Tom Deerinck is 52 and has worked for over three decades as a research scientist at the world-famous National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research.

MOSSLESS: You walk into your office on a regular Monday morning. What are you going to do today?  
TOM DEERINCK: Science! We do all sorts of biomedical imaging experiments with collaborators from around the world on an endless variety of subjects. In the course of my work I have access to tens of millions of dollars worth of highly sophisticated light and electron microscopes that enable us to image everything from a living rat brain to a flea down to individual atoms and everything in between. Microscopes are essentially specialized cameras with a very limited field of view but that offer you a glimpse of the microscopic world that is all around us but that so few get to see and appreciate. I am very fortunate to work with a very talented group of scientists, physicists, engineers and computer programmers who create some of the most amazing cameras in the world. One of our primary focuses is on neuroscience and one of the great challenges that lie before neuroscientists is to work toward creating a wiring diagram of the brain so that we can begin to understand the foundations of memory and consciousness. It is quite a formidable task, but new types of imaging technologies are now being developed to help us do just this. I have always been fascinated at how all the beauty of the natural world is recapitulated and amplified in the microscopic world but in a strange and alien way. You could spend hours examining the intricacies of just the tiniest regions of the brain.

ML: What constitutes a beautiful microscopic photograph?
TD: In some ways it’s very much the same as any other type of professional photography. Not just having the proper exposure and good composition, but to have a compelling subject. In science just as in commercial photography, you want your image to convey a message or communicate a point with maximum informational content and impact, whether it is to illustrate the complexity, elegance, or simplicity of your subject. I work in a very controlled environment compared to most photographers in that I am try to reveal or expose some fundamental underlying truth of nature in my subjects. I would say 99% of the work is just preparing for the shot.

ML: Did you party after you won Science Photographer of the Year at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2008, or was it straight back to the labs?
TD: That was a blast. First, we partied at the Mayor’s Villa high above Cannes. Mayor Brochand is a great guy and a tremendous patron of the photographic arts. I got to meet the legendary photographer Phil Stern, best know for his cutting edge work on the battlefield during World War II and then one of the greatest photographers during the golden age of Hollywood (he shot many of the iconic Marilyn Monroe images we all know). Then it was off to a private yacht docked in the harbor chartered by Sony, then to the Palais des Festivals for the event. I have to say the rest of the evening was a bit of a shock. I was pulled aside right before the awards ceremony by one of the organizers who told me there was a terrible mistake and that I did not in fact win the science category. I was a little confused by this since no one had told me anything up until that point and I really didn’t think I ever had a shot at winning. It was actually a bit of a relief as I sat with a photographer from India and another from Russia, both of whom I was up against in the finals and who I had become friends with during the preceding few days. I was sitting there calmly waiting for one of them to win and then was stunned when my name was called. It was certainly a “deer in the headlights” moment for me. When the shock finally wore off we all headed over to the Pam Beach Casino for gambling and partying till the wee hours of the morning. Those folks really know how to have a good time. Cannes is a remarkably beautiful place with incredibly friendly people and I highly recommend visiting there if you get a chance.

ML: Imagine you just received a grant of a couple million dollars. What are you going to study next?
TD: There are so many cool things to work on. Last year we helped maverick genetic scientist and entrepreneur J. Craig Venter to produce the first microscopic images of his new synthetic lifeform; a living, reproducing bacteria that he and his team actually made with a computer. That was a mind-boggling project. We also worked on a genetically mutated fly that may hold the key to inflammation and aging in humans. We have also been working on unraveling the mysteries behind Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. So many people suffer through what could otherwise be a beautiful life. We really need to come up with a cure or at least a prevention and I think that is where I would focus my attention.