Proteintech Microscopy Image Competition 2026

The Proteintech Microscopy Image Competition is back for 2026, and it’s open to researchers, students and imaging specialists anywhere in the world. If you’ve got an immunofluorescence image you’re proud of, whether that’s cells, tissue, organoids or a whole organism, this is a chance to get it seen by a lot more people than read figure 3 of your next paper.

Most of us have images sat on a hard drive that took hours at the confocal to get right and never made it past a lab meeting slide. Entering takes an upload and a figure legend, so if you’ve got one worth showing off, there’s not much standing in your way.

What’s up for grabs

There are two winners, one in each category, and each receives:

• A $200 Amazon gift card
• A $1,000 Proteintech product grant
• A professional framed print of the winning image
• Recognition across Proteintech’s website, email and social media

Each of the eight finalists also receives a CoraLite antibody.

You don’t need to have used Proteintech products

This is the bit worth knowing. The competition runs in two categories, and only one of them requires Proteintech reagents:

• Category 1: images featuring Proteintech products
• Category 2: images featuring any products, from any supplier

You can submit one image per category, so if you have one of each, you can enter both.

Neuroscience has done well here before. Past finalists include a cerebral organoid ventricular zone, iPSC-derived neurons after 62 days of maturation and an immunostained mouse prefrontal cortex, and last year’s Category 2 winner was a lightsheet image of a cleared mouse embryo. If you work with light sheet microscopy or spend your days staining brain tissue to understand disease pathology, you’re in with a shout.

How the judging works

A panel of Proteintech scientists will be joined by guest judge Dr Joe McKellar, an imaging researcher at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier whose images have been recognised in Nikon Small World and Evident’s Image of the Year, and who won CiteAb’s 2026 Image of the Year Award.

The panel will pick eight finalists, four per category, based on overall aesthetics, technical difficulty, research relevance, originality and suitability for the competition. The winners are then decided by public vote, with one vote per person per day, so if you make the final it’s worth rallying your lab, your department and your followers.

What to include with your entry

Images must be JPEG or PNG and no larger than 4 MB. Each entry needs a figure legend covering:

• Antibody catalogue numbers (Proteintech and/or other suppliers)
• Sample type, for example mouse brain or 4% PFA-fixed tissue
• A colour key for each fluorophore
• The imaging technique used, such as confocal, STED, STORM or lightsheet
• Objective magnification
• A scale bar (recommended)

Previously published images can be entered, but only if the paper is Open Access and you have permission from all the relevant authors and funders. The image also has to be your own original work, and it’s worth being clear on what counts as a genuine image before you submit, so our piece on avoiding AI image mistakes in science is a useful read.

One thing to be aware of: by entering, you give Proteintech permission to use your image, name, institution and image description for promotional purposes. If the image shows unpublished data, have a word with your PI before you hit submit.

Key dates

• Entry deadline: 5 October 2026
• Finalists announced: 19 October 2026
• Public voting: 19 to 25 October 2026
• Winners announced: 2 November 2026

If you’d rather tell a bigger story with your images, the Wellcome Photography Prize is also open, with a scientific and medical imaging category and a later closing date of 21 October 2026.

Entries close 5 October 2026.