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

Journal of Cell Science Special Issue: Imaging Cell Architecture and Dynamics

Posted by Helen Zenner, on 5 November 2024

Journal of Cell Science’s Special Issue on Imaging Cell Architecture and Dynamics is now complete. The original research in this Issue, guest edited by Lucy Collinson and Guillaume Jacquemet, covers a diverse range of imaging methodologies including CLEM, super-resolution imaging, volume EM, high-throughput imaging, FRET, expansion microscopy, mesoscopy and immuno-SEM, as well as showcasing new

ComeInCell: a new doctoral training network for synthetic cell science

Posted by Amelia Glazier, on 4 November 2024

We are delighted to announce that Journal of Cell Science has recently partnered with ComeInCell, a new European doctoral training network for integrative synthetic cell design.

An interview with Dr. Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan

Posted by Greg Redpath, on 4 November 2024

Dr. Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan is the 2025 recipient of the Royal Microscopical Society Award for Life Sciences. She is the first winner outside of Europe, highlighting the incredible cellular imaging she has led across the world. Dr. Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan is an EMBL Australia Group Leader in the Department of Molecular Medicine at UNSW, Sydney. Vaishnavi received

Microscopy preprints – new tools and techniques in imaging

Posted by FocalPlane, on 1 November 2024

Here is a curated selection of preprints posted recently on new tools and techniques in imaging. Let us know if we are missing any recent preprints that are on your reading list!

Featured image with… our JCS cover competition winner Antara Chakraborty

Posted by FocalPlane, on 30 October 2024

We are delighted to announce that our cover competition winner is Antara Chakraborty. Antara’s winning image ‘Breaking symmetry’ is the cover image for Journal of Cell Science’s Special Issue: Imaging Cell Architecture and Dynamics; you can explore the table of contents here. The image shows a mouse embryonic fibroblast labelled with phalloidin (actin – green),

Can RNA Be a Master Architect?

Posted by Neelabh Datta, on 29 October 2024

How often do we think of RNA as a mere messenger, shuttling genetic instructions between DNA and proteins, rather than the master architect in the construction of cellular structures? While most are familiar with RNA’s role in transcription and translation, the idea that RNA molecules, particularly long ones, could be responsible for organizing intricate, membrane-less

When Microtubules Lose Their Grip: The Curious Case of CKAP5 and Chromosomal Chaos

Posted by Neelabh Datta, on 28 October 2024

Have you ever wondered what happens when cells lose control over their microtubule machinery during mitosis? This cellular machinery, when functioning properly, ensures that chromosomes are correctly segregated, preventing aneuploidy and mitotic catastrophe. However, when a protein called CKAP5, which plays a major role in maintaining the stability of microtubule attachments to kinetochores, is knocked

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