Pathology Art
Join us in the Pathology Art Contest!
This unique opportunity invites participants to showcase their creativity by submitting a digital image drawn from their clinical or research work. To ensure confidentiality, all submissions must be de-identified and visually compelling. If you choose to manipulate your image, please apply the same technique uniformly across the entire piece. Don’t miss your chance to contribute—submit your artwork by Monday, October 6, 2025, at 5 PM PST. Unleash your creativity and highlight the beauty within pathology!
1st Place Prize: Your winning image premium frame mounted on a metal plate for your own piece of hangable art from ShinyPrints.
Click or scan to vote!
1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice
[Voting available Oct 24]
Magdalena Matusiak, PhD
Instructor in the Department of Pathology
(4 entries for Magdalena Matusiak)
"Three Musketeers"
In this scene, macrophages (yellow), neutrophils (cyan), and T cells (magenta) leap into action in Crohn’s disease — a vivid portrait of the immune system’s own Three Musketeers.
— Magdalena
"DCIS Macrophages"
I'm investigating how macrophages react to tissue pathology. This image shows that macrophages that infiltrate DCIS are different from macrophages in the sorrounding breast stroma.
— Magdalena
"Macrophages Hugs"
This image captures macrophages (yellow) extending long dendritic processes to surround DCIS cancer cells. This is a way macrophages survey the tissue environment, hugging other cells in the tissue.
— Magdalena
"Macrophage - Tumor Cell Tango"
I study how macrophages respond and contribute to tissue pathology. This image pictures a macrophage reaction (red and yellow) to cancer cells (cyan) inviding normal tissue. The scene resembles a burning flame — a visual metaphor for the spark macrophages ignite in response to a tumor’s intrusion.
— Magdalena
Yang Zang, PhD
Post Doc
"Neural Nexus"
The fluorescent micrograph captures the intricate organization of the enteric nervous system in vitro. Red fibers outline neuronal connections, green mark neuronal nuclei, and white DAPI stains highlight all cell nuclei. Together, they reveal the elegant, constellation-like patterns of communication within our gut’s neural network.
— Yang
Colette Benko
Graduate Student
"The Immunogram"
The Immunogram was designed to introduce the role of MHC class I in an engaging and relatable way. I was inspired by the increased need for science education and the artist behind Cell Cartoons.
— Colette
Tanya Sharma, PhD
Post Doc
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
Section from a preclinical model of lung fibrosis. The image documents the pathological remodeling and the disruption of normal lung architecture. The piece is a playful reminder that even in disease, nature leaves room for beauty and symbolism. Collagen scars in blue, but the heart shines through!
— Tanya
Patricia Favaro, PhD
Senior Research Scientist - Basic Life
Bendall Lab
"Shot Marrows"
This piece, inspired by Andy Warhol’s Shot Marilyns, reimagines the bone marrow microenvironment through a pop-art lens. It was created by layering immunohistochemistry (IHC) and MIBI-TOF images of human bone marrow—data directly drawn from my research—into a unified composition. Each panel highlights a different dimension of cellular information, reflecting the complexity and diversity of this tissue. As part of the Bone Marrow Tissue Mapping Center for HuBMAP, I lead efforts to generate high-resolution, multidimensional maps of healthy bone marrow. Just as Warhol explored the intersection of celebrity and media, this artwork seeks to illuminate the intersection of art and science, revealing the intricate beauty within our own biology.
— Patricia
David Twa, MD, PhD
Molecular Genetic Pathology Fellow
(2 entries for David Twa)
"Tendon"
Darkfield, polarized tendon, 20x, Olympus.
— David
"Pentachrome Intestinal Villi"
Brightfield, 40x, Olympus with Movat pentachrome stain.
— David
Emily Reilly
Life Science Technician
"Early Transfection Mosaic"
A lentiviral construct with a gfp reporter was added to a monocytic leukemia cell line and spunfected. 48 hours later, cells were fixed, permeabilized and stained for the transfected cell marker of interest using TRITC. Nuclear staining was performed using DAPI. Cells were not sorted between spinfection and staining, to compare transfection efficiency across constructs.
— Emily
Huai-Ching Hsieh
Graduate Student
"Intraductal Lesions of the Prostate in 3D"
Large continuous intraductal lesions of the prostate were segmented and classified based on 3D pathology data (green: benign, yellow: tufted/HGPIN, pink: AIP, red: IDC-P). Luminal morphologies are rendered in detail, revealing the beautiful architecture when viewed from afar, and intricate lumen structures upon closer inspection. (In collaboration with Dr. Jacob E. Valk.)
— Huai-Ching
Emily Chan, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology
"Prostate Panda"
Looks like a panda? Must be benign! (H&E 20x)
— Emily
Bomsoo Cho, PhD
Life Science Research Professional
Axelrod Lab
"Drosophila Immune Cells Attacking a Tumor Mass"
Drosophila tumor models have been established and tested. RFP-positive tumor cells were injected and expanded in host animals expressing a specific protein tagged with GFP. Host Drosophila immune cells expressing the GFP-tagged proteins surround and chew tumor cells. This shows Drosophila is a simple but powerful model system to study tumor-immune interaction. This movie was created by combining multiple image stacks taken using the Leica Stellaris confocal microscope.
— Bomsoo
Davide G. Franchina, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Pathology
Bendall Lab
"Starry Night in the Lab"
Starry Night captures the enchanting beauty of a tonsil tissue after MALDI imaging, revealing intricate details of B cell follicles. Using the viridis color palette that transitions from tranquil blues to vibrant yellows, the image showcases targets highly expressed in the follicles, depicted in a luminous yellow hue.
— Davide
Jameel Lone, PhD
Basic Life Research Scientist
Svensson Lab
"Hungry Fat Cell Hunting for Glucose"
Live-cell imaging of 3T3-L1 adipocyte following serum starvation. Cells were exposed to insulin for 15 minutes, which induces GLUT4 translocation from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane, as visualized by, GLUT4-GFP.
— Jameel
Jaehyuk Lee, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Pathology
Bingwei Lu Lab
"Like a Snake"
The Drosophila gut is surprisingly long compared to the fly’s entire body, a bit like how our own intestines wind through us. Its winding shape reminds me of a tiny snake. When a certain gene lights up only in parts of the gut, the pattern looks almost like a baby emerald tree boa — but with a big bell hanging from its tail.
— Jaehyuk