Biofilm Photography Competitions 2021: Winners Announced

1st Place: Mark Burton, University of Southampton

’Mirror, Mirror’

This is a close-up image of the biofilm that covers the scales of a Mirror Carp caught by myself, from a private estate lake in Southampton. The mirror carp have beautiful scale patterns that are distinct to each fish. The mucus biofilm that covers the scales can clearly be seen with the reflection of the sky above glistening in the sun, almost acting as a mirror, hence the title Mirror, Mirror. When catching these beautiful fish, the biofilm is preserved by unhooking on padded wet mats and all fish are returned safely to the lakes after photography, as the mucus biofilms are colonised by beneficial bacterial forming a hydrogel interface and favourable microenvironment which support the barrier to the fish from the outside environment.

2nd Place: Callum Highmore, University of Southampton

‘Tiny Kingdom’

I sculpted a landscape out of food (various) and incubated it for a few weeks, adding extra food and spraying with sugary water at different times, to get a range of microbes growing. Image brightness and contrast adjusted slightly.

3rd Place: Jennifer Dewing, University of Southampton

Paint me a ‘Slimescape’

This photograph was taken at a small, quiet lake in Chandlers Ford, Hampshire. At the shallow end of the lake this bright orange ‘slime’ collects along the edges of the water as a result of bacteria that oxidises the iron released from the ground water. The reflection in the water of the blue sky above balances the bright oranges and yellows of the slime.

1st Place: Kiril Kalenderski, University of Nottingham

‘Clinical biomineralized biofilm formed on a urinary catheter device’

A coloured environmental scanning electron microscope image (ESEM) of a biomineralized biofilm formed on a clinical urinary catheter device. Struvite minerals are coloured in orange, apatite minerals are coloured in yellow, and the biofilm structure is coloured in purple. Magnification- 500x. Image Production: Kiril Rosenov Kalenderski and Nicola Weston. Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, University of Nottingham.

2nd Place: Maria Paula Huertas Caycedo, University of Dundee

‘Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation’

Biofilm formation of B. subtilis on LBGM medium.

3rd Place: Kiril Kalenderski, University of Nottingham

‘Struvite and calcium carbonate minerals enmeshed within a urinary catheter biofilm’

Large struvite (yellow) and circular calcium carbonate (orange) minerals enmeshed within a biofilm (purple) formed on a urinary catheter (green). Calcite (calcium carbonate) and struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) are among the most common types of minerals associated with biofilms linked to symptomatic CAUTI manifestations. Magnification: 1000x. Image Production: Kiril Rosenov Kalenderski and Nicola Weston. Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre, University of Nottingham.