Nikon competition winner captures airway cilia at 100x magnification

The 2026 Nikon Small World in Motion competition has named a video of airway cilia in a child with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) as its first-prize winner.

Captured by Dr. Ning Xu at 100x magnification using diffractive super-resolution microscopy, the footage shows the tiny, hair-like protein structures moving irregularly. Cilia normally help process mucus and carry waste out of the airways. Their green color in the video was added artificially because the structures are colorless.

PCD is a rare genetic disorder that prevents cilia from working as they should, making mucus clearance less effective. Xu said that understanding the disease requires watching cilia through dozens of beat cycles rather than viewing a still image. He is an optical engineering researcher and a fellow at the National University of Singapore. He has also worked with researchers at Tsinghua University, the University of Cambridge, Beijing Children's Hospital, and the California Institute of Technology.

Second place went to Nguyen Nam Nhat's video of a roundworm and a single-cell organism interacting at 40x magnification. Third place went to Benedikt Pleyer's footage of jellyfish larvae at 25x magnification. Dr. Andrew Moore's video of synchronized cell division took fourth place at 63x magnification, while Dr. Patrick C. Hickey's recording of mitochondria interacting with chloroplasts in Turtle Vine leaf cells took fifth place at 40x magnification.