electron microscopy resource. It provides Vanderbilt researchers with access to state-of-the-art imaging equipment and expert technical support for sophisticated microscopy and analysis of tissue and cellular anatomy and physiology.
CISR acquires and maintains instruments spanning numerous light and electron microscopy technologies and provides Vanderbilt biomedical researchers with access to advanced imaging capabilities and technical expertise.
The 2026 Life Is Beautiful Image Contest celebrates the researchers who use these technologies not only to advance their scientific investigations, but also to reveal the unexpected beauty found at microscopic scales. From an accidental snowflake preserved in vitreous ice to the intricate cellular architecture of the brain and the developing zebrafish eye, this year’s winning images offer a glimpse into the remarkable visual world uncovered through biomedical research.
The Zeiss Crossbeam was acquired through a National Institutes of Health S10 equipment grant to Matthew Tyska (S10OD028704). The Nikon SoRa was acquired through a National Institute of Mental Health S10 equipment grant to Jenny Schafer (S10MH130456).