DANBURY, CONN. — Western Connecticut State University graduates Arjumond Khan and Benjamin Woodhouse have received recognition from the life sciences magazine The Scientist for their video capturing the microscopic time-lapse progression of the life cycle of the slime mold species Dictyostelium discoideum.

The Scientist 2009 Video Awards, an international competition in which videos were reviewed by judges in the life sciences profession as well as readers of the magazine, cited the video, “Time Lapse Videomicrography of the Life Cycle of Dictyostelium,” as one of three runners-up in the Individual Category division. In his judging notes, Marc Friedmann, chief executive officer of the scientific video-sharing Web site SciVee, praised the work as “a great scientific video short.” Science Channel communicator, science blogger and podcast producer Kirsten Sanford observed in her review, “The time-lapse allowed dramatic change to be more apparent.”

Khan, of Stamford, and Woodhouse, of Plainville, conducted their work in videomicrography as part of their senior research project at WestConn during the 2007-2008 academic year under the supervision of faculty adviser Dr. Frank Dye, professor of biological and environmental sciences. The video recording with microscopic resolution captured three days’ progression in the organism’s life cycle from single-cell myxamoebae feeding on E. coli bacteria to multi-cell slugs, which complete their life cycle by releasing spores that germinate and produce new myxamoebae. The finished production compresses the three-day cycle into a 26-second video presentation.

Dye noted his former students are embarking this year on the next stage in their academic pursuit of promising careers in the health care field, with Khan entering medical school and Woodhouse beginning studies to become a physician assistant.

To view their award-winning video, visit the online presentation at http://www.scivee.tv/node/11137. More information on The Scientist Video Awards is available at http://www.the-scientist.com/newsletter/etoc/20090801_sea.html.

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