![\"Rita](\"https:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2903\/33511462295_f1feb1a4dd_o.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe competition is often dominated by images from microscopy. Many of these are beautiful and arresting but this year I was pleased to see more entries that were more self-consciously artistic \u2013 with a capital \u2018A\u2019. They told stories rather than simply creating eye-catching abstractions from cells or biomolecules captured in\u00a0microscopes, and I say that as someone who has worked in the molecular realm for the whole of his research career and made efforts to convey the strange appeal<\/a>\u00a0of studying life at the level of the atom.<\/p>\n My favourite piece in this year’s competition is\u00a0the digital painting of <\/a>Rita Levi-Montalcini<\/a> by Russian artist Daria Kirpach<\/a>. Levi-Montalcini, an Italian Jew, was forced to work in secret during the Mussolini regime. After the end of\u00a0World War II she moved to continue her research in the USA\u00a0and was jointly awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering nerve growth factor (NGF). Her life and her life\u2019s work \u2013 and her elegant style of dress \u2013 are rendered with graceful simplicity in Kirpach\u2019s portrait.<\/p>\n However, the competition judges were of a different mind and selected a haunting rendition of Crohn\u2019s Disease called \u201cStickman<\/a>\u201d as the overall winner. But I am happy to concede that it too is a powerful work\u00a0of Artistry.<\/p>\n Of course, your tastes may differ too. Have a look for yourself. You can see\u00a0all 22 entries \u00a0on Wellcome\u2019s web-site<\/a> \u2013 and vote for your favourite.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week I attended\u00a0the award ceremony of the Wellcome Image Awards. Every time I go to this event\u00a0I tell myself I’ll submit an entry for the following year, but somehow I never manage\u00a0to get a submission organised. I suspect my … Continue reading