From views from a microscopic world to larger-than-life natural vistas, check out photos from our community image contest
At the Wyss, we are committed to breaking down silos and barriers between disciplines and industries, enabling unique collaborations between researchers and clinicians, mechanical engineers and cell biologists, chemists and nanotechnologists, and more. By leveraging their unique expertise and Nature’s own ideas and genius, they create solutions to the Grand Challenges facing patients and our planet.
In the same spirit, we have a long history of celebrating the convergence of art and science, inspired by what we see in the lab and out in the world. Continuing the tradition of honoring this intersection between fields, we held our fifth image contest, “Visions of the Wyss 2026.”
Below are the winning images in the categories of Marvelous Microscopy, Look into the Lab: Research/Technology Images, and A Force of Nature. And, since there were so many impressive submissions, we’ve added some runners-up too. Enjoy these stunning Visions of the Wyss.
1/22 Anna Shneidman, A Force of Nature, WINNER: Spanning 12-18 meters and weighing 25-40 metric tons, humpback whales are a true force of Nature. This boy calf was seen breaching at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The bumps on the whale's fins are known as tubercles. They reduce hydrodynamic drag, and have served as bioinspiration for wind turbines and airplane wings. 
2/22 Richard Ding, Raphael Kay, Rafiq Omair, Aizenberg Lab, Look into the Lab: Research/Technology Image, WINNER: Air pushed into a thin layer of molasses between two plates cannot keep a smooth edge — it fingers, splits, and blooms. Each row is one injection growing left to right; the only difference between rows is the rhythm of the pump. 
3/22 Alex Pauer, A Force of Nature, WINNER: Nature's Blueprint. The intricate vein network of a grape leaf serves as an efficient transport system, distributing water, nutrients, and the products of photosynthesis throughout the plant. Created from a focus stack of 50 macro images, this photograph reveals the elegant biological architecture that continues to inspire engineering and design. 
4/22 Kuanwei Sheng, Marvelous Microscopy, WINNER: This image maps eight different proteins across a thin section of the mouse brain using ACE (Amplification by Cyclic Extension) technology. ACE amplifies each protein signal, allowing 113,547 cells and their molecular identities to be visualized across the whole section. The enlarged views highlight the distinct cellular organization of the hippocampus, cerebellum, cortex, and midbrain. Scale bars, 2 mm and 200 µm. 
5/22 Terry Ching, Marvelous Microscopy, WINNER: Endothelial cells respond to their environment. Cultured on PROPEL, our closed-loop, tubeless perfusion platform, these cells were subjected to 40 dyn/cm² of shear stress and imaged at 40x magnification, revealing their elongation and actin filament alignment (shown here) along the direction of flow. This striking cytoskeletal remodeling illustrates how vascular cells physically sense and adapt to fluid forces, a process central to vascular health and disease. 
6/22 JiaJia Fu, A Force of Nature, WINNER: A chukar overlooks the summit of Haleakalā National Park in Maui, HI. 
7/22 Shashaank Venkatesh, Marvelous Microscopy, WINNER: An image of a cocultured spheroid of breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231, red) and endothelial cells (HUVEC, green), embedded in Matrigel for three days. The endothelial cells show growth dysfunction by forming aberrant tubes at the center of the spheroid and into the gel (green spindle-shaped structured at the center). This is a z-stack of a 10x confocal microscopy image. 
8/22 Douglas Blackiston, Marvelous Microscopy, WINNER: Developing amphibian tadpoles, 48 hours old, expressing a fluorescent protein. 
9/22 Christopher Johnson, A Force of Nature, WINNER: A mushroom cap representing a microcosm of wonder, beauty, and the hidden complexity of nature. 
10/22 Peter Nguyen and Silvi Lybbert, Look into the Lab: Research/Technology Image, WINNER: CRISPR Oceans - An art piece looking at how climate change impacts ocean organisms, related to our published work developing CRISPR-based biosensors for ocean biomonitoring. 
11/22 Jessica Feitor, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: From order to chaos: confocal top view of healthy and diseased intestine chips. 
12/22 Seth Kroll, A Force of Nature, RUNNER-UP: Wet dog in Vermont. 
13/22 Gozde Basara, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: Vascularized adipose tissue. Adipocytes (in green) and endothelial cells (in pink) around the bioprinted hollow vascular channel (black in the middle). 
14/22 Michael Levin, A Force of Nature, RUNNER-UP: Sun, ocean, Redwoods; in Infrared. 
15/22 Harini Rajendiran, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: Lung microvasculature endothelial cells on chip. Cyan indicates F-actin staining and magenta is for nuclei. 
16/22 Christopher Johnson, A Force of Nature, RUNNER-UP: A sunset over the marsh, where windmills rise on the horizon, symbolizing a harmonious balance between technological progress and the natural world. 
17/22 Harini Rajendiran, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: Organic webs: Spider-Man - Brand New Day(ta). The image represents radiation-induced clot formation in a vascularized lung-on-a-chip. Fibrin strands appear red, while platelets in cyan are embedded throughout the developing clots. 
18/22 Terry Ching, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: Endothelial cells respond to their environment. Cultured on PROPEL, our closed-loop, tubeless perfusion platform, these cells were subjected to 15 dyn/cm² of shear stress, prompting them to elongate and align their actin filaments (shown here) along the direction of flow. This striking cytoskeletal remodeling illustrates how vascular cells physically sense and adapt to fluid forces, a process central to vascular health and disease. 
19/22 Seth Kroll, A Force of Nature, RUNNER-UP: Itsy bitsy spider. 
20/22 Shashaank Venkatesh, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: An immunofluorescent image (10x magnification) of a mouse brain bearing an orthotopic glioblastoma tumor, implanted 10 days prior. The image shows living nuclei (DAPI, blue), cancer-associated stromal cells (alpha smooth muscle actin, green), immune cell recruitment (CD11b, red) and microglia (TMEM119, dark blue). The tumor bulk is in the middle and left, with healthy tissue towards the right. 
21/22 JiaJia Fu, A Force of Nature, RUNNER-UP: A leopard frog relaxes in a rushing creek at Cascade Lake, upstate NY. 
22/22 Fatma Al Arbawi, Marvelous Microscopy, RUNNER-UP: Thrombi Under Hydrodynamic Shear.