16/12/2025
The winning works of the 2025 CEDENNA Images Contest will be part of the 2026 Wall Calendar and the traveling exhibition Images of the Nanoworld, among other outreach activities of the center
The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CEDENNA) announced the winners of the 2025 CEDENNA Images Contest, a science outreach initiative that recognizes images obtained from frontier research and seeks to bring the nanoworld closer to the public through visual language.
After an evaluation process by a jury of seven researchers, three winning works were selected, considering criteria of technical quality, creativity and contribution to the dissemination of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
First Place went to the work “Rock Art”, by Drs. Pedro Chana Cuevas and Patricia Díaz Saldívar, an image that transforms lipid nanoparticles into a composition evocative of ancestral symbols, combining scientific research with a powerful visual reading.
Second Place went to “Violet”, by Victoria Flores del Pino and Dr. Patricia Díaz Saldívar, a microscopic image of embryonic kidney cells treated with iron oxide nanoparticles, whose arrangement is reminiscent of flower petals and allows a visual understanding of key nanomedicine processes.
Third Place went to “Heading to the Neural Horizon”, by Fabián Araneda Martínez, an image that at first glance looks like a bird crossing a sunset, but is actually a star-shaped gold nanoparticle designed for advanced biomedical applications. The work functions as a visual metaphor for the journey of these particles through complex biological barriers.
A contest with a track record and a public vocation
The CEDENNA Images Contest has been held for several years and has become a meeting platform between science, art and outreach, inviting researchers to share images obtained through microscopy, simulations and other scientific techniques, often invisible to the human eye.
The selected works are not only recognized for their scientific and aesthetic value, but also give life to the exhibition Images of the Nanoworld, a science outreach exhibition promoted by CEDENNA that has been shown in various educational and cultural spaces, bringing frontier research closer to students, teachers and the general public.
These images are also part of the book Images of the Nanoworld, a digital science outreach publication that can be downloaded free of charge from the website www.cedenna.cl, and which brings together a selection of the contest’s most outstanding works over the years.
Science that is seen, understood and shared
CEDENNA highlights that this initiative is part of a sustained strategy linking science and society, which seeks to show that nanoscience and nanotechnology not only have an impact in areas such as health, energy or new materials, but can also be understood and appreciated through images.
Through the CEDENNA Images Contest, the Center is betting on new ways of communicating science, capable of sparking curiosity, wonder and understanding, and bringing the work carried out in laboratories closer to people’s daily lives.
