This initiative has been designed by a group of imaging scientists working in partnership with BioimagingUK and the Royal Microscopical Society to bring you a series of short talks designed to help those of you who are new to microscopy to better design and implement your imaging experiments. We hope these talks will also prove valuable to more experienced microscopists who would like to remind themselves of the basics and also to those who have the job of training others in microscopy techniques. Each talk is around 15 minutes long - perfect to watch with a hot beverage of your choice!
If you are interested in giving a talk or you would like to suggest a topic, please email Georgina Fletcher, georgina@rms.org.uk.
Access all the videos selecting the playlist button on the top righthand side
Organisers
Stefania Marcotti
Stefania is a postdoc and bioimage analyst at King's College London. After a BSc and an MSc in biomechanical engineering in Milan, she obtained a PhD at the University of Sheffield focused on the mechanical characterisation of bone cells with atomic force microscopy and finite element modelling. Thanks to the possibility of combining both experimental and computational approaches in all of her projects, she developed an interest in data and image quantitative analysis. In 2018 she joined Brian Stramer's group and her current research interest lies in developing and automating analysis pipelines for biological applications. Since 2023, she also offers image analysis support to the Nikon Imaging Centre and Microscopy Innovation Centre users at KCL.
Rebecca Saleeb
Rebecca is a postdoc in the Edinburgh Single-Molecule Biophysics group at the University of Edinburgh. She completed an interdisciplinary PhD with Dr Paul Dalgarno and Prof Rory Duncan, developing and using FLIM-FRET and super-resolution technologies to understand late-stage autophagy. She subsequently spent a number of years as a bio-imaging specialist/facility manager for the Edinburgh Super-Resolution Imaging Consortium, Lisbon’s Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown and Queen Mary University of London, where she helped researchers apply optical microscopy to diverse questions of biology, spanning neuroscience, cancer, immunology and cardiovascular biology. She returned to dedicated research in 2021, working in the lab of Mathew Horrocks to explore the structure and pathogenic capacity of α-synuclein aggregates, a hallmark of Parkinson’s Disease.
Liam Rooney
Liam is a Fellow in Bacteriology in the School of Infection & Immunity at the University of Glasgow. His research spans both the fields of microbiology and optical imaging, with other interests in 3D printing and Open Microscopy/Open Hardware research. He recently co‑developed the world’s first fully 3D‑printed microscope and promoted open sharing of high-performance low-cost 3D printed lenses for bioimaging. Liam's microbiology research focuses on understanding the spatial dynamics of infection and antimicrobial resistance across scales, using advanced imaging methods to tackle complex issues spanning infection biology, antimicrobial resistance, host-pathogen interactions, and image-based diagnostics.
He is an active member of the Microbiology Society and a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, having served as Chair and then Vice Chair of the RMS Early Career Committe (2020-2025). He was honoured as the inaugural Scottish Microscopist of the Year 2023/24 and is actively engaged in several initiatives focussing on community engagement and EDIA. He is an organiser and lecturer on the Strathclyde Optical Microscopy Course, an annual 10-day residential practical course on all aspects of optical microscopy.
Alex Sossick
Alex is Head of Science Innovation Platforms at the Natural History Museum. He has a strong background in light microscopy, previously leading the Advanced Imaging Facility at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, which includes a variety of microscopy techniques including confocal, high throughput and deconvolution. He is keen to raise skills and access to technology and runs various courses.
Emma McDermott
Emma is a Senior Technical Officer in electron microscopy in the Centre for Microscopy and Imaging at the University of Galway. She received her BSc in Anatomy and MSc in Regenerative Medicine, both at the University of Galway, and completed her PhD at the University of Aberdeen in 2018. During her PhD, she used electron tomography to visualise the complex 3D ultrastructure of bone-resorbing cells called osteoclasts. As the representative for the Microscopical Society of Ireland on the Early Career Committee, Emma aims to increase engagement and encourage networking between the RMS and Irish Early Career Researchers.
Georgina Fletcher
Georgina is the Project Officer for the community network BioImagingUK, an open organisation of UK scientists that develop, use, or administer imaging solutions for life science research.
Contact Georgina for BioImagingUK enquiries.