About
Techniques covered by the Section include: multi-dimensional imaging of live cells, organs and intact organisms; optical tomography; spectroscopic and functional imaging (e.g. FRET, FLIM etc); development of novel methods such as super resolution imaging, adaptive optics, optical fibres, GRIN lenses; laser-based and solid-state excitation methods; use of multiphoton imaging, confocal and scanning technologies; digital image acquisition, image filtering and analysis; automated and high-throughput imaging systems.
In addition to the overarching aims of the Society, the Section aims to advance optical imaging in the life sciences and physical sciences through education from high-school to advanced academic levels by holding courses, one-day workshops and 2-day specialist scientific meetings.
Sources of help and advice
(Get help with planning and setting up a microscopy facility)
The confocal listserver, BioImagingUK listserver and microscopy listserver all provide a useful forum where you can contact other professional microscopists, who may well have the answer(s) that you are seeking.
Hint: set up a separate email account for these listservers – they generate a lot of mail responses.
Local and national networks of imaging professionals can likewise provide help and support. For example, within the UK a list of interested and active microscopy facility managers is maintained on our Facilities Database, in co-operation with BioImaging UK
Our regular events include;
Light Microscopy Summer School
The LM summer school is an annual, residential course which runs over 3 days and covers the principles of light microscopy as well as training participants in practical issues surrounding light microscopy. After introductory presentations, the course is taught predominantly through hands-on practical sessions. The course is suitable for both novices and more experienced users wanting to gain a greater understanding of the microscope.
UK Light Microscopy Facility Managers Meeting
This meeting is aimed at people running or working in light microscopy facilities. You can expect to find out more on the latest developments in UK Bioimaging and how we can feed into wider international groups that are starting up. We will also discuss some of the basic elements (funding, impact measures) of running a core facility as well as the latest technological and application developments that effect ourselves and our users.
Frontiers in BioImaging
This is an ideal meeting for both new and established researchers to engage with a broad range of imaging approaches and to make valuable contacts with leading groups in the field.
Getting the most from your Confocal
The course enables students to fully appreciate and utilise the confocal microscope and develop their understanding confocal microscopy background as well as try FRAP, FRET and spectral unmixing. The 2-days consist of short tutorials followed by hands-on practice.
Please note that our meetings are aimed at advancing new or under-represented areas of imaging science and technology - They are run "by the members, for the members". Contact us with suggestions for future meetings.
The RMS is committed to being a welcoming, inclusive Society and encourages diversity across all activities and in the membership of our committees and groups.
If you are interested in joining any of the committees in the future, please visit our Join a Committee page.
RMS Section Awards
Launched in 2014, the Section Awards (formerly known as the Medal Series) recognise those who have made significant contributions to the field of microscopy. The RMS Section Awards celebrate outstanding scientific achievements across all areas of microscopy and flow cytometry with each RMS Science Section able to select a winner for their own award.
Find out more
Committee
Viji Draviam
Viji M. Draviam is a Professor in Quantitative Cell and Molecular Biology at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London and a Turing Research Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute. Her research interest is in the area of cell division and force generation, with a focus on the molecular basis for pathologies associated with cell division defects. To translate her group's research findings, Viji develops computational, molecular and optoelectronic tools with industry partners worldwide, Zeiss, Exscientia, MSD and Heptares. Viji leads the Center for Cell Dynamics, co-leads the AI for Drug Discovery UKRI/BBSRC-CTP and chairs the Research & Training Committee for BBSRC's flagship LIDo-DTP program.
She started her independent research as a Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a Senior Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Draviam received a PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge and an MSc from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. Her post-doctoral work was with Peter Sorger at the Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School and MIT, while her PhD work was with Jon Pines at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge. She is a Nehru Scholar and fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. She is the cofounder of CellCentives, an international clinical initiative to help eradicate Tuberculosis and a co-mentor of ENERGISE campaign that promotes STEM education among women students
Kurt Anderson
Kurt is a cell biologist who uses advanced imaging methods to study cell migration. He completed his PhD at the University of Salzburg in 1997 on the actin-based mechanism of fish keratocyte migration. He then spent 2 years as a post-doc at the Marie Curie Cancer Research Institute (UK) before moving to Dresden in 2001 to set up the light microscopy facility at the new MPI-CBG. In 2005 he moved to the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, where he runs the Beatson Advanced Imaging Resource (BAIR) and a research group investigating tumor cell migration. His work at the Beatson used imaging methods such as FRAP and FRET to study the molecular dynamics of cell adhesion and migration in vitro and in vivo. In 2016 Kurt moved to the Francis Crick Institute, where he is now Head of the Crick Advanced Light Microscopy Facility (CALM)
Virginia Silio
Virginia is a Confocal Technician working in the imaging facility at the Centre for Molecular & Cell Dynamics, University College London. She completed her PhD at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where she investigated PI3K signalling during mitosis, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Warwick studying the spindle assembly checkpoint. Virginia then transitioned into core facility roles, first at King’s College London’s Nikon Imaging Centre and now at UCL, where she supports researchers with advanced imaging techniques, including confocal, super-resolution, and light sheet microscopy. Over the years, she has developed expertise in high-quality image acquisition and robust bioimage analysis. Virginia is passionate about microscopy education, reproducibility, and promoting best practices to enhance research quality. She is also a strong advocate for the technical community, actively involved in initiatives that recognise and support the vital role of technicians in science.
Nusrah Bolatito Afolabi-Balogun
Nusrah Bolatito Afolabi-Balogun is a Professor of Clinical and Molecular Biochemistry and the Head of the Molecular Biology and Genetic Diversity Research Laboratory at the Fountain University Osogbo, Osun State Nigeria. Her interests resolves around translational biomedical research, molecular pathology, and the application of microscopy and imaging in biomedical discovery. Her work is increasingly focused on exploring spatial imaging approaches in HPV-related research, alongside strengthening research capacity, postgraduate training, and scientific mentorship. She is particularly committed to building sustainable research infrastructure, expanding access to advanced technologies in resource-limited settings, and fostering collaborative partnerships that support innovation and capacity development across emerging research environments.
Luke Doughty
Luke is a neuroscientist and currently a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bristol Medical School. After completing his MSc in Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, he worked as a Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute of Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany, before returning to Bristol to undertake his PhD. Luke is a specialist in super-resolution microscopy, particularly single-molecule localisation microscopy (SMLM) and MINFLUX, which he applies to study the spatial dynamics of epigenomic architecture at the nanoscale. His research bridges molecular and systems-level neuroscience, using SMLM/MINFLUX to link chromatin organisation in stress-responsive neurons to tissue- and behaviour-level outcomes. Alongside his experimental work, Luke develops protocols and bioimage analysis platforms to support quantitative, reproducible super-resolution workflows across the field.
Claire Mitchell
Claire is a Principal Scientific Officer working in the Beatson Advanced Imaging Resource imaging facility, part of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute in Glasgow. Claire completed her PhD in Biophotonics in St Andrews, focussed on using ultrafast lasers for cellular manipulation. She then worked on building multiphoton microscopes before moving into a core facility role. Over the last decade, Claire has gained expertise in nearly every type of light microscopy technique but specialises in multiphoton and light sheet. She is also passionate about light microscopy education and reproducibility to improve the quality of microscopy-based research.
Caroline Muellenbroich
Caroline is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow whose research interests focus on structural and functional imaging in the heart. Caroline is motivated by two grant challenges; to image transmurally through the thick muscular wall of the ventricle and to correlate functional and structural data from the same tissue to obtain causal relationships. Over the past six years she has lead research projects addressing these challenges including mesoscopic imaging of tissue structure in cleared hearts with light-sheet microscopy and functional imaging with innovative multiphoton and fluorescence lifetime imaging techniques. Caroline obtained her PhD from the University of Strathclyde working on adaptive optics and then spent 5 years in Florence, Italy focusing on neurophotonics, optogenetics and non-diffractive beams. She joined the University of Glasgow in 2018 where she leads a team on cardiophotonics. Caroline is passionate about increasing diversity and inclusion in STEM, most recently as PI on a CDT that is aimed at providing access to doctoral training to a wider, more diverse talent pool, traditionally under-represented in STEM.
Chris Mulcahy
Chris is the Head of Sales for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Abberior Instruments GmbH, a company known for pioneering superresolution STED and MINFLUX microscopy technology.
He has over 20 years of experience in the microscopy and semiconductor industries, combining a solid scientific background with commercial expertise. Chris completed his PhD in surface chemistry at Imperial College, London, publishing numerous articles involving a variety of microscopy techniques. His career includes senior sales roles at Oxford Instruments, JPK Instruments, and Eurofins, where he led teams to deliver advanced microscopy solutions and fostered collaborations with academic and industry partners.
Aleks Ponjavic
Aleks obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London, where he applied novel fluorescence microscopy techniques to study confined fluids. He then moved to the Chemistry department in Cambridge, where he worked on new single-molecule and light-sheet microscopy tools for investigating the behaviour and organisation of membrane proteins in T cells. In 2020, Aleks starts his own lab as a University Academic Fellow at the Bragg Centre for Materials Research in Leeds. Here, his lab will focus on the application of high-speed fluorescence imaging to push beyond the temporal limits of single-molecule and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy.
Michael Schwertner
Michael has a background in physics and optics and a particular interest in microscopy, instrument design and image processing. He holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, Dept. of Engineering Science, where he worked on confocal microscopy, adaptive optics and wavefront sensing.
At Linkam he has been involved with Cryo-correlative fluorescence / EM imaging (CLEM), cryo workflows and the design of some aspects of the related instruments. He has contributed to cryo-related workshops and courses in the past - including EMBO and Rothamsted Research Cryo Course.
Conor Treacy
Dr Conor Treacy is a Research Fellow at Brunel University of London, where he develops and applies advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques to study cancer biology. His current work focuses on building microscopy systems and using fast fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to investigate dynamic molecular processes in cells, tissues and patient-derived organoids.
Conor completed his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biophysics at King’s College London. He subsequently held postdoctoral research positions at King’s College London and the University of Edinburgh, working across cell biology, biophysics and optical instrumentation. His research has included the development and application of time-resolved fluorescence imaging, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and multiphoton microscopy to study protein interactions, cytoskeletal organisation and cellular mechanosensing.
Alongside his research, Conor is interested in microscopy education, instrument development and making advanced imaging approaches more accessible to biological researchers. He has joined the Royal Microscopical Society’s Early Career Committee and Light Microscopy Section, where he hopes to support early-career microscopists, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and contribute to the wider microscopy community.
AGM
The 2026 Annual General Meeting of the Light Microscopy Section of the Royal Microscopical Society will take place on Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 15:50 during the Microscopy: Advances, Innovation, Impact 2026 Meeting.
All the Society’s AGMs are free to attend for both members and non-members.