Nikon Small World in Motion 2026 top prize goes to video of cilia in child with rare genetic disorder

The competition, which aims to showcase "the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope," announced its winners this year, according to TechRadar. The winning clip was recorded by Dr. Ning Xu using diffractive super-resolution microscopy. Xu is an optical engineering researcher who develops imaging systems for scientists and is currently a fellow at the National University of Singapore; he has previously worked with researchers at Tsinghua University, the University of Cambridge, Beijing Children's Hospital and the California Institute of Technology. TechRadar described the winning entry as the work of a Chinese student who built the imaging system used to capture the footage.

Cilia are tiny hair-like protein structures that protrude from some cells and process mucus, carrying waste out of the airways. They are colorless in reality, and the green seen in the video was added artificially. The structures shown belong to a child with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a rare genetic disorder in which the cilia do not work as they should and mucus is not cleared effectively. That is why the cilia in the recording wave irregularly instead of moving in one smooth, uniform beat.

PCD is a serious condition but is usually manageable with the right treatment, and close-up recordings such as this one help scientists learn more about it. "To understand this disease, you need to watch the cilia through dozens of beat cycles, not just a still image," Xu said.

Xu said the value of the images lies in what they convey directly to viewers. "When people watch cilia beating, they immediately understand that something beautiful and important is happening inside us," he said. "I think this competition turns microscopy into a shared language."

Second place went to Nguyen Nam Nhat for a video of a tiny roundworm and a single-cell organism interacting at 40x magnification. Third was Benedikt Pleyer's footage of jellyfish larvae suspended in water droplets, recorded at 25x magnification.

Fourth place was awarded to Dr. Andrew Moore's 63x magnification recording of synchronized cell division in neighboring cells, and fifth to Dr. Patrick C. Hickey's 40x magnification video of mitochondria, the cell's power plants, interacting with chloroplasts in Turtle Vine leaf cells.

The top five entries were selected from a competition that has, for years, drawn microscopy footage from researchers and imaging specialists around the world.

Editor's Summary

The 2026 Nikon Small World in Motion competition gave its first prize to a 100x magnification video of airway cilia from a child with primary ciliary dyskinesia, captured by Dr. Ning Xu with diffractive super-resolution microscopy. The footage shows the irregular beating caused by the rare genetic disorder and is intended to help researchers study the condition. Four other entries, covering roundworms, jellyfish larvae, cell division and plant cell organelles, completed the top five.