MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 28 -- A brilliantly hued, highly detailed photograph of a healthy arteriole in the eye, an image used in training new researchers specializing in ophthalmic diseases, won first prize in the first annual Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition. The image was captured by Donald Pottle of the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard University. Winning photographers and their images were honored at a reception in conjunction with the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, being held this week in San Diego. The winning photo of the healthy fetal-pig arteriole was captured using confocal microscopy techniques. Pottle's photomicrograph shows a small branch of an artery and how it resists tearing and leaking due to its tough but flexible elastin wall and supporting collagen fibers. With its pattern of shapes and colors, the photo is a powerful contrast to another image, one that depicts an arteriole, that Pottle uses in his work as a teacher of microscopy technique to researchers. The BioScapes competition accepts images, image sequences/series and movies for consideration. An independent panel of judges selects entries based on science, aesthetics and technical merit. The judges in this year's competition included Victoria Centonze, PhD, associate director of the Core Optical Imaging Facility at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; James M. Fadool, PhD, Department of Biology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla.; Kenneth N. Fish, PhD, assistant professor at the Harold L. Dorris Neurological Research Center, Department of Neuropharmacology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.; and Doug Murphy, PhD, professor of cell biology and director of the microscope facility at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, Md. For more information, visit: www.olympusbioscapes.com