Honorable Mention: Monster Inside Me, Chia-Hung Christine Hsiao
A tropical infectious disease called Leishmaniasis is spread by sand flies. When bitten, the Leishmania parasite is delivered from the saliva of the sand fly into the bloodstream. The parasite is taken up by immune cells and will stay inside the cell to avoid being eliminated by the host. This confocal microscope image shows the interaction between the parasite and the host cell. The intruders are engulfed through a phenomenon termed phagocytosis.