Italian researchers Pilatone and Milan win Endocrine Society's 2026 Endocrine Images Art Competition

Anna Pilatone and Gabriella Milan won the Endocrine Society’s 2026 Endocrine Images Art Competition for their microscopy image of a pre-adipocyte cell.

Pilatone and Milan are research biologists in the Endocrine and Metabolic Lab at the Department of Medicine, University of Padova, and at the Center for the Study and Integrated Treatment of Obesity, University Hospital of Padova in Padova, Italy.

The art competition celebrates the beauty of endocrine science as seen through the lens of a microscope. This year’s 29 entries were judged by a panel of Society members who based their assessments on the aesthetic value of the images and their significance to endocrine research.

Pilatone and Milan’s entry is titled “Pre-adipocyte Intriguing Scaffold.” Adipose tissue, initially described simply as body fat, has been recognized as a very complex endocrine organ characterized by different depots and composed of many cell types, including white, brown and beige adipocytes. Dysregulation of these cells causes pathological adipose tissue expansion, leading to obesity and metabolic complications such as diabetes and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

The immunofluorescence image depicts the cellular architecture of a murine pre-adipocyte used in a project aimed at investigating the role of the protein kinase CK2 in adipose tissue biology. The green cytoskeletal actin filaments and the red collagen fibers around the blue nuclei paint the fascinating complexity of the pre-adipocyte scaffold involved in the adipogenic differentiation process.

One member of the grand prize-winning team will receive complimentary registration to the Society’s annual meeting, ENDO. 

Two other winners also were announced in this year’s competition.

The second-place winner is the team of Antonio Fernandes de Oliveira Filho, M.D., and João Batista Guedes of the University of Sao Paulo - USP and Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG) in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. Their image features a rare fatty tumor known as a liposarcoma in the adrenal gland. Retroperitoneal liposarcomas are often aggressive and may present to the endocrinologist as an adrenocortical carcinoma.

The third-place winner is Luis Cedeño-Rosario, Ph.D., of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Cedeño-Rosario submitted an image of the mitochondria in the kidney’s proximal tubular epithelial cells.

All three winners will have their art displayed at ENDO 2026, the Society’s annual meeting, from June 13-16 in Chicago, Ill. The display will be seen by thousands of endocrine scientists and researchers from all over the world. Their work also will be featured in the Society’s magazine Endocrine News, on our website and on social media.

Visit the Endocrine Images Art Competition webpage for more information and to view this year’s top endocrine images along with previous year’s winners. 

About the Endocrine Society
Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, including diabetes, obesity, infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the largest global organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

With more than 18,000 members in 133 countries, the Society serves as the voice of the endocrine field. Through its renowned journals and ENDO, the world's largest endocrine meeting, the Society accelerates hormone research, advances clinical excellence in endocrinology, and advocates for evidence-based policies on behalf of the global endocrine community. To learn more, visit our online newsroom.