2023 CU Up Close Winners Announced

December 19, 2023

By Joseph Dragavon

An image showing two neurons connected to each other. — Gabriel J. Rodriguez Rivera and Siddhart Sharma (Burdick lab) - Nikon AXR Laser Scanning Confocal. Organoids are excellent but challenging laboratory models that can simulate human organs. To improve them, researchers are engineering new synthetic materials with tunable physical properties such as elasticity, size, and shape. This image reveals how a developing organoid (magenta) is interacting with a custom supporting material (green).

The 2023 edition of the annual CU Up Close Awards Ceremony recently took place and the top three winners announced. From over 100 submitted images, the review committee selected the twelve finalists, and an open vote held to determine the top three. Together, these images are highlighted within our annual calendar and are hung around the building and throughout the community. The submitted and selected images exemplify the diversity of research embodied by the BioFrontiers Institute, and represent its broad impact throughout the institute, CU Boulder and beyond.

1st Place

Gabriel J. Rodriguez Rivera and Siddhart Sharma, Burdick lab (pictured above)

2nd Place

Gracie Sapp, Aydin lab

3rd Place

Jessica Hanson, Hoeffer lab and Alex Whiteley lab

Congratulations to the winners! You can view all finalist images here.