Zayed Centre scientist wins first Great Ormond Street research image competition - The National

A scientist from the UAE-funded Zayed Centre for Research has won the first research image competition by Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

Organisers say the images highlight the life-changing research that takes place at the renowned London hospital and its partners, including the NIHR GOSH Biomedical Research Centre and the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health.

Eleven images were shortlisted for the prize and the winner was selected by three panels of experts. The pictures ranged from beautiful microscopy to intricate representations of data and photography.

PhD student Christina Burke won the overall prize with her entry Leukocyte Kaleidoscope. It captures a sea of blues and pinks as immune cells, or leukocytes, flow through the tonsil tissue.

Ms Burke said research images allow us to “unravel some of the mystery surrounding the inside of a tumour”.

An image of a lab-grown ‘mini stomach’ submitted by Dr Giovanni Giuseppe Giobbe. Photo: Executive Affairs Authority

“By understanding more about the make-up of tumours, we become armed with the knowledge needed to design better, more tolerable therapies”, she said.

Great Ormond Street Hospital chief executive Mat Shaw said the competition was a great way to capture the breadth of research being conducted in the children’s hospital, which helps to find treatments and cures for some of the most complex illnesses in medicine.

He added: “Our vision is to be a research hospital where all staff and patients are involved in research. We are incredibly proud of our researchers and their world-class work, which has the potential to change the lives of seriously ill children and young people.”

Other nominees from the Zayed Centre for Research include an image of a lab-grown ‘mini-stomach’ used to study how infections affect the gastrointestinal system. It was submitted by Dr Giovanni Giuseppe Giobbe, a senior research associate at UCL GOS ICH based at the Zayed Centre for Research.

The colours of change by Ahmed Elawadly shows a 3D visualisation of a child’s head with trigonocephaly. Photo: Executive Affairs Authority

The colours of change was also submitted by Ahmed Elawadly, a neurosurgeon and PhD student based at the Zayed Centre for Research.

His image shoes a 3D visualisation of a child’s head with trigonocephaly — or triangular head — both before (left) and after surgery (right).

The Zayed Centre for Research was established thanks to a £60 million gift from Sheikha Fatima, Mother of the Nation, in 2014.

The centre, which opened shortly before the pandemic arrived in Britain, is a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

Updated: April 15, 2022, 6:05 PM