LMP Art Competition winners 2026

Basic/Translational science category - "Untitled (Abyss)"

"This image, captured using confocal laser scanning microscopy, shows the migration of human dermal fibroblasts outward from a central, cell-seeded collagen button into a dense, crosslinked collagen scaffold over a 9-day period. The scaffold mimics the extracellular matrix found in human connective tissue. Actin (orange) and nuclei (blue) are stained with phalloidin-Alexa Fluor 546 and Hoechst 33342, respectively, revealing the cytoskeletal dynamics and cell distribution during migration.

The experiment was designed to assess whether a plastically compressed, collagen-based scaffold could support cellular movement—a critical feature for tissue regeneration and wound healing. The image highlights the intricate interplay between engineered biomaterials and living cells, merging functionality with visual complexity."

Credit: Jonas Lehar, Dr. Karim Mekhail Lab

Clinical science category - "Cables and Wires"

"This image, captured using confocal laser scanning microscopy, shows the migration of human dermal fibroblasts outward from a central, cell-seeded collagen button into a dense, cLight microscopy image showing a transverse section of a spinal cord.

Immunohistochemical stain for neurofilament light chain highlights the nerves, neurons, and axonal fibers that carry sensory and motor signals between the brain and body."

Credit: Dr. Shane Eaton and Dr. Patrick Shannon, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Mickey's Memories"

"Confocal image of an acute hippocampal slice from a mouse brain used for ex vivo electrophysiology recordings. This slice is stained with antibodies against surface GluA1 (green), internal GluA1 (magenta), and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95, red), with nuclei labeled by DAPI (blue). 

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are related and incurable neurodegenerative diseases that share genetic, clinical, and neuropathological features. Synaptic dysfunction is an early pathogenetic event in ALS/FTD associated with abnormal AMPA receptor (AMPAR) signaling. Mouse models have shown increased GluA1 AMPAR subunit levels and hippocampal circuit dysfunction, while patients also exhibit hippocampal abnormalities. The hippocampus is a key brain region involved in learning and memory, suggesting that these molecular changes may underlie the erosion of “Mickey’s Memories”."

Credit: Robertson Lab, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Tanz CRND)

Basic Science/Translational science category - "The Gaps and Maps"

"A mixed-media illustrated artwork exploring access to neuroimaging within the Canadian healthcare system.

What first drew me in was how my capstone project focused on improving access to neuroimaging in rural and remote Canada began to feel like a puzzle that slowly revealed itself as a complex system. I found myself pausing often, noticing not just pieces coming together, but patterns that reflected real challenges of distance, delay, and uneven access across the country. This artwork brings together those reflections through layered visual metaphors.

At the center is a hand-drawn brain, surrounded by vessels that extend outward like road networks. Subtle outlines of the Canadian map reflect the diversity and heterogeneity across provinces and territories. The entire composition, including the jigsaw puzzle, is drawn by hand using pen and color, and integrated into the face of a clock. I used simple materials to translate an abstract healthcare system into something visible and relatable where anatomy, geography, and time intersect.

This piece is closely tied to my work in neuroimaging access. The brain represents what we aim to understand and diagnose. The vessels become patient pathways often long, indirect, and limited in remote settings. The puzzle reflects the healthcare system: interconnected, yet incomplete. Missing pieces point to persistent gaps, while a highlighted piece represents portable MRI a small but meaningful step toward closing them. The clock reminds us that time is always critical.

While working on this project, I kept noticing how often care is delayed not by lack of knowledge, but by lack of access something easy to overlook until you map the whole journey.

As both a clinician and an artist, I see this piece as a meeting point between medicine, research, and lived experience, an invitation to view healthcare not as a finished system, but as something we are still learning to assemble."

Credit: Pardaman Setia, Diagnostic Radiologist & MHSc (Candidate), University of Toronto

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Progression of Somites"

"Taken from a section of an e10 mouse embryo, immunofluoresence shows the co-expression of two fundamental developmental transcription factors, Pax3 (red) and LEF-1 (green) in the somites at form adjacent to the neural tube oblong the axis of the embryo."

Credit: P. Hamel

Clinical science category - "Ubi Mors Gaudet"

"This is a digital painting of a skeletonized hand, holding a red spider lily flower and the quintessential feather blade; an indispensable and iconic tool in pathology. In Asian culture, the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) is often planted on graves as tribute to the deceased. It symbolizes death and farewell, but also reincarnation and that which connects the living with the deceased. While skeletons are also symbolic of death, they also represent who we all fundamentally are as humans; mortal beings that one day will leave life behind. The famous quote, ""Taceant colloquia. Effugiat risus. Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae,"" translates from Latin to ""Let conversation cease. Let laughter flee. This is the place where death rejoices in helping life,"" and is often inscribed in anatomy labs and autopsy suites as a poignant reminder that life and death are two sides of the same coin.

By understanding and learning from death, the autopsy helps inform the living on how to better safeguard health, life and prevent the tragedies of tomorrow. Importantly still, it serves as closure and finality for those left to grieve; a final message from their loved one even after death. This practice is not without respect for the deceased; and we honour the lives of each individual as we perform each autopsy, as well as their humanity. 

This piece is also a representation of myself as a pathologist as I finish my final year in the Diagnostic and Molecular Pathology residency program, and will begin an autopsy-focused fellowship in forensic pathology. The lily honours my Asian roots, and pays homage to the late doctors in my family that have inspired and set me on this path in life. The feather blade represents the practice of pathology, and the skeletonized hand represents death, but also the learning of anatomy, a fundamental cornerstone of medical education. I hope that this piece reminds us of the importance of autopsy; to use our findings to help the living, but also of the humanity that exists not only within this practice, but in all of medicine."

Credit: Cathy R. Cao

Basic Science/Translational science category - "The Universe Within Discovery"

"A conceptual scientific illustration of the translational research pathway (T0–T4). A cosmic figure representing the inner origin of knowledge reflects into a mirror, showing scientists advancing discovery from laboratory research to population health impact."

Credit: Anjana Rao Translation Research Program Student

Clinical science category - "A Smiling Depot: H&E Visualization of iWAT Following Liraglutide Treatment"

"Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)–stained inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) from a mouse treated with the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide. Beyond typical adipocyte morphology, the tissue displays a striking smiley face pattern formed—an unexpected but memorable visual!"

Credit: Abigail Delizo, MSc Candidate, Dr. Hoon-Ki Sung Laboratory, Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Translational Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children

Basic Science/Translational science category - "A Hug from a Glial Star"

"This confocal image depicts astrocytes extending their endfeet to contact the cerebrovasculature, with some of these star-shaped cells “hugging” the blood vessels. This close interaction between the cerebrovasculature and astrocytes reflects the importance of cellular communication to maintain blood-brain barrier integrity and cerebral homeostasis.

This image was obtained using a 60x objective on the Nikon A1R confocal microscope in the hippocampal region of a mouse brain. Cell nuclei are stained with Hoechst (blue), astrocytes with GFAP (red), and cerebral blood vessels with lectin (yellow)."

Credit: Suejean Park – Fish Lab, University Health Network

Basic Science/Translational science category - "The Sprout Awakens"

"Endothelial spheroids treated with extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from human carotid atherosclerotic plaques of symptomatic patients. EVs drive endothelial sprouting angiogenesis , a process critical to plaque progression and vulnerability. Phalloidin staining (white) highlights the actin cytoskeleton of endothelial cells, while magenta dots mark individual sprout tips. Imaged on a Nikon A1R confocal microscope."

Credit: Drs Kathryn Howe and Jason Fish. Originally published as a cover image in ATVB (July 2025), Raju et al. 2025.

Basic Science/Translational science category - "The Endothelial Conductor"

"Hepatic endothelial cells, personified as a conductor, orchestrating a score of fellow liver cells, GCPRs, peptides, and cytokines."

Credit: Inspired by a recent publication from the Drucker lab (Gonzalez-Rellan et al. Cell Metab. 2026)

Basic Science/Translational science category - "A Cosmos Learns to Hear"

"This fluorescence image captures a living inner ear organoid growing in real time, imaged on the Opera Phenix high-content system. Metabolic activity glows in magenta and yellow, revealing the organoid's cellular architecture and vitality, while green marks cells undergoing apoptosis."

Credit: Dabdoub Lab, Sunnybrook Research Institute

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Polarized Portrait of Collagen Disorder in Scleroderma and Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome"

"Polarized light micrograph of picrosirius red-stained human skin, revealing heterogeneous collagen architecture, where red birefringence marks densely organized fibrils and yellow–green regions indicate structurally compromised matrix in a patient with scleroderma and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome."

Credit: Mehrnoosh Neshatian and Laurent Bozec at Matrix Functionalization and Phenotyping Lab (MFP-Lab / Bozec-lab)

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Islands of Activation"

"Confocal fluorescence imaging of adipose tissue reveals an interconnected cellular network (red) interspersed with localized clusters of lineage-traced cells (green). These “islands” of activation emerge within a complex structural architecture, highlighting spatial heterogeneity during tissue remodeling.

The image was acquired using a Nikon A1R confocal microscope (FCS/FLIM) in a tamoxifen-inducible mTmG lineage-tracing mouse model."

Credit: Image by Qiwei Zhang, Hoon-ki Sung Lab, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Cortical Cobwebs"

"Multiplexed imaging mass cytometry image capturing the frontal cortex in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), highlighting the architecture of neuronal cell bodies (MAP2, red), astrocytes (S100b, blue), and cell nuclei (DNA/Ir191, grey). Hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau, green) highlights pathological protein aggregates, including tufted astrocytes, a hallmark pathology of PSP."

Credit: Visanji Lab, Pollanen Lab, and Standard BioTools Inc

Clinical science category - "Fungal moons in the cosmos"

"This art depicts the microscopic images of a set of fungal organisms that are sometimes hard to identify in the microbiology laboratory.

The moons include branching fungal hyphae seen on 10x magnification using gram stain, the second moon shows Blastomyces as broad round thick walled yeast (at edges of image) on gram stain at 100x magnification (this can easily be missed in the laboratory). The third moon shows Cryptococcus neoformans with encapsulated walls picked up by the india ink stain, while the 4th moon shows Histoplasma capsulatum with lactophenol blue stain, with the narrow based yeast illuminated in the center of the image.

Finally in the background, some 'cosmic dust' generated from 10x microscopy magnification of Blastomyces on gram stain. These images overlie a true skyline seen in Hamilton, Ontario. Canada."

Credit: Picture of skyline was taken by Frank Sanya-Isijola. Microscopic images were taken by the same artist at Sinai Health Microbiology Laboratory, and St Michael's hospital microbiology lab, Toronto, Canada. Compilation of images was done by the artist using Google Gemini.

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Where Glia Dream of Neurons"

"This is a fluorescence (immunofluorescence) microscopy image of adult mouse retinal tissue, where different colors are used to label specific cell features. Grey (SOX9) and green (GFAP) mark Müller glia, the main support cells of the retina that normally help maintain its structure and function. Red (mCherry) labels cells that have been experimentally targeted to change their identity.

Where these colors overlap, the image highlights Müller glia that are beginning to transform into neurons through a process called direct neuronal reprogramming. In other words, these support cells are being pushed to switch roles and become the light-sensitive or signal-transmitting cells that are typically lost in retinal disease.

The title, “Where Glia Dream of Neurons,” reflects this idea of potential and change, capturing a moment where these cells are no longer just what they are, but are on the path to becoming something entirely new."

Credit: This image was taken by me in the lab of Dr. Carol Schuurmans at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Comet in the Crowd"

"Confocal fluorescence microscopy image of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells stained for DDR1 (green), filamentous actin/phalloidin (red), and nuclei/DAPI (cyan). The image captures a dense network of smooth muscle cells, with a standout comet-like cell near the bottom showing prominent DDR1 localization and an elongated morphology suggestive of active cell movement or interaction. This visual emphasizes the structural and signaling changes that accompany vascular smooth muscle cell remodeling."

Credit: TJ Theivendram

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Mucociliary Forest"

"This image captures a confluent layer of iPSC-derived airway epithelium, grown under an air-liquid-interface. The cell layer contains ciliated cells (red, acetylated alpha-tubulin), goblet cells (cyan, MUC5AC), and tight junctions between cells (white, ZO1). These are some of the cells that form the mucociliary epithelium, which forms a tight, protective barrier in the airways, protecting them from debris and infection."

Credit: Leo Castiblanco Guzman, PhD student at the Tissue Repair and Regeneration Labs. Image taken at the Advanced Optical Microscopy Facility (AOMF)

Basic Science/Translational science category - "Vascular Gelato"

"Immunofluorescence staining of murine aorta atherosclerotic plaque, visualized using confocal microscopy, staining for smooth muscle cell marker aSMA (red) and macrophage marker MAC2 (green). Typically, aortic plaques are found in the shape of a half ellipse that conforms to the vessel wall along its long axis, whereas this plaque was found with not only two small smooth muscle capped plaques, but also another round macrophage-rich region on top of them, resembling three irregular gelato balls stacked in conventional fashion."

Credit: Steven (ZhiYang) Ding, Bendeck Lab @ TBEP