Bond Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri requested Mizzou research images to refresh its Joy of Discovery sculpture that spans the five floors of McQuinn Atrium.
 
Entries were juried by a committee, and final selections will be installed in the Joy of Discovery sculpture for 10 years. These images are reproduced for the transparent discs that make up the sculpture, which embodies the connection our center aims to instill between its disparate areas of science the palpable joy of discovery embodied at Bond LSC.

We encouraged submissions that are colorful and high-contrast,  and gave preference to pieces that incorporate vibrant colors with resolutions that will allow them to be produced well. A total of 8 images have been selected by the committee for installation. 

Entries included light microscopy images, electron micrographs, images of gels or other assays, data visualizations, computer simulations, and other scientific visualizations. 

Helping us highlight the beauty and importance of the work being done at the bench and in the field.

2025 Joy of Discovery – Submitted Research Images

Forty images were submitted for this competition, from across the Mizzou campus. Geology, Veterinary Pathobiology, Plant Science & Technology, Medical Pharmacology & Physiology, Biochemistry, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Biological Sciences, Orthopaedic Surgery, Animal Sciences, and Forestry.

We will be installing a gallery of all 40 images in the LSC (by mid-July), and we hope that you visit the building and take in the artwork.
Additionally, we will host an unveiling of the newly selected discs after their installation in the sculpture – this reception will occur in September and will be free and open to the public.

Congratulations to each and every one who submitted something. The decision to only select 8 images was difficult. To view the 8 selected images, scroll down.

2025 Joy of Discovery – Selected Research Images

2014 Joy of Discovery – Selected Research Images

The below images were the 8 selected to be installed in the Joy of Discovery sculpture in 2014.

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Image 1 – Dr. Pam Brown, Biological Sciences – Microbiology/Bacterial Morphology
• Image 2 – Dr. Anand Chandrasekhar, Biological Sciences – Neuroscience
• Image 3 – Dr. Antje Heese-Peck and Michelle Leslie, Biochemistry – Aberrant Arabidopsis root tip
• Image 4 – Dr. Karen Kirby, Molecular Microbiology & Immunology – HIV structural bio
• Image 5 – Dr. Melissa Mitchum, Plant Sciences – Nematodes
• Image 6 – Dr. Kannappan Palaniappan and Dr. Filiz Bunyak Ersoy, College of Engineering
• Image 7 – Dr. Peter Sutovsky, Animal Sciences – Reproductive Biology
• Image 8 – Electron Microscopy Core in collaboration with a Vet Med research project on bubonic plague