Topic: electron microscopy

Complementary nanoscale methods can extract different structural and material information from the same specimen, but combining them demands precise positioning and access. Alexandra Glück examines flexible multi-axis sample manipulation across electron microscopy, spectroscopy, diffraction, probing, nanoindentation and tomography. SmarAct’s customizable SEM platform illustrates approaches to alignment, measurement geometry and transitions between techniques, including in-situ experiments. The emphasis is on how adaptable manipulation enables complementary measurements to build a fuller accoun

A workshop for research technical professionals examines electron microscopy, sample preparation and the operation of research facilities. Presentations cover imaging, spectroscopy, cryo-SEM, data quality, industrial microscopy and post-irradiation examination; discussion addresses maintenance, standard operating procedures, data management and user training. Participants compare technical practices and develop collaborations across the UK microscopy community. The 17 November programme begins with arrival at 09:30, followed by a 10:00 welcome, two presentation sessions, a panel at 15:15 and c

Two QUEST doctoral positions investigate free-electron interactions with silicon photonic nanostructures. One studies enhanced coupling through tailored geometries and beam energies; the other develops hybrid devices coupling local quantum states to electron beams. Experimental electron microscopy and photonic-device work are complemented by simulations, doctoral courses and network training. Each appointment lasts 36 months, is full-time at 39 hours weekly, and includes two secondments. MSCA pay includes living and mobility allowances, plus a family allowance where applicable. The planned sta

Over the past decade our community has made substantial progress in the construction of anatomically detailed network models of the cortical tissue. Thanks to advances in computer hardware and simulation technology, researchers can now routinely work with these models at the natural density of neurons and synapses. Moreover, the availability of cloud services means that such investigations can be carried out without having to install either the model or the simulation software. A recent workshop analyzed the impact of a specific model of the cortical microcircuit, published ten years ago . The

The aim of this half day virtual meeting is to consider what is currently achievable with existing techniques and to explore where advancements can be made in the short and medium term. Leading scientists in the field will highlight the questions currently being addressed using hard X-ray imaging techniques, volume electron microscopy and their combination with other imaging modalities, with a forward look to areas of opportunity becoming accessible as a result of the recent and upcoming synchrotron upgrades. We expect an exciting day filled with science focused talks and lively discussions on

Dr. Looger will discuss reagents for tracking Ca2+, membrane potential ("voltage"), glutamate, GABA, acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, etc. He will also cover optogenetics tools and methods for correlative light/electron microscopy. They make all tools freely available to everyone and work to get them in the hands of people that have limited resources.

The "mind of the worm", the first electron microscopy-based connectome of C. elegans, was an early sign of where connectomics is headed, followed by a long time of little progress in a field held back by the immense manual effort required for data acquisition and analysis. This changed over the last few years with several technological breakthroughs, which allowed increases in data set sizes by several orders of magnitude. Brain tissue can now be imaged in 3D up to a millimeter in size at nanometer resolution, revealing tissue features from synapses to the mitochondria of all contained cells.

The Manookin lab is investigating the structure and function of neural circuits within the retina and developing techniques for treating blindness. Many blinding diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa, cause death of the rods and cones, but spare other cell types within the retina. Thus, many techniques for restoring visual function following blindness are based on the premise that other cells within the retina remain viable and capable of performing their various roles in visual processing. There are more than 80 different neuronal types in the human retina and these form the components of

The ability of the brain to encode and store information depends on the plastic nature of the individual synapses. The increase and decrease in synaptic strength, mediated through the structural plasticity of the spine, are important for learning, memory, and cognitive function. Dendritic spines are small structures that contain the synapse. They come in a variety of shapes (stubby, thin, or mushroom-shaped) and a wide range of sizes that protrude from the dendrite. These spines are the regions where the postsynaptic biochemical machinery responds to the neurotransmitters. Spines are dynamic s

Body size varies across 21 orders of magnitudes in the animal kingdom [1]. In contrast to most organs, which scale through the proliferation of dividing cells of similar size, brains expand by modulating the size of non-dividing neuronal cells to innervate space during development [2]. Consequently, there is a notable variation in neuronal size and structure within individual brains and across species [3]. Considering that size inherently affects the rates of biological structures and processes, from cellular metabolism to information processing [4], the ability of neurons to maintain essentia

Microcircuits are the fundamental building blocks of the neocortex [1]. Single instances have been reconstructed experimentally (e.g., [2]), and their general dynamics and information processing capabilities have been investigated theoretically (e.g., [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]). Their architecture is usually represented in connectivity maps consisting of probabilities that neurons establish connections. These maps reduce the complicated circuitry to simple relations between cell types, allowing for efficient instantiations of neural network models in parallel computers [8]. While this approach neglects