Issue 19 - Sept 2010

ARTICLES

Microscopy in Regenerative Medicine: Growing Tissue Engineered Skin
Jasmin Kee and Susan Anderson

Regenerative medicine is an exciting industry aiming to develop treatments that can replace or regenerate human tissues to restore normal function. The development of a tissue engineered skin to treat severe burns and acute skin wounds may help to save lives and provide significant benefit over current treatments. Light and electron microscopy are valuable techniques in the development of regenerative medicine products and can further the realisation of these products in everyday medical care.

Stepping inside the cell: using microscopy to promote primary school science
Claire Wells

Claire Wells reports on a microscopy project entitled “Stepping Inside the Cell”, which she undertook during the spring of 2010 at her local primary school. The aim of the project was to excite and inspire the children by experiencing working with a “real” scientist and carrying out their own investigation.

ArtCell
Stefanie Reichelt

When viewed using a microscope, all parts of the human body - from chromosomes to sperm – can be visually arresting. Stefanie's work is inspired by scientific images of cells from organisms as diverse as algae and fruit flies, and she finds the detail of the scientific images a rich source of ideas for abstract etchings.

Education and Outreach

The Society’s new Education and Outreach Committee is currently focused on two key areas of outreach: Working with schools, and a new qualification – the RMS Diploma.

Chemically Modified Graphene: An ultrathin support film for transmission electron microscopy
Priyanka A. Pandey

Progress in nanoscience and the continued development of ever higher resolution electron microscopes, means that often contrast from the support materials on which nanomaterials are placed for study in the TEM often obscures the structure of the material under investigation. As a result, the pursuit of ultra-thin and stable thin film supports is necessary to improve structural determination of nanomaterials by TEM. Perhaps the ultimate support is graphene, a single carbon atom thick crystal and the building block of graphite, which is being studied intensively due to its exceptional electrical, thermal and optical properties.

MICROSCIENCE 2010 Review

MICROSCIENCE 2010 was held at ExCeL, London, from 28th June to 1st July. 2139 visitors from 30 countries from across 5 continents passed through the doors during the 3 days. Click here to read the Review.

RMS International Micrograph Competition 2010

The standard of entries for the 2010 Micrograph Competition was quite stunning.
Click here to see the winners.