Featured image with Outi Paloheimo

Our featured image is laser scanning confocal microscope image showing cell division of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells with nuclei in grey and filamentous actin in orange. The image was acquired with a Zeiss LSM 780 microscope with a 63x/1.40 oil immersion objective, 405 nm diode laser and 561 nm diode-pumped solid-state laser. Deconvolution was performed with SVI Huygens Essential using a theoretical PSF and the CMLE algorithm. Sample courtesy of Cellular Biophysics research group, Tampere University.

We caught up with Outi Paloheimo to find out more about her research career and what she is excited about in microscopy.

Research career so far: I have a background in virology, and I’ve also been involved in stem cell research. Nowadays I work as an imaging specialist in light microscopy core facility (Tampere Imaging Facility in Tampere University, Finland), which gives me the opportunity to see all kind of research and samples varying from small model organisms to biomaterials and tissue engineering products. 

Current research:
Madin-Darby canine kidney cells in the featured image are from Cellular Biophysics group (Tampere University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology) that focuses on force transduction and force sensing in different cells and how these phenomena influence cell physiology and behavior.

Favourite imaging technique/microscope: I absolutely adore scanning electron microscopy (SEM). I consider myself a visual biologist and scanning electron micrographs – especially images of animals and plants – are astonishingly good.  

What are you most excited about in microscopy? I welcome modern technologies in performance management. Processes speeding up image acquisition, and solutions that can enhance processing large data sets are important. I also appreciate the work aiming at improvements in user interfaces. 

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