FocalPlane - Where biology meets microscopy

Welcome to FocalPlane

FocalPlane is a community site for anyone who uses microscopy in their research. It is a place where you can interact with a global community of imaging scientists, engineers, chemists, and bioimage analysts.

FocalPlane is your site and once registered, you are free to share a blog post, add an image to our gallery, post a job advert or put up an event listing.

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Recent posts

Featured image with David Gaboriau

Posted by FocalPlane, on 11 October 2024

Our featured image, acquired by David Gaboriau, shows human fibroblasts with mitochondria (Tom20) in yellow, alpha tubulin in pink and actin in grey. It’s a 3D-SIM image taken on a Zeiss Elyra PS.1, reconstructed in Zen and presented as a maximum intensity projection. Find out more about David’s research below: Research career so far: I’m originally a

vEM reveals the cellular composition of the Blood Nerve Barrier

Posted by Mario Elias Ortega Sandoval, on 11 October 2024

Using Serial Block-Face-SEM6 and AT-SEM, we characterized the cellular composition and interactions along EndoBVs7. Unlike the BBB, we observed that the vasculature within the endoneurium is not completely covered. Upon closer examination of the cells in contact with EndoBVs, we identified three distinct cell types frequently interacting with the vasculature.

Interview with Giulia Casal, the inaugural recipient of the Volume Electron Microscopy (vEM) Ambassador Travel Award!

Posted by Mario Elias Ortega Sandoval, on 11 October 2024

We congratulate Giulia for being the first recipient of the vEM Ambassador Travel Award! and thank her for advocating for our vEM Community! Giulia Casal is a PhD student in Prof. Alison Lloyd’s lab at the Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB) at University College London (UCL), where she is studying the blood nerve barrier

Microscopy preprints – applications in biology

Posted by FocalPlane, on 4 October 2024

Here is a curated selection of preprints published recently. In this post, we share preprints that use microscopy tools to answer questions in biology.

STED User Group (BINA/Canada BioImaging), October 10, 12pm EST

Posted by Ethan A. Perets, on 3 October 2024

The next installment of the BioImaging North America and Canada BioImaging STED user group will take place via Zoom on October 10 at 12 pm EST. Andréanne Deschênes (Université Laval) will deliver a presentation, “Multicolor STED Nanoscopy”, followed by group discussion on topics of community interest. This user group is targeted at users of all experience levels, and

When the collaboration makes it out of the joint lab meeting

Posted by Elizabeth-Ann Legere, on 3 October 2024

I am incredibly grateful to The Company of Biologists (Journal of Cell Science) for funding my three-week research collaboration with the lab of Dr. Gabriel Galea at University College London (UCL). My research in Dr. Aimee Ryan’s lab uses chick embryos to examine cell morphogenetic changes and protein localization patterns during neural tube development, the

Apply to become a reporter at the Biologists @ 100 conference

Posted by FocalPlane, on 3 October 2024

Are you keen to get more science communication experience? Is your research related to microscopy or cell biology? FocalPlane is looking for a reporter to attend and report from the Biologists @ 100 conference, happening 24 – 27 March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.

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