Cornea repair image wins top 2026 honour

Dr Mojdeh Abbasi has won the Centenary Institute’s 2026 When Art Meets Science Image Prize with Landscape of Renewal, an image of limbal stem cells growing on a specially coated contact lens.

Abbasi works at the Institute’s Centre for Cancer Innovations. She captured the winning image using scanning electron microscopy.

Limbal stem cells maintain and regenerate the cornea. Resembling a miniature landscape, the image also points to an emerging way to repair the ocular surface and restore vision.

Established in 2009, the annual competition invites Centenary researchers, staff and students to submit images created through their work.

Centenary says the prize highlights research that advances scientific understanding while also showing the visual beauty inside medical research.

Heart disease and melanoma entries

Second place went to Into the Galaxy by Serena Li from the Centre for Cardiovascular Research.

Li’s image reflects the search for the genetic causes of inherited heart disease through studies of laboratory-grown heart cells.

According to the institute, examining individual cells gives researchers vital clues that could improve future diagnosis and treatment.

Third place went to Between Attachment and Escape, submitted by Dr Thuy Luong from the Centre for Cancer Innovations.

Luong’s image shows melanoma cells at the point where they prepare to detach and migrate through the body.

Her research examines how cancer cells survive stress, resist treatment and metastasise, with the aim of finding new ways to prevent melanoma progression.

Professor Marc Pellegrini, Centenary Institute executive director, said the competition offers a different view of research across the organisation.

“These images demonstrate that scientific discovery is not only intellectually fascinating but can also be visually extraordinary,” Pellegrini said.

He said the entries reveal biological processes usually hidden from the human eye and show work aimed at improving disease diagnosis and treatment.

An independent panel of external judges selects the winners each year.

Meanwhile, the public can vote in the 2026 People’s Choice Award at http://www.centenary.org.au/peopleschoice2026.

Centenary has also published all 2026 image submissions and descriptions at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12z8oeiKFOIKzcbwSrTy-K3cDaL6QaYbT?usp=sharing.