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

Imaging spotlight: CenSpark

Posted by FocalPlane, on 24 August 2026

In this Imaging spotlight, we hear about CenSpark, a small molecule probe for live imaging of centrioles, from Cédric Pourroy, Georgios Hatzopoulos, Pierre Gönczy and team.

Microscopy preprints: applications in biology

Posted by FocalPlane, on 21 August 2026

Here is a curated selection of preprints published recently. In this post, we share preprints that use microscopy tools to answer questions in biology.

JCS snapshot – Golgi disintegration and functional disruption during paraptosis

Posted by FocalPlane, on 19 August 2026

In our latest JCS snapshot we hear from Xiang Cui, who, together with Min Cui and team, uncover a role for Golgi disintegration and functional disruption during paraptosis. In this snapshot, Xiang Cui take us through the key findings from their research.

Featured image with Mayuri Varma

Posted by FocalPlane, on 14 August 2026

Our featured image, acquired by Mayuri Varma, shows a human iPSC-derived cortical organoid stained for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a well-established marker of astrocytes.

Seeing comes before knowing: how live imaging led to the discovery of blood vessel-resident macrophages

Posted by FocalPlane, on 12 August 2026

Bart Weijts and Catherine Robin share the behind the paper story on their discovery of blood vessel-resident macrophages.

JCS snapshot – Live imaging of epithelial phagocyte differentiation in the Drosophila ovary reveals transient and novel behaviours

Posted by FocalPlane, on 11 August 2026

In our latest JCS snapshot we hear from Caique Almeida Machado Costa, who, together with Wu-Min Deng and team, used time-lapse imaging to uncover dynamic behaviours during epithelial-to-phagocyte differentiation, including migration, delamination, long-range target capture and cell engulfment. In this snapshot, Cai take us through the key findings from their research.

Imaging spotlight: FidlTrack

Posted by FocalPlane, on 10 August 2026

In this Imaging spotlight, we hear from Pierre Parutto and Edward Avezov about FidlTrack, a method for benchmarking and optimising single particle tracking.

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