Winners of GE Healthcare 2012 Cell Imaging Competition announced

Stunning cellular images to light up Times Square, New York

Competition celebrates art, science and discovery

CHALFONT ST GILES, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE Healthcare Life Sciences today announced Jane Stout, from the United States, Anushree Balachandran from Australia and Markus Posch from the UK as the winners of the GE Healthcare 2012 Cell Imaging Competition. With over 15,000 votes cast in a public vote, the winners can now look forward to seeing their prize-winning cellular images displayed in Times Square, New York on NBC Universal’s HD screen at a special event on April 19-21, 2013.

Now in its sixth year, GE Healthcare’s annual competition showcases the beauty of cells and the inspiring research conducted by cellular biologists around the world. In 2012, for the first time, there were two categories for submission; High-Content Analysis and Microscopy. The competition attracted over 100 entries from researchers who are investigating at the cellular level conditions such as cancer, HIV, and neurodegenerative disease. An expert scientific panel of five judges* shortlisted the finalists for each category, which then went forward to the public vote.

The full details of the three winners are:

1^st place - Microscopy category

Jane Stout, School of Medicine, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
Disease focus: Cancer

1^st place – High-Content Analysis category

Anushree Balachandran, Genea, Sydney, Australia
Disease focus: Huntingdon’s disease

Regional winner - Microscopy category

Markus Posch, Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression, University of Dundee, UK
Disease focus: Cancer

Eric Roman, General Manager of Research and Applied Markets, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said: “This year’s winning images are as beautiful and compelling as ever. Not only can they be appreciated from an aesthetic point of view, but they remind us of the cellular complexity behind disease and why the study of cells is so important. We were delighted to receive so many outstanding entries to the competition, which highlights how high-content and super-resolution cell imaging are helping scientists explore the universe of the cell, and so advance our understanding of so many life threatening and life-limiting diseases. We thank all the contestants for sending us their images, the judging panel and everyone who cast a vote.”

The winning images and gallery of the 2012 Cell Imaging Competition are available at www.gelifesciences.com/cellimagecompetition.

*This year’s shortlist was selected by Dr Kristie Nybo, Assistant Editor at BioTechniques, Dr Julian Heath, Editor, Microscopy & Analysis, Dr Nick Thomas, Principal Scientist, GE Healthcare, Dr Paul Goodwin, Science Director at GE Healthcare, and former GE Healthcare Cell Imaging Competition winner Dr Leslie Caron, Research Scientist at Genea.

Follow @GECellBiology on Twitter for updates on the competition and cellular imaging,

-END-

About the GE Healthcare 2012 Cell Imaging Competition
The Cell Imaging Competition, supported by BioTechniques, celebrates the exceptional research of scientists across the world using IN Cell Analyzer, DeltaVision™ Elite and DeltaVision OMX™ systems in their work. Voting started on 19^th November and continued online until 2^nd January 2013. Alongside the online voting, attendees at two conferences (ASCB, December 15-19, USA and MBSJ, December 11-14, Japan) were also invited to vote for their favourite. The votes were combined to select up to a possible maximum of four winners. One main High-Content Analysis winner, one main Microscopy winner, plus a regional winner from any region not represented by the winners of these two categories. The three regions are; North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Asia and the rest of the world (including Australia and New Zealand). Details of the judging panel can be found here and full terms and conditions can be found here.

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.