MBA microscopy image takes first prize in the Hilda Canter-Lund 2020 image competition

Davis is a MBA PhD student in the Cunliffe Group applying quantitative microscopy tools to investigate the cell biology of aquatic protists. Currently, Davis is investigating the interactions between marine protists and diatoms.

This award was established by the British Phycological Society in recognition of Hilda Canter-Lund, whose stunning photographs will be known to many members.  Her photomicrographs of freshwater algae combined high technical and aesthetic qualities whilst still capturing the quintessence of the organisms she was studying.The BPS Council offers an annual award (presently £250) for a photograph on a phycological theme that best combines these informative, technical and aesthetic qualities. It can be of a micro- or macroalga, marine, freshwater or terrestrial, taken using any photographic medium.'

Follow Davis on Twitter @DavisLaundon

Look out for an article on new technologies in microscopy in the July edition of The Marine Biologist magazine.

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Even the smallest organisms can be a home for others. The thin layer of mucus surrounding phytoplankton cells, known as ‘the phycosphere’, provides a rich microscale habitat for bacterial communities and is an example of the many microbe-microbe interactions that exist throughout the plankton. This example of the phycosphere is from a Coscinodiscus diatom, approximately 90 µm in diameter, isolated from the English Channel (UK) with its associated bacteria. The diatom chloroplasts were imaged using their natural autofluorescence and are shown in red, while Hoechst-labelled DNA, representing the diatom nucleus and phycosphere bacteria, is shown in cyan. This image was taken with a Leica SP8 confocal microscope and is a maximum projection of a z-series. Diatom isolated by Angela Ward (MBA).