Our science image competition

This year's winning image is called Feeding the Heart. The computerized picture shows the blood flow through vessels serving the heart. During the heartbeat, different amounts of pressure are put on the different blood vessels that feed the heart – shown here in different colours.

Brendan Neiland said it was “a quite beautiful image” and Roger Highfield also praised the entry.

The runner-up image is a collage of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the heart, inspired by a new imaging technique called T1-mapping.T1-mapping uses colour to give more information about heart disease than standard black and white MRI scans.

We funded an important recent discovery in Edinburgh which makes use of this technique.

Judge Roger Highfield, Editor of New Scientist, said: “This beguiling blend of heart and pontillist art shows off a novel scanning technique that can provide deeper insights into heart disease.”

The clear winner of the Reflections of Research video award this year was Streamlined, a moving representation of blood flow.

The video shows the use of advanced computer techniques to try to solve medical problems. The onset of coronary heart disease partly depends on the movement of blood in the arteries.

The runner-up was another example of work at the BHF Centre of Research Excellence at Imperial College London. 

The winner, Making new Heart Cells, shows two blood cells  which have been turned back into a stem cell-like state.

The green dots are tiny ‘nanoparticles’ which Dr Gomes and her colleagues are using to turn these stem cells into heart cells and monitor them afterwards

The runner up shows human embryonic stem cells which have the ability to turn into any cell type in the human body – including heart muscle cells. Through our Mending Broken Hearts Appeal, we hope to harness the potential of stem cells to grow and repair muscle which is damaged after a heart attack.

The BHF supporter favourite was a moving image which shows the heart of a patient with congenital heart disease, when the heart has not developed normally. The heart has only one ventricle (in pink) – usually, there are two. Researchers use imaging techniques to identify and treat heart problems that can develop in patients with congenital heart disease.

The BHF staff favourite video shows the use of advanced computer techniques to try to solve medical problems. The onset of coronary heart disease partly depends on the movement of blood in the arteries.