Leonel Malacrida’s journey to advanced bioimaging started during his PhD research in biophysics in Uruguay when he first studied lung surfactant—a biofilm coating the lung interior that enables us to breathe—and wanted to understand this biological material at the molecular level. During his postdoc at the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics at the University of California, Irvine, he delved into opportunities using advanced microscopy to quantitatively evaluate biology. He developed several methods and instrumentations into advanced microscopies such as the Multidimensional Phasor approach, connectivity maps, or the sideSPIM. Leonel is particularly interested in developing methods to image cells hidden in deep layers of tissues not accessible to normal microscopes. As an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the Universidad de la República of Uruguay, he recently established the Advanced Bioimaging Unit, a world-class facility for the development of novel instrumentation and for providing services and training to researchers throughout Uruguay. He is deeply committed to training the next generation of young researchers in modern advanced microscopy.
Scientific field: Biophysics
Microscopy background: Optical System Development
Posted by Leonel Malacrida, on 27 October 2021
Summary Latin America and the Caribbean comprise a vast and diverse region with significant disparities in scientific development and infrastructure. Nevertheless, it has a long history of regional integration and scientific collaboration. We present a perspective on Latin America Bioimaging (LABI) creation: a new network aimed to build community and develop capacities in bioimaging throughout