{"id":884,"date":"2022-05-12T12:10:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T11:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/?p=884"},"modified":"2022-05-14T06:15:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-14T05:15:36","slug":"hsdtc-public-engagement-competition-winners-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/2022\/05\/12\/hsdtc-public-engagement-competition-winners-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"HSDTC Public Engagement Competition Winners 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to this year’s winners and shortlisted entries for the HSDTC Public Engagement Competitions<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Doctoral researchers in the Health Sciences submitted entries for the HSDTC Science Communication Prize <\/strong>and the HSDTC Science Image Prize <\/strong>for a chance to win \u00a3300 and be featured on our website and blog. Keep reading to learn more about the shortlisted entries for 2022.<\/p>\n

HSDTC Science Image Prize 2022<\/h4>\n

Doctoral researchers had to submit a visual entry that either conveyed the entirety of their research or an aspect of it.<\/p>\n

We were looking for images which might explore the social impact that their research has on a global, population, or individual scale. They may be a true representation of the subject, or manipulated post-production, such as with false colouring; or they could show their research in a more abstract way.<\/p>\n

Images could have shown, for example, the subject matter of their research, such as an image of cells or the brain, or research in action, for example the methods, equipment or facilities used in their research.<\/p>\n

The judges were looking for images which are informative, captivating, and which clearly communicate the research being done. Entries could utilise many techniques, such as: photography; microscopy; medical imaging; new and emerging imaging techniques; data visualisation; artistic media.<\/p>\n

The impactful shortlisted submissions are available below, including our winner Antzela Tsavou<\/strong>, and runner-up, Natalie Sanford<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Antzela Tsavou <\/strong>(winner)
\n<\/strong>Host-Microbiome Interactions<\/span><\/span>, \u00a0Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Yin and Yang<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Yin

Yin and Yang by Antzela Tsavou<\/p><\/div>\n

Life is full of opposites. Completely contrary forces that we think do not interrelate at all. Yet, instead of being all black or all white, it\u2019s a little of both, just like Yin and Yang. The fungus that I study, <\/span>Candida albicans, <\/span><\/i>is a pathobiont which means that it exists as a helpful member of the human microbiota until the opportunity is found to be harmful in immunocompromised people. This fungus can switch reversibly between \u201cthe good\u201d or yeast form (on the left) and \u201cthe bad\u201d or hyphal form (on the right) to take control of the human host and manipulate it just like a master of survival.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two worlds that give rise to each other. Just like in life and in nature, maintaining balance or the so-called homeostasis is key. Evolution has allowed this microorganism to control the human host and transition between these two very different worlds with ease.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In my PhD, I study the control of this morphological switch. Future work towards identifying additional regulators of this change could open up new avenues towards treatment developments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These images were taken using the EVOS M5000 microscope and contrast was manipulated using Photoshop.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Natalie Sanford <\/strong>(runner-up),
\nMethodologies Division<\/span><\/span>, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sanford,<\/p>\n

A water colour painting depicting hands lifting or supporting an exhausted healthcare provider, who is overwhelmed with a variety of competing priorities. Photo of painting enhanced to suit digital format.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stijn <\/span>Aaron <\/span>den <\/span>Daas<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(shortlisted)
\nSchool of Immunology & Microbial Sciences<\/span><\/span>, <\/em>Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Heart Organoid<\/span>s<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Stijn<\/p>\n

A heart shaped intestinal organoid stained for Lysozyme (Red) and nuclear counterstain (Magenta), imaged with a fluorescent microscope, and coloured with ImageJ. Intestinal organoids are grown from isolated intestinal crypt cells and grown in specialised media to allow the crypt stem cell to proliferate, while maintaining their stem-ness. Cells proliferated from stem cells differentiate into the various cell types present in the intestinal epithelium, i.e. Enterocytes, Paneth cells, Goblet cells, Tuft cells, and Enteroendocrine cells. These cells form an intact monolayer with the apical side inward and basolateral side outward, creating the lumen inside the intestinal organoid. While growing the organoids create crypt and villi \u2013like structures that resemble the intestine, which result in a 3D budding spherical shape.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We use intestinal organoids as a model for the intestine to translate disease aetiology of liver cirrhosis, with a focus on the gut-liver axis in disease progression. Intestinal organoids can be used to examine the effect of toxins and therapies on the intestinal epithelium <\/span>in vitro<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Zsofia Szlamka<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>(shortlisted)
\nPsychology<\/span><\/span>, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Autism-friendly<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Zsofia<\/p>\n

The subject of this image is a world that is entirely autism-friendly and inclusive. While the blue context calls for autism, the nature represents the entirety, the Globe itself. The picture was taken with a smart phone and no post-production manipulation took place.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anna Elisabeth <\/span>F\u00fcrtjes<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>(shortlisted)<\/span>
\nSocial, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre<\/span><\/span>, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Pursuing a PhD<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/p>\n

The image I am submitting to the HSDTC Science Image Competition depicts 3-dimensional coordinates of a standard human brain with random colours spread across the cortex. I have produced the brain images while figuring out how to use an algorithm to subdivide the brain into contiguous areas. My first attempts resulted in images that looked like the brain on the bottom left. Through trial and error, I started to understand the inner workings of the algorithm, and I managed to manipulate it in a way that it allowed me to produce the brain on the right depicting contiguous areas, as I needed them for my study. This process was spread across a few weeks as it was time-consuming and computationally demanding.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The image represents the process of <\/span>Pursuing a PhD<\/span><\/i> as I have experienced it throughout the past 2 \u00bd years. I learned that conducting research is never straightforward, and using trial and error helped me get better at coding to manipulate datasets allowing me to answer niche biological questions about the brain.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The brain images were generated with the programming language <\/span>R<\/span><\/i>, and I used specialised packages within R (<\/span>Rvcg & rgl<\/span><\/i>) to render the images from 3-dimensional coordinates. The 3D coordinates are commonly used by neuroscientists as a reference, when pre-processing their brain images (<\/span>fsaverage<\/span><\/i>). I assembled the brain renders created with R in Adobe Photoshop. The R code depicted in the background of the final image is taken from the R scripts I wrote to generate the brain renders.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/h4>\n

HSDTC Science Communication Prize 2022<\/strong><\/h4>\n

PhD students submitted short ‘newspaper style’ articles about research projects they were currently involved in (or an aspect of it). The articles are aimed at lay audiences and have to be interesting and understandable for an interested member of the public.<\/p>\n

The judges were looking for articles which:<\/p>\n