Turning the familiar into a new emotional experience
According to Igor Siwanowicz, much of what we see each day in nature can begin to seem commonplace to a lot of us. But when we extend ourselves beyond the naked eye, the natural forms we are familiar with begin to become more abstract—even confusing. When this gap is closed, however, and we begin to experience a connection with natural design on a microscopic level, we can begin to feel a whole new set of emotions. When we lose familiarity, we can gain a whole new perspective.
Siwanowicz, of the United States, was selected as Evident’s 5th Annual Image of the Year Award global winner for his striking cross-section image of a Cosmic Orange Mexican aster flower that vividly depicts pollen grains maturing inside anthers.
In recognition of his grand prize submission, Siwanowicz received an Olympus SZX7 stereo microscope with his choice of a DP23 digital camera or a set of X Line™ objectives.
Congratulations on being named our global winner! What does your winning image show us?
This is a cross-section through a developing floret of a Mexican aster flower known as Cosmic Orange. The yellow pollen grains are contained within four red pollen chambers, or sacs, inside five bilobed anthers. The structure in the center is a developing stigma.
Here’s a brief recap of the anatomy of an aster flower. Each star-shaped flower consists of an “eye” surrounded by petals. Each petal is in fact an individual infertile flower—called a “ray flower”—that doesn’t produce pollen or seeds. The “eye” is formed by tiny disc florets; each of these is also an individual flower that contains both male reproductive parts (stamens, terminating in anthers) and female ones (pistils, with a stigma at the tip). Five stamens surround each pistil, and this whole radial arrangement is in turn wrapped in a tubular corolla consisting of five fused lobes. Each stamen carries a bilobed anther with four pollen sacs.
Evident Image of the Year global winner: Cross-section of a Cosmic Orange aster flower with pollen grains maturing inside anthers. Captured by Igor Siwanowicz of the United States.
What did you find personally exciting about this image?
Natural forms, at every scale, attract my attention and ignite my interest. It has always been like that, since before I can remember. In this case, I was curious to see how the aster florets are organized before the flower opens. I chose the Cosmic Orange variety because it is my favorite component of the seed mix used on the Janelia Research Campus lawns, where I work each day. I really like that shade of orange.
How did you create this image?
To create this image, I used a confocal microscope and a 25X/0.8 NA objective. The image is made of four stitched tiles. I stained the sample with two cellulose-binding dyes, Calcofluor White and Congo Red. To excite their emission and capture autofluorescence of the pollen grains, I used 405, 488 and 561 nm laser lines.
How did you find the floral sample you used to create this image?
That part was very easy—I collected some flower buds on my post-lunch walk around the campus pond.
Did you face any challenges when creating this image?
I am very familiar with the techniques I used to prepare the sample, including agar embedding, vibratome slicing, and clearing with organic solvents. I was lucky to pick the buds at the right stage of development, with the pollen grains almost fully mature but still bound together in a mass. I was most concerned about preserving the integrity of the sample, primarily the possibility of losing all the pollen due to the vibrations of the oscillating blade used to slice the block of agar with the floret embedded in it.
Why did you choose this image as your entry for the competition?
I think that this image shows that the beauty of a common flower that most of us take for granted can extend beyond what we can see with the naked eye.
Is there a message inspired by this image?
I think the above observation holds true for all of biology. The beauty of natural form and design is present on very different scales, almost in a fractal manner. As we get closer, or zoom in, the forms lose familiarity and become more abstract, alien, confusing even. This kind of confusion may become an epistemic emotion—it can lead to learning. This so-called “optimal confusion” causes a certain degree of discomfort—a mental itch that comes with the recognition of a gap in one’s knowledge. It can be scratched however by finding information that will close the gap.
Igor Siwanowicz says he is incredibly lucky to combine his hobby, passion and career, exploring new discoveries and new ways to create art under the microscope on a daily basis.
When did you first learn to use a microscope?
My background is in biochemistry and molecular biology. During my PhD I was using NMR and X-ray crystallography to study interactions between proteins on an atomic level. I felt I was missing the broader context—the bigger picture. Around 17 years ago I decided to change my field of research to one that is more in tune with my interests, and joined a neurobiology lab studying memory formation, consolidation, and retrieval using a fruit fly as a model organism. Eventually, after moving to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Research Campus, I carved my very own niche as a specialist in invertebrate anatomy and microscopy.
What first gave you the idea that microscopes could be used to create art?
An early exposure to illustrated textbooks played a huge role in this. I browsed through them even before I learned how to read. That’s when I first encountered the work of Ernst Haeckel. His Artforms from Nature, a magnificent collection of highly detailed lithographs showing all sorts of life forms, is a great example of the marriage of scientific approach and artistic talent and remains one of my most influential inspirations.
When did you first use a microscope to create a piece of art?
I collected my first dataset with a confocal microscope just for the fun of it shortly after my transition to neurobiology, perhaps around 16 years ago.
Snail tongue (depth color-coded projection of confocal stacks). Image captured by Igor Siwanowicz.
What do you find most fascinating about microscopy?
Microscopy perfectly complements macro-photography, something I’ve been doing for the past 20-something years, and it gives me an even more intimate perspective on natural forms.
Where do you think this fascination stems from?
I think my curiosity and interest in matters of biology came long before any thoughts of an actual career—long before I can even remember! Both nature and nurture contributed to it in my case, as both my parents were biologists.
What do you do professionally?
I am a research scientist at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus and a member of the Project Technical Resources group. We are providing specialized assistance to other teams in our institute. I am now mostly processing 3D anatomy data, although from time to time I am still doing work-related prep and imaging on the confocal microscope.
I added 3D modeling and animation to my toolbox during the 2020 lockdown, learning a bit of Blender, a free open-source 3D creation suite. It turned out that there is demand for my new skill, both in and outside my workplace. We are generating a lot of 3D datasets as an output of light microscopy—confocal or light sheet; micro-computed tomography (µCT) and FIB-SEM tomography. This data can easily be converted into 3D meshes and imported into Blender for further processing and rendering. Using that approach, I am presently constructing anatomical models of a zebra fish larva, a fruit fly, a bee and a mouse.
Does your professional work in imaging intersect with your own artistic work?
There is considerable overlap between my professional and personal interests—I’d say they recently pretty much converged, which is the best possible scenario. I also recently developed certain techniques and protocols for imaging various bits of invertebrate anatomy just for fun, which turned out to be very useful in my work. I do my extracurricular imaging almost every weekend.
What are you currently working on, both professionally and artistically?
These days, I am focused on making an anatomically accurate 3D musculoskeletal model of a fruit fly, complete with all mechanosensory bristles (there are a lot of those, believe me!). Last weekend I was imaging parts of the lesser knotweed flowers—pistils with pollen grains germinating on the stigma.
Photorealistic 3D model of common eastern bumblebee. Created by Igor Siwanowicz.
What kind of experience do you have with Evident and Olympus microscopes?
I generated my very first “artsy” microscopy images on an Olympus FV1000 scope, and one of them won first place in an Olympus Bioscapes contest. It’s a long story, but I most likely wouldn’t be at Janelia right now if that didn’t happen! So yes, my associations with Evident and Olympus and your contests—both Bioscapes and Image of the Year—are very positive. I see a tremendous value in bringing the beauty of nature in all its manifestations to the attention of the broader public. I hope that your contest images will spark interest and evoke feelings of awe and wonder, which are vital states of mind in our human experience.
