Welcome to Working with Industry for Imaging Core Facilities 2027!
Join us in York from 2pm on Wednesday 6 January to 12 noon on Thursday 7 January 2027 for a free, focused, split-day meeting on how imaging core facilities can build, fund and manage successful partnerships with industry.
This event is a joint venture between the RMS Light Microscopy Section and BioImagingUK. Like the facility meetings it sits alongside, it is developed by the community for the community.
It brings together facilities, industry partners, funders and business development professionals to share what works, from making the first contact with a company through to quoting, contracts and pricing. The meeting runs immediately before the UK Light Microscopy Facility Meeting 2027, also at the University of York, so delegates can easily attend both.
Key Programme Highlights:
- Success Stories: How facilities and companies have built partnerships that work, told by the people who made them happen.
- Funding and Sharing: The schemes that support facility–industry work, including Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAAs) and regional innovation hubs.
- Building Industry Connections: How to reach companies through sector networks and organizations
- The Nitty Gritty: Understanding business needs, working with business development managers and research offices, and getting contracts, quoting and pricing right.
- Networking: Pizza, drinks and networking on the first evening.
Event Details & Logistics:
- Dates: 2pm Wednesday, 6 January – 12 noon Thursday, 7 January 2027
- Location: University of York, Department of Biology [building, address and postcode to confirm]
- Cost: Free to attend. Registration includes full access to all sessions, refreshment breaks, and the pizza and networking evening on Wednesday
This event is free, but places must be booked. Registration will close on Friday 27 November 2026.
Scientific Organisers:
Tim Hawkins
Tim is a cell biologist and Head of Bioimaging at Durham University. He completed his PhD at Durham University in 2003 in Plant Molecular Cell Biology studying microtubule associated proteins such as MOR1/GEM1, their role in cytokinesis and their relationship with catastrophic kinesins. He continued his Post-Doc career in the plant cytoskeleton including work on the NETWORKED family of actin:membrane linking proteins and their role in plant pathogen responses. In 2010 he became a facility manager and set up the light microscopy facility in the Department of Biosciences. The facilities have continued to grow with technology and staff and he became Head of Bioimaging in 2024. He is also deputy director of the Durham Centre of Bioimaging Technology. His research group develop new light microscopy technology and methodologies, such as ExM for plant cells and undertake a wide variety of translational research in collaboration with industry partners, developing imaging approaches to study live collagen dynamics and organisation, melanosome transfer and the cell mechanics of aged cells. He is passionate about bioimaging teaching, training and public engagement, leading undergraduate bioimaging modules, postgraduate courses and developing e-learning bioimaging CPD. He is a keen advocate of technical careers and a member the ITSS strategic technical leaders network.
Peter O'Toole
Peter heads the Imaging and Cytometry Labs within the Technology Facility at the University of York which includes an array of confocal microscopes, flow cytometers and electron microscopes. Peter gained his PhD in the Cell Biophysics Laboratory at the University of Essex and has been involved in many aspects of fluorescence imaging. Research is currently focused on both technology and method development of novel probes and imaging modalities.
Peter has ongoing collaborations with many leading microscopy and cytometry companies and his group also provides research support to many academics and commercial organisations. Peter is also heavily involved with teaching microscopy and flow cytometry which includes organising and teaching on both the RMS Light Microscopy Summer School and the RMS Practical Flow Cytometry courses.
Katherine Paine
Katherine completed her PhD in Chris MacDonald’s lab at the University of York using yeast as a model organism to study membrane trafficking. This project involved using a wide range of microscopical techniques such as SIM and FRET study the regulation of cell surface membrane proteins. She is now a postdoc in Ahsan Akram’s lab at the University of Edinburgh using techniques such as multiplex fluorescence imaging and FLIM to understand the tissue microenvironment in lung cancer.
Tim Young
I qualified as a Biomedical Scientist in 2012 after completing my bachelor’s degree at The University of Essex but never entered practise. Instead I moved towards research; my first job was a technician with the MRC Epidemiology Unit, here I used a variety of methods to perform batch analysis of large cohorts of samples.
After this I moved towards cancer research and worked as a research assistant for Prof. Bruce Ponder in conjunction with the NHS Papworth Histology team. The research was directed towards the investigation of DNA repair dysfunction which can cause a genetic predisposition to lung cancer, particularly in smokers.
Then, in 2016, I joined the lab of Christian Frezza at Uni. Of Cambridge as part of the mass spectrometry team before becoming the lab manager and microscopist. When the lab moved out of the country I joined Prof. Paul Lehner’s team in CITIID and am continuing my RMS diploma here.
After this I moved towards cancer research and worked as a research assistant for Prof. Bruce Ponder in conjunction with the NHS Papworth Histology team. The research was directed towards the investigation of DNA repair dysfunction which can cause a genetic predisposition to lung cancer, particularly in smokers.
Then, in 2016, I joined the lab of Christian Frezza at Uni. Of Cambridge as part of the mass spectrometry team before becoming the lab manager and microscopist. When the lab moved out of the country I joined Prof. Paul Lehner’s team in CITIID and am continuing my RMS diploma here.
Event Contacts:
Alessandra Reni
alessandra@rms.org.uk
+44 (0) 1865 254779
Contact Alessandra for RMS Event enquiries.
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.
georgina@rms.org.uk
+44 (0) 1865 254777
