Photo contests for college students often focus on experiences such as international travel, campus beauty or social events, but the 2020 ATCC contest is slightly more microscopic. Contestants are encouraged to submit photographs of ATCC cell lines or microorganisms, with the winner to be determined by popular vote.

Luis Carlos Pinzon Herrera, a third-year graduate student of the chemical engineering doctoral program, recently submitted a single photograph using microorganisms, and now his cells are becoming very popular.

Currently, more than 120 photographs have been submitted to the contest, and Pinzon Herrera's entry is holding steady in the Top 5.

To see the contest nominees and support a U of A victory with your vote, visit the ATCC Contest website. Voting ends at midnight Wednesday, July 22.

Pinzon Herrera is part of the research team in the Polymeric Biomaterials Lab supervised by Jorge Almodovar, assistant professor and the Ray C. Adam Chair in Chemical Engineering. The lab research focuses on the tailoring and engineering of biopolymeric-based biomaterials for fundamental studies and applications in therapeutics, cell manufacturing, and tissue repair. The lab also has extensive expertise in cell-culture techniques using both primary cells and immortalized cell lines.