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.

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Recent posts

Microscopy preprints – applications in biology

Posted by FocalPlane, on 23 January 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.

Imaris – 3D image visualization and analysis course report

Posted by Quentin LEBEL, on 23 January 2026

I attended a training session at the Bordeaux Faculty to learn how to use IMARIS, a software designed for viewing, measuring, and analyzing 3D microscopy images. The training, organized by the Bordeaux Imaging Center (BIC), was structured to first provide an overview of the software’s broad capabilities and then dig into more specific applications tailored

My participation at the GloBIAS Conference 2025 in Kobe Japan

Posted by Beatriz Serrano-Solano, on 22 January 2026

This article was written by Dr Libert Brice Tonfack, Associate Professor in Plant Biotechnologies at the University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. Upon returning from my active participation in the first conference organized by the Global Bioimage Analysts’ Society (GloBIAS) in 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden, I immediately understood that I needed to commit strongly to the

Imaging spotlight: visualising synaptic vesicle fusion by cryo-ET

Posted by FocalPlane, on 21 January 2026

In this paper highlight from Jana Kroll and colleagues, we hear about their research combing optogenetic stimulation with plunge freezing and cryo-electron tomography to study synaptic vesicle fusion.

Imaging spotlight: U-ExM atlas of microbial eukaryotes

Posted by FocalPlane, on 20 January 2026

In this paper highlight from Hiral Shah and colleagues, we learn about their ultrastructure expansion microscopy (U-ExM) atlas of over 200 cultured planktonic eukaryotes. This post includes technical advice for ExM users and highlights the open-access resource that they have generated for cytoskeleton or marine microorganism aficionados (and microscopy sciart lovers!)

Cytoneme Imaging Tips and Tricks

Posted by Christina Daly, on 19 January 2026

There has been a growing interest in visualizing long and thin membrane extensions. The field of intercellular connections has exploded, with elegant bioimaging studies focusing on structures like cytonemes, tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), intercellular/cytokinetic bridges (IB/CBs), and migrasomes. This enhanced interest in the intercellular communication facilitated by these extensions is largely due to the recent technological

Imaging spotlight: Initiation of chromosome congression deconstructed by multi-scale live lattice light-sheet and super-resolution microscopy

Posted by Kruno Vukušić, on 16 January 2026

In this highlight, Kruno Vukušić and Iva M. Tolić describe how they use multi-scale live lattice light-sheet and super-resolution microscopy to decipher the earliest steps of chromosome congression.

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