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Meet the winner of Nikon's Small World in Motion video contest

Meet the winner of Nikon's Small World in Motion video contest

Summary

Ning Xu, an optical engineer from China, won Nikon’s Small World in Motion video contest with a high-resolution video showing abnormal movement of tiny hairlike structures called cilia in the airways of a child with a rare genetic disorder. The contest highlights detailed images and videos made through microscopes.

Key Facts

  • Ning Xu works at Tsinghua University in Beijing and uses advanced microscopy to observe living cells.
  • The winning video shows cilia movement in a child with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a genetic disorder affecting respiratory function.
  • Cilia are tiny hairs that move mucus and irritants out of the lungs to keep them healthy.
  • In PCD, cilia may be the wrong size, shape, or may not move properly, leading to lung infections.
  • The microscopy technique used is called diffractive super-resolution microscopy, which shapes light carefully to see small, fast movements without harming the living cells.
  • The competition began in 2011 as a video-focused spinoff of Nikon’s longer-running photomicrography contest started in 1974.
  • Other winners came from Vietnam, Germany, the US, and Scotland, each showing different microscopic life forms and processes.
  • The contest celebrates the beauty and science of seeing tiny life in motion through microscopes.
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