Imaging with… Unidad de Microscopía Avanzada, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UMA UC)

Posted by FocalPlane, on 15 January 2026

In our ‘Imaging with…’ blog post, we meet the team at Unidad de Microscopía Avanzada, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Staff role call

Rances Blanco, Microscopy Specialist
Expertise:Advanced light microscopy
Most likely to be found training users on confocal microscopy, aligning Zeiss Elyra 7 Lattice SIM² cameras.

Jheimmy Díaz, Microscopy Specialist
Expertise:Advanced light microscopy and optical imaging, including sample preparation across diverse cell types, using Zeiss LSM 880 with Airyscan, Nikon Eclipse Ti-2e for fixed and live-cell imaging, with a focus on user training and platform management.
Most likely to be found training users, supporting experiments, sharing practical tips, organizing schedules in advance, and improving workflow efficiency.

Liseth Garibaldi, Microscopy Specialist
Expertise:Operation of equipment and preparation of samples for transmission and scanning electron microscopy. User training and general facility coordination.
Most likely to be found preparing samples for TEM or SEM, operating the ultramicrotome or at the TEM, HRTEM, or SEM microscopes… I’m usually everywhere, always with a bad joke to bring a smile to the team.

Tomas Mendes, Microscopy Specialist
Expertise: Electron microscopy, sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy, paraffin embedded sample processing.
Most likely to be foundat the microtome or ultramicrotome, conducting assisted sessions at the TEM.

Margarita Meynard, Microscopist Specialist
Expertise: Light/electron microscopy, confocal/super-resolution, processing of biological samples for SEM, TEM, and paraffin; baking sweets.
Most likely to be found running around processing samples for TEM and SEM, cutting at the ultramicrotome, assisting users with the microscopes while making coffee

Alejandro Munizaga, Senior Microscopist Specialist
Expertise: Everything related to electron microscopy, from processing all sorts of samples for TEM to operate the electron microscopes.
Most likely to be found processing samples, cutting ultrathin sections, and fixing any piece of equipment that needs to be repair.

UMA in the context of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Our facility is open to anybody who needs it. We are one of several facilities in the School of Biological Sciences at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (https://biologia.uc.cl/investigacion/plataformas/).
All facilities are supervised and supported by an academic committee, led by Dr. Verónica Eisner and the staff is comprised of highly trained and skilled professionals.

Microscope role call

Light Microscopy: Zeiss Elyra7 Lattice SIM2, Zeiss LSM 880 Airyscan, Nikon C2 Confocal with additional CMOS camera, Nikon C2 confocal with SP detector, Nikon Eclipse Ti-2e with H-TIRF module
Electron Microscopy: TEM Talos F200C G2, TEM Phillips Tecnai 12, SEM Hitachi T3000

In addition, we offer TEM and SEM sample preparation services, oriented to a wide range of samples linked to applications such as human diagnosis, human and animal tissue samples oriented to research, and material sciences.

Pet peeve (something that users do that is annoying): Getting emails requesting to use a “microscope” without any information about the type of sample or the purpose of the image.

Favourite microscope: Everybody has his/her own favourite, which is for the best and that way we don’t need to fight for a specific equipment

Favourite thing to image: Anything!!! Every sample is a whole new world to explore

Best bit of advice (that you give or have been given): Good images start long before the microscope: sample preparation and planning are just as important as the imaging itself, and do not hesitate to ask for advice early, it can save time and improve your results.

If money was no object, we would buy… If we let our imagination run wild… a light sheet microscope, a new Zeiss Airyscan LSM 980 and a cryo-FIB, to name a few. Being more realistic it would be great to have a good stereomicroscope with various sources of light and a digital camera, an EM automated tissue processor and a new gold coater for SEM.

Who can access the facility?

While most of the users are from our university, we have people sending us samples for processing and imaging from different Universities/Clinical Facilities/Industries in our country and in LATAM region. If someone is from a different city, we have the capability to activate remote sessions in the microscope, so there is no need to travel.

Can you give us some examples of recent papers that were published with your assistance?

Macuada J, Molina-Riquelme I, Vidal G, Pérez-Bravo N, Vásquez-Trincado C, Aedo G, Lagos D, Yu-Wai-Man P, Horvath R, Rudge TJ, Cartes-Saavedra B, Eisner V. OPA1 and disease-causing mutants perturb mitochondrial nucleoid distribution. Cell Death Dis. 2024 Nov 30;15(11):870. doi: 10.1038/s41419-024-07165-9. PMID: 39616197.

Aceitón P, Riobó I, Del Valle Batalla F, Diaz-Muñoz J, Ulloa R, Cabrera Reyes F, Contreras T, Hernández-Pérez S, Mattila PK, Yuseff MI. B cell mechanotransduction via ATAT1 coordinates actin and lysosomal dynamics at the immune synapse. J Cell Biol. 2025 Aug 4;224(8):e202407181. doi: 10.1083/jcb.202407181. Epub 2025 Jul 21. PMID: 40689828.

Mingo G, Valdivia A, Santander GN, Babbitt N, Aldana V, Pradenas J, González P, Canales C, Toledo JA, Ibáñez C, Nualart F, Varas-Godoy M, Gejman R, Roa JC, Ravasio A, Bertocchi C, Owen GI. Extracellular matrix protein signaling promotes multi-step cancer vasculogenic mimicry formation. Cell Commun Signal. 2025 Oct 8;23(1):422. doi: 10.1186/s12964-025-02428-0. PMID: 41063119; PMCID: PMC12505716.

How should users acknowledge the facility and why is it important?

We ask our users to recognize the support of the facility in their research, in publications, thesis or presentations as follows “This work was supported by the Advanced Microscopy Facility UMA UC.” Acknowledging facilities in scientific research is vital because it highlights the equipment and institutional support that make discoveries possible. Acknowledgment encourages continued investment in the infrastructure that drives innovation.