Scientific results are evaluated based on objective criteria, while beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Time and again research yields images which are perceived as beautiful, yet this subjective aspect is often overlooked. A contest organized by the MuSkITYR aimed to bring them into the spotlight. Under the headline Science meets Art they were looking for images from the field of musculoskeletal research which they jury then assessed for their artistic value.

With her picture “histology – an eye opener” Conny Schneider from LBI Trauma made first place in the contest. What seems to be staring back through the microscope is actually the lower tip of a hair follicle (red) surrounded by adipose tissue (blue), stained with Heidenhain’s AZAN. The picture was taken in course of a study describing a bovine auricular cartilage scaffold for the treatment of articular cartilage defects, recently published in ACTA Biomaterialia.

The MuSkITYR (MusculoSkeletal Interdisciplinary Translational Young Researchers) are a community organized by young scientists, aiming to improve networking between young researchers and promote interdisciplinary enthusiasm for musculoskeletal research. Everyone interested in the field is welcome, no matter if undergrad, PhD student or PostDoc. For further information, visit https://muskityr.com