Helen Zenner, Author at FocalPlane

Helen Zenner

I'm the Community Manager of FocalPlane. Get in contact with me if you have any suggestions or feedback for the site. My background is in membrane trafficking and have applied electron microscopy, confocal microscopy and super-resolution imaging to answer my research questions. During my postdoc in the St Johnston lab, I was introduced to the power of close collaboration between researchers in optical engineering, probe design, end-users and bioimage analysts. I hope that FocalPlane will be a place for all these groups to interact.

About Helen Zenner

Scientific field: Cell biology, Developmental biology

Posts by Helen Zenner

Interview with Aníbal Vargas Ríos, LiSIUM initiative coordinator

Posted by Helen Zenner, on 17 February 2026

Following The Company of Biologists’ Workshop in Ecuador, I caught up with Aníbal Vargas Ríos for an update on the Light-Sheet Imaging Universidad Mayor (LiSIUM) initiative. Aníbal is a postdoctoral researcher at Universidad Mayor and coordinator of the (LiSIUM) initiative. We discussed Aníbal’s path to his current position, his favourite moments as part of the

The Company of Biologist Workshop - Democratising Microscopy in Latin America: Imaging Across Scales and Regions

Posted by Helen Zenner, on 22 December 2025

In October, I was lucky enough to attend The Company of Biologist Workshop – Democratising Microscopy in Latin America: Imaging Across Scales and Regions. The organisers, Constadina Arvanitis, Mario Del Rosario, Helena De la Torre, Mariana De Niz, Maria Fernanda Latorre Barragán and Licyel Lenny Paulas Condori, put together an incredible programme featuring top researchers

Reflecting on five years of FocalPlane

Posted by Helen Zenner, on 30 July 2025

We are celebrating FocalPlane’s fifth birthday following its launch in 2020. The idea of launching a microscopy community site came from discussions between Journal of Cell Science’s (now former) Executive Editor Sharon Ahmad and Sean Munro, Head of Cell Biology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge and a Company Director at The Company

An interview with Andrew Porter, Research Integrity and Training Advisor

Posted by Helen Zenner, on 16 June 2025

Andrew Porter is the Research Integrity and Training Advisor at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute within the University of Manchester. Andrew worked for many years as a cell biology research scientist before moving into his role in research integrity. I caught up with Andrew over Zoom to learn more about his career path, what

Bringing the past into the future with JCS and FocalPlane

Posted by Helen Zenner, on 19 February 2025

As The Company of Biologists celebrates its 100-year anniversary, Saanjbati Adhikari and Seema Grewal look back over the history and evolution of Journal of Cell Science – from its early days as the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science (QJMS) to the publication we are familiar with today. You can read about the past, present and

UK Membrane Trafficking

Annual membrane trafficking meeting in London

Location: King's College London, UK

Date: 15 December 2026

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CSHL: Cell & Membrane Fusion

This meeting will bring together researchers from disparate areas with a common interest in fundamental processes in cell-cell, virus-cell, and membrane fusion.

Location: CSHL, NY, USA

Date: 11 November 2026 — 14 November 2026

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CSHL: Germ Cells

The specific goals of this conference are to bring together a diverse group of scientists studying various molecular, cellular and genetic aspects of germ line and gamete development.

Location: CSHL, NY, USA

Date: 6 October 2026 — 10 October 2026

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Comments by Helen Zenner

Thanks Maria, definitely a very impressive piece of work. We included the preprint in our October list: https://focalplane.biologists.com/2022/10/21/microscopy-preprints-new-tool-and-techniques-in-imaging-2/ Do let us know about any other preprints that you are enjoying!

by Helen Zenner in Microscopy preprints – new tool and techniques in imaging on 15 March 2023