infocus Magazine - Issue 71, September 2023

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

mmc2023 (incorporating EMAG 2023): Review and Picture Special!

Light Under the Microscope Allison Winton: A personal Reflection on nearly 40 years at the RMS

Plus...News, Calendar, Reviews, Reports 1

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

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contents features 4

mmc2023 (incorporating EMAG 2023): Review and Picture Special!

82

Allison Winton: A personal Reflection on nearly 40 years at the RMS Allison Winton

102 Light Under the Microscope Winston Ingram

regulars 50 52 62 72 96 110

Calendar Journal of Microscopy New Member Welcome Office News Company News New Products

reports and other features 42 48 64 66 69 94 120

mmc2023 – Delegate reflections mmc2023 in numbers!

The 2023 RMS International Scientific Imaging Competition RMS Early Career Symposium at mmc2023 Joanna Cull – mmc2023 Learning Zone Co-Ordinator for the RMS Study for an RMS Diploma CYTO2023 “Engaging Globally”, Montreal, Canada

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MAGAZ I N E

infocus is the Magazine of the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) – the only truly international microscopical society. The RMS is dedicated to advancing science, developing careers and supporting wider understanding of science and microscopy. infocus Magazine 37/38 St Clements Oxford, OX4 1AJ, UK Tel. +44 (0)1865 254760 Email: infocus@rms.org.uk Website: www.infocus.org.uk Scientific Editor Leandro Lemgruber, University of Glasgow, UK Editor Owen Morton Tel + (0)1865 254763, Email: editor@infocus.org.uk Editorial Board Susan Cox, King’s College, London, UK Rebecca Higginson, Loughborough University, UK Laura Fumagalli, University of Manchester, UK Myfanwy Adams, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK Maadhav Kothari, Zeiss Microscopy, UK Hilary Sandig, Cancer Research, UK Trevor Almeida, University of Glasgow, UK Advertising Email: advertising@infocus.org.uk ISSN: 1750-4740 © 2023 Royal Microscopical Society infocus is published four times per year by the RMS. Designed and produced

by Creative Design. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission from the RMS is forbidden. Views expressed in the Magazine are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the RMS.

RoyalMicroscopicalSociety @RoyalMicroSoc @RoyalMicroSoc

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

FROM THE SCIENTIFIC EDITOR Dear Readers, Well, here we are, another summer has passed (for those of us in the northern hemisphere at least), the holidays are over, and it is time for our September issue of infocus!

An undisputed highlight for me (and, I suspect, for many of our readers) of the last few months was the fantastic mmc2023 Congress which took place in Manchester, UK, from 4 – 6 July.

It was great to be back – in person - at this essential event for the microscopy, imaging and flow cytometry communities. It was wonderful to see old friends, meet new people and talk with our corporate partners about the future in our field. I also had fantastic discussions regarding ideas for future infocus content. As always, we rely on your contributions, so if you would like to write something for the magazine – or come forward with an idea, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Feel free to approach me or any of our editorial board members, either through email or in any meeting that we are attending.

As you might expect, our September issue features a colourful ‘picture special’ capturing some of the best action from mmc2023, including personal reflections kindly submitted by delegates and other reports from the Congress. If you were there at Manchester Central, perhaps you can spot yourself in one of our official photos?

Also in this issue, amongst our range of regular features, long-standing contributor Winston Ingram puts ‘light itself’ under the microscope in his latest project, with some eye-catching results…

Finally, I would like to thank retiring RMS Chief Executive Allison Winton for contributing a wonderful piece about her 39-year career at the Society. Allison has become synonymous with the RMS over the years, and will be well known to many of our readers. On behalf of the infocus team, I send my very best wishes to you, Allison; I hope you enjoy a long, happy and richly deserved retirement! I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to our new Chief Executive, Sali Davis, about whom you can read more in this issue.

Slàinte!

Leandro Lemgruber Leandro Lemgruber

COVER IMAGE: Needles of Salicylic acid This image, by Suwarna Mahajan, was shortlisted in the Light Microscopy (Physical Sciences) category of the 2023 RMS International Scientific Imaging Competition. Salicylic acid crystals are formed from evaporation of Iso-Propyl alcohol from mixture.These are white, fluffy and needle shaped crystals. Instrument: ZEISS A2m; Magnification: x20; Mode: Reflected light plane polarised.

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mmc2023 (incorporating EMAG 2023): Review and Picture Special!

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?

With the dust now settled on mmc2023 (incorporating EMAG 2023), we take a look back at what proved to be a fantastic few days in Manchester, celebrating the very best in microscopy, imaging and flow cytometry.

Perhaps you can spot yourself in one of our official event photos!

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

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mmc2023 saw a record-breaking 1,270 attendees, plus exhibitors, descend on Manchester Central as the Congress series returned to the iconic UK venue for the first time in four years.

The Royal Microscopical Society would like to thank everyone who attended its flagship event – the exhibitors, delegates, volunteers and everyone else who helped make the Congress such a special occasion for the microscopy, imaging and flow cytometry communities.

Over three days (four, including our Monday

well as AGMs for each of the Society’s Scientific

meetings), this international event combined a

Section Committees) during the Congress, which

heady mix of vibrant conference sessions (36 in

featured a number of award presentations for

total – including EMAG 2023 sessions) covering all

previously announced winners – plus some new

the latest techniques and applications in microscopy

recipients (see below). There were new Honorary

– with a world-class exhibition showcasing the very

Fellowships, awards for Scientific Achievement,

latest products and technology from some of the

Outreach and Education, service to the RMS and

leading companies in the field.

many more – including our poster prize-winners.

The event incorporated pre-Congress meetings and

We would like to congratulate all our award-winners

workshops – including an Early Career Symposium

and once again, thank you to everyone who attended

and the BioImaging UK meeting – as well as

this hugely important event for the microscopy,

free-to-attend company workshops throughout

imaging and flow cytometry communities

the exhibition. This year’s mmc also featured an expanded Learning Zone with its own lecture theatre, a dazzling exhibition of images shortlisted in our International Scientific Imaging Competition, and a series of vibrant and engaging poster sessions.

The RMS held its 2023 Annual General Meeting (as

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

We hope to see you again at mmc2025 – and in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the following pages, as we revisit some of the action from this year’s Congress. www.mmc_series.org.uk

Pre-congress meetings and workshops

The eagerly anticipated Early Career symposium

began, mmc2023 warmed up on Monday 3 July

postdocs and early career professionals working in

Before the main Conference and Exhibition even with fully-booked Pre-Congress Workshops on image processing and analysis (‘ImageJ’ and ‘python’ programming), and two AFM & SPM-themed

also took place on the Monday afternoon. This was an interdisciplinary event aimed at students, the field of microscopy. The meeting served both as a networking opportunity ahead of the main conference, and an opportunity for attendees to

workshops. There was also the BioImagingUK

showcase their research with peers.

meeting – bringing the UK Bioimaging community

A highlight of the meeting was the Early Career

together to discuss priorities and strategies in

Award competition – with the best talk chosen on

national infrastructure, technology development,

the day by a panel of judges. The prize went to Alex

training, careers and ways to share knowledge

Johnson of the Institute of Science and Technology,

across different disciplines.

Austria (Read Alex's report on p66).

Alex Johnson (right) receives the RMS Early Career Award from Professor Grace Burke and Dr Liam Rooney, who Chairs the RMS Early Career Committee.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

You'll believe it when you see it.

Widefield

LiveCodim

Revolution in super-resolution.

LiveCodim.

Conference

thanks go to Professor Klumperman (University

With no fewer than 36 sessions taking place across

Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands), Professor

six parallel ‘streams’ over three days, the conference

Joerg Bewersdorf (Yale University, USA), Professor

delivered its usual breadth and depth of microscopy

Amanda

techniques and applications across the sciences.

Laboratory, USA) and Professor Philip Withers

With standing room only, and a queue of delegates

(University of Manchester/Henry Royce Institute,

stretching out of the conference room entrance, the

UK)

first Plenary talk delivered by Judith Klumperman

We would also like to thank Dr Erin Tranfield

gave a sure indication of attendance levels - and

(Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência), who delivered

sizeable audiences were maintained throughout.

mmc’s

We would like to thank all our speakers and

Accessibility

presenters for making mmc2023 a conference to

‘Surviving a life-changing accident and relearning how to

remember – especially our brilliant cast of plenary

be a scientist’, Erin’s thought-provoking talk explored

speakers, who each brought their unique insights

what it means to be a scientist with a disability, and

and expertise to the conference platform. Our

was free and open to all attendees.

Joerg Bewersdorf

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Judith Klumperman

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Amanda Petford-Long

Petford-Long

first

(Argonne

National

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDIA)-themed

Erin Tranfield

Plenary.

Philip Withers

and Titled

Exhibition

the exhibition closed and five lucky winners each

The mmc2023 exhibition featured more than 80

received a £100 Amazon voucher.

exhibitors, including many of the leading companies

Our winners were as follows:

in the field. Beneath the grand arches of Manchester Central, they showcased the very latest products and technology, providing expert advice, product demonstrations and free workshops throughout the event. A very big thank you to all our exhibitors

•

Berardo Manuel Sanchez Tafolla

•

Chloe Cooper

•

Kseniia Bondarenko

•

Rebecca Gascoyne

•

Zeeshan Mughal

We would also like to thank all our exhibitors who

Many thanks to Prior Scientific, Thermo Fisher

took part in the mmc2023 ‘Passport Competition’

Scientific, Nikon UK, Cairn Research Ltd, and

– in which visitors used the Congress App to

Greiner Bio-One for providing the prizes.

‘collect’ a ‘full-house’ of QR codes from participating stands. A random prize-draw was carried out after

Find out more about all our exhibitors.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Learning Zone

also had access to a range of microscopes

The Learning Zone brought something a bit

demonstrating the fundamentals of microscopy.

different to this year’s Congress, with a programme

For the history buffs, this year’s display collection

of daily talks, expert advice and eye-catching,

included a Cooke, Troughton and Simms (CTS)

historical displays.

microscope from the 1950s - very similar to the one

An ever-popular - and free - feature of mmc, the

used by Rosalind Franklin, the world-famous British

Learning Zone provided the opportunity to learn

chemist and X-ray crystallographer.The McCormick

more about the many facets of modern microscopy

Collection of replica antique microscopes spanning

– including a daily programme of free introductory

hundreds of years of microscopy, and a collection

lectures at its dedicated seminar theatre. Visitors

of antique slides recently donated to the RMS were also on display.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

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Scientific Imaging Competition

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which were displayed in the foyer at Manchester Central throughout mmc2023.

This year’s Scientific Imaging Competition received

A well-attended prize-giving ceremony saw the

more than 220 submissions from across the globe,

winners revealed by RMS History Committee

spanning six different categories (Light Microscopy

Chair, Dr John Hutchison Hon FRMS – who has

– Life Sciences; Light Microscopy – Physical Sciences;

been involved on the judging panel for many years.

Electron Microscopy – Life Sciences; Electron

We were delighted that some of the winners

Microscopy – Physical Sciences; AFM & SPM; Short

were able to attend mmc2023 and receive their

Video Category). Our team of judges whittled

prizes in person (pictured opposite and overleaf).

these down to a shortlist of around 50 images,

Read John's report on p64.

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

1st Prize Light Microscopy (Life Sciences) Georgina Fletcher of prize-sponsor, BioImagingUK, accepts the First Prize in the Light Microscopy Life Sciences category, on behalf of winner Vitoria Murakami Olyntho, McMaster University, from competition judge Dr John Hutchison Hon FRMS.

2nd Prize Electron Microscopy (Physical Sciences) Zeeshan Mughal of The Open University accepts 2nd Prize in the Electron Microscopy Physical Sciences category from competition judge, Professor Pippa Hawes.

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1st Prize AFM & SPM Thomas Hackl,TU Wien / Automation and Control Institute (ACIN), receives 1st Prize in the AFM & SPM category from Professor Michelle Peckham, Editor of the Journal of Microscopy, which sponsored the award.

2nd Prize AFM & SPM Lars Mester, Attocube systems AG, receives 2nd prize in the AFM & SPM category from competition judge, Dr Alice Pyne.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

1st Prize Short Video (Physical Sciences) Albert D. Smith,TESCAN-UK, accepts first Prize in the Short Video (Physical Sciences) category from Dr Alice Pyne.

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The following images were announced as the winners and runners-up:

AFM and Scanning Probe Microscopies 1st: Thomas Hackl,TU Wien / Automation and Control Institute (ACIN). Particle or Wave? Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy image of a flat and charged Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) surface.The potential distribution represents the double slit experiment, which is generated via a separate AFM charge writing scan (20x20μm).

2nd: Lars Mester, attocube systems AG. Polymer brush PS-PMMA imaged with tapping AFM-IR at 8.7 µm wavelength. Nanoscale map of the material distribution in a PS-PMMA polymer brush sample.

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Electron Microscopy - Life Sciences 1st: Josef Spacek, Professor of Pathology, Charles University Hospital, Hradec Kralove, Czechia. A look inside the pyramidal cell of the cerebral cortex 3D reconstruction, serial electron microscopy. Orig. magn. 6000x.

2nd: Sandy McLachlan, University of Victoria,Victoria, BC, Canada.What Goes Up Must Come Down.Two specimens of Cannosphaeropsis franciscana, a fossil dinoflagellate cyst, recovered from 66 million-year-old rocks on Vancouver Island, Canada.

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Electron Microscopy - Physical Sciences 1st: Steve Gschmeissner. Plastic pollution. Coloured scanning electron micrograph of a microplastic bobble from a poly-cotton garment.

2nd: Zeeshan Mughal,The Open University. Peek-A-Boo, a snail in the nano-world. A by-product of focused ion beam milling cross-section for a ~ 100μm graphene coating on a steel substrate.

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Light Microscopy - Life Sciences 1st: Vitoria Murakami Olyntho, McMaster University. Intestinal villi of a food-allergic mouse. Image depicting the intestinal villi of a mouse allergic to the egg protein, ovalbumin, upon secondary allergen exposure.The sample was stained with flourescent-labelled antibodies.

2nd: Dan Marks, Imperial College PhD Student. Dimensionality in Ovarian Cancer. An array of spheroids grown from cells derived from a patient with ovarian high-grade serious carcinoma.The nucleus of each cell is labelled with styo-deep red.

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Light Microscopy - Physical Sciences 1st: Cagri Yalcin. Crystallization Scene of Magnesium Nitrate dissolved in water and ethanol. Half teaspoon of magnesium nitrate is dissolved in 30ml of water and ethanol.Two drops are spread on a slide which is heated and then put on an icy surface to cool down.

2nd: Nathan Renfro, GIA. Aquamarine Cave.This image shows a microscopic 'cave' created in an etched crystal of the mineral beryl complete with needle-like spires.

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Short Video 1st Life Sciences: Annalisa Bellandi, Faulkner Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. A small plant with mighty signals - plants transmit wounding information to distal leaves.There is a universe of dynamic signals inside plants - when a plant is wounded, long-distance calcium signals are transmitted quickly from the wounded leaf to the others!

1st Physical Sciences: Albert D. Smith,TESCAN-UK.Wave of Relief. Iron diffusing into titanium at 850°C over 24 hours as observed in an SEM with a 60μm view field.

Find out more about all these winning images and videos 25

Dr Peter O’Toole becomes RMS President at Annual General Meeting

Among the many announcements at the RMS Annual General Meeting, which took place on Tuesday 4th, was the appointment of Dr Peter O’Toole as RMS President. Professor Grace Burke was on hand to pass on the President's official medallion of office.

Pete said: “I have always been immensely proud to be a part of this wonderful Society, and it is a huge honour to serve as RMS President. I look forward to working alongside all our members, volunteers, and staff, as we look to continue to evolve and develop further to continue supporting the science of microscopy, imaging, analysis and flow cytometry communities.”

Read more on page 72.

Changing of the guard: Professor Grace Burke passes on the RMS President’s official medallion to Dr Peter O’Toole.

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A surprise RMS Honorary Fellowship for Grace!

a hugely influential figure in both industry and

to announce a surprise Honorary Fellowship for

America (MSA) and the RMS.

Grace.

You can read more about Grace’s career and

Throughout her remarkable career in the US and

achievements on page 76.

UK, Grace has made an enormous contribution to

…Sometimes a picture really does say it all!

Fittingly, Pete’s first duty as RMS President was

academia. She is also the first person to have served both as President of the Microscopy Society of

microscopy and Materials Science, and has become

Surprise!: Grace hides her face in disbelief, while Pete enjoys the moment.

He then hands her the Hon Fellowship certificate.

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Professor Rafal DuninBorkowski announced as RMS Honorary Fellow

Rafal was recognised not only for his groundbreaking research, but for his vision and leadership

Also joining the RMS Honorary Fellowship was

as Co-Director of the Ernst Ruska-Centre for

Professor Rafal Dunin-Borkowski – a world-

Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-

leading

C) at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Electron microscopist who has made

major contributions to a wide range of electron

Professor Rafal Dunin-Borkowski signs the Honorary Fellows register.

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microscopy techniques and applications.

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Read more on page 78.

‘Understanding Light Microscopy’ author Jeremy Sanderson receives the RMS President’s Award

Jeremy has been involved with the RMS for 35

Another highly popular award recipient was RMS

Understanding Light Microscopy, was published in

stalwart Jeremy Sanderson, who received the

2019 as part of the RMS Wiley Book series.

President’s Award in recognition of his exceptional

Read more on page 79.

contributions to the work of the Society.

years – notably as a prominent teacher on the longrunning RMS Light Microscopy courses.

He is also well known as an author on microscopy; his latest book, a comprehensive guide titled

Jeremy Sanderson (left) receives the RMS President’s Award alongside Professor Grace Burke and Dr Peter O’Toole

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Standing ovation – and surprise honour – for Chief Executive Allison Winton, as she bows out at her last mmc!

The RMS bade an emotional farewell to retiring Chief Executive Allison Winton, who has dedicated an incredible 39 years of service to the RMS as a member of staff.

It was revealed that a new RMS award has been established in Allison’s name; the ‘Winton Prize’ will be awarded in future to those who have made outstanding, sustained contributions to community engagement and collaboration in microscopy and RMS-related activities. The announcement sparked a spontaneous and prolonged standing ovation for Allison.

You can read more about Allison’s extraordinary career at the RMS on page 82.

Allison (right) becomes the inaugural recipient of the Winton Prize – established in recognition of her years of service to the RMS.

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Previously announced winners receive their RMS Awards and Honours

mmc2023 provided the perfect stage for many previously-announced

RMS

award-winners

to

receive their awards in person, and gain public recognition from the microscopy, imaging and

The four-year gap since the last mmc, and a reduced number of in-person RMS events since 2019 due to Covid, meant a large number of recipients had yet to receive their awards. Happily, we were able to put that right in Manchester for many of our recipients, and we would like, once again, to congratulate them on their achievements.

cytometry communities.

Dr Alice Pyne (right), receiving the RMS AFM & SPM Award.

Dr Andrea Centrone (left) receiving the RMS Scientific Achievement Award.

Dr Ardan Patwardhan (right), receiving the RMS Scientific Achievement Award.

Professor Christian Eggeling (left), receiving the RMS Award for Light Microscopy.

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Craig Holliday (right), receiving the RMS Diploma from Professor Susan Brooks (centre) and Dr Kerry Thompson.

Dr Elisabeth Bik (left), receiving the RMS Chris Hawes Award for Outreach and Education.

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Professor Erin Tranfield (right), receiving the RMS Alan Agar Award for Electron Microscopy.

Dr Hari Shroff (right), receiving the RMS Scientific Achievement Award.

Dr Lynne Joyce (centre left), receiving the RMS President’s Award.

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Professor Michael Sheetz (right), receiving the RMS Pearse Prize.

Dr Lothar Schermelleh (right), receiving the RMS Scientific Achievement Award.

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Dr Marty Jopson (left), receiving the RMS Chris Hawes Award for Outreach and Education.

Dr Peter Bankhead (right), receiving the RMS Data Analysis in Imaging (DAIM) Award.

Wim Hagen (left), receiving the RMS Scientific Achievement Award.

Dr Natalie Reznikov (left), receiving the Award for Innovation in Applied Microscopy for Engineering, Physical and Material Sciences.

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Dr Robert Haase (left), receiving the RMS Data Analysis in Imaging (DAIM) Award.

Xiangli Zhong (centre), receiving the RMS Vice President’s Award.

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Honorary Fellows Professor Mervyn Miles and Professor Alan Craven receive their awards

We were particularly delighted to welcome RMS Honorary Fellows, Professors Mervyn Miles and

Alan Craven to receive their awards in person.

Mervyn’s Hon Fellowship was announced in 2019 for his pioneering work in AFM & SPM – particularly in its development and application to biological systems. Alan was appointed an Honorary Fellow in 2021 in recognition of his seminal contributions to the development of instrumentation and techniques – including the STEM-EELS technique.

Professor Mervyn Miles (right), receiving his RMS Honorary Fellowship.

Professor Alan Craven (right), receiving his RMS Honorary Fellowship.

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Poster Prizes and ‘Best Talk’ Winners

Among our many award-recipients at mmc2023 were the poster prize-winners, covering a wide range of microscopy techniques across the sciences.

Each day of the event featured vibrant poster sessions, with presenters engaging in absorbing discussions with visitors in the main exhibition hall.

After some very difficult deliberations, the judges picked their winners on the final day of mmc2023.

The RMS would like to congratulate all our winners and runners-up, as follows:

Poster Prize Winners 1st Prize - Microbial Imaging Session Helena Maier,The Pirbright Institute Cross virus comparison of coronavirus proteins involved in replication organelle formation 1st Prize - Public Health Session Patrick Phillips, Diamond Light Source.The Pirbright Institute. Oxford University Correlative cryo-bioimaging to study coronavirus replication organelles 1st Prize - Frontiers in BioImaging Edward Ward, University of Cambridge Combining machine learning with interferometric structured illumination microscopy for the imaging of dynamic process in three-dimensions 2nd Prize - Frontiers in BioImaging Lydia Daly, King’s College London. Queen Mary, University of London Studying the kinetochore corona with super-resolution and fast lattice-light sheet imaging AFM & SPM, Physical Sciences Pieter Keenan, University of Bath Passive identification of adsorbate single bomobenzene molecules on atomically resolved Si(111)-7×7 surface

by I-z spectroscopy at room temperature AFM & SPM, Life Sciences William Trewby, Durham University Direct, nano-rheological studies of in-plane lipid dynamics in model and native membranes 1st Prize - mmc2023 Mahesh Uttamlal, Glasgow Caledonian University Microscopic analysis of new and historic cotton fibre cross-sections

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Runner Up - mmc2023 Patrick Phillips, Diamond Light Source.The Pirbright Institute. Oxford University Correlative cryo-bioimaging to study coronavirus replication organelles Runner Up - mmc2023 Alex Robinson, University of Liverpool Advances in Probe Subsampling for 4D-STEM 1st Prize - New & Emerging Concepts Florian Steiner, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich Quantum optics meets microscopy – An ultra-sensitive resonator microscope for nano- and life sciences 2nd Prize - New & Emerging Concepts Mollie Brown, University of Strathclyde Obtaining super-resolved images at the mesoscale through Super-Resolution Radial Fluctuations EMAG - Best Student Posters Seojin Kim, University of St Andrews Microscopic characterisation of Ni nanoparticles exsolution in La0.4CaxSr0.4-xNi0.06Ti0.94O3-d perovskite oxides Atul Atul, University of Groningen Resolving phase coexistence in VO2 thin films by real space imaging of oxygen atoms Ella Kitching, Cardiff University Investigation of the capabilities of iDPC tomography to image CeO2 nanoparticles EMAG Best Flash Talk Frances Quigley,Trinity College Dublin. Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Dublin Developments in designing a retrofittable photoelectron source for low voltage electron microscopy EMAG Best Talks Zhiquan Kho, University of Manchester Understanding multi-phase nano-scale structural complexity of reacted SiC coating of TRISO particle using STEM and unsupervised clustering John Scott, Queen’s University Belfast A Multiscale Study of Ferroelastic Domains as a Function of Aspect Ratio Andreas Körner, Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy What radiation does to water: the case of acidity under electron and X-ray exposure

Some of our prize-winners are pictured below

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R E P O RT

mmc2023 – Delegate reflections Gabriel Ing – University College London

incredible opportunity to catch up with old friends, make new friends and learn about the newest

‘Truly a highlight of my year”

and most exciting developments in the world of

After collecting my badge, I first strolled around the

providing financial support which made it possible

RMS imaging competition exhibition while waiting

for me to attend, and to all the organisers and

for the conference to begin. I was astounded by the

sponsors who made this incredible event possible;

entries, as the exhibition was full of images which

it was truly a highlight of my year.

microscopy. I loved learning what the rest of the microscopy world is up to. Thanks to the RMS for

would not have been out of place in an art gallery.

I was delighted to present my easy-to-use Pythonbased image processing package, SimpliPyTEM, to the Early Careers Symposium. Many attendees

Jun Chen, Department of Materials, University of Oxford

“An excellent platform could make life much easier for many microscopists, for sharing knowledge” seemed to agree that although simple, the package and that sharing well-documented workflows was highly valuable.

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mmc2023 was an excellent platform for sharing knowledge, presenting ground-breaking research,

The diversity of the projects presented at the

and

mmc was astounding, and the whole week was an

microscopy techniques and applications.

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

discussing

the

latest

advancements

in

I was impressed by the display of leading microscope manufacturers, microscopy

imaging

accessory

software

opportunities.

developers,

suppliers, and

related

Nikki R. Paul, Beatson Advanced Imaging Resource (BAIR), CRUK the introductions and workshops from the leading Beatson Institute for Cancer microscope manufacturers and suppliers like Nikon, Research, Glasgow, UK. technology providers. I got the chance to listen to

Zeiss, and Olympus, and the providers of specialised

“I will definitely be tools, such as Electron Microscopy Sciences, Gatan, attending mmc2025” microscopy accessories and sample preparation and Agar Scientific. I was particularly interested in the techniques that were useful in my research field - microscopy study on battery materials.

My work at the CRUK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow meant that I went to mmc with a focus on life sciences, especially fluorescence and

I would like to thank the Royal Microscopical Society

confocal microscopy, histology and high-throughput

for the financial support that made it possible for me

imaging. I presented a poster on the third day of

to attend this conference. I believe this experience

the conference, showcasing our core facility and

can significantly contribute to my professional

the many types of tissue imaging, multiplexing and

development, knowledge expansion, and networking

analysis we perform.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

I am also a committee member of the Scottish Microscopy Society (SMS), and we had our own

Weixin Song, Department of Materials, University of Oxford

competition. Our stall was a great way to meet new

“Exceptional opportunities to learn”

people from all over the UK and further afield, and

Attending mmc2023 has provided me with immense

the free Irn Bru and Tunnocks caramel wafers we

value for my professional development and career

supplied did not last long!

in electron microscopy. As one of the largest

There were many social events at mmc, with

microscopy conferences in the world, mmc2023

opportunities during the exhibition, poster sessions

offers me exceptional opportunities to learn about

and evenings. Manchester is a wonderful city with

the latest research and technological advances in

plenty of restaurants, pubs and bars (all of which

the field. I also had opportunities to interact with

I remember well from my time there as a PhD

many leading experts from academia and industry

student). Overall mmc was an excellent experience,

to allow me to gain insights on cutting-edge

allowing me to network with old and new colleagues

techniques and applications of electron microscopy.

and friends. I look forward to ELMI and EMC in

I also met peers facing similar research challenges

2024, and will definitely be attending mmc in 2025!

and share experiences on techniques and problem-

stand to advertise our upcoming symposium and our first ever Scottish Microscopist of the Year

solving approaches. These connections can lead to future collaborations and knowledge-sharing with

Andreas Bruckbauer, CRUK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, UK

researchers in my field. Additionally, I can use this opportunity to connect with potential mentors and

“The place was buzzing with excitement” The

Microscience

Microscopy

Congress

has

everything you wish for: interesting workshops, great scientific program, RMS award presentations, large microscopy exhibition, learning zone, imaging

advisers to further my professional development.

Frances Quigley, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

“Great to catch up with other EMAG members”

competition and evening networking events! And

Wednesday was the busiest day for me, as it

we can now enjoy all this in person without COVID

included giving my flash talk entitled ‘Developments

restrictions.

in designing a retrofittable photoelectron source for

The large exhibition hall in the centre of Manchester, with good traffic connections and plenty of hotels nearby, is an ideal location for an event of this scale, and the place was buzzing with excitement. With so many parallel sessions and the large variety of technologies on display, I can only give a snapshot of my personal experience of mmc2023.

Many thanks to the organisers and all the participants who mad mmc2023 such an enjoyable experience.

low voltage electron microscopy’. The talk appeared to be received well and I later had the opportunity to discuss this work with many different researchers at the poster session in the main exhibition hall.The day however didn’t end there, with Revolucion de Cuba booked for the EMAG networking event in the evening. The buffet food provided was delicious and it was great to catch up with other EMAG members.

A surprising highlight of the week was seeing Dr Mckee’s talk on the avian eggshell membrane

45

interface. While not at all in my area of research this talk proved to be extremely interesting and informative, including giving tips on the best way to store eggs when shopping.

The end of the conference involved the prize giving for the student talks and posters. I was delighted to have been awarded a prize for best flash talk. It

Xinjuan Li, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, UK

“Constructive feedback from experts in the field”

was a great way to end the conference which was

I presented a poster, entitled “Atomic resolution

extremely informative and allowed me to have

electron imaging of grain boundaries and intragrain

some interesting discussions with some exceptional

between interfaces in perovskite semiconductors”

researchers.

in the poster sessions. The poster was well received and resulted in several interesting discussions. The

Liisa Hirvonen, Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis (CMCA). The University of Western Australia

“Poster sessions were a definite highlight” For me, the absolute best thing about mmc2023 was

location and distribution of dopants, impurities, and defects within the perovskite layer and at the interfaces with other layers in perovskite solar cells are well investigated through aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. This opportunity allowed me to receive constructive feedback from experts in the field, further refining my work and validating its significance.

seeing my international colleagues in real life for the first time in four years.

During the conference, I enjoyed the atmosphere listening to talks, and was pleased to see a large audience during my contributed talk in the multimodal imaging session. A large amount of my time was also spent at the exhibition hall, catching up with new technology and old friends, as well as making new connections. As usual, many exhibitors had brought impressive pieces of demo equipment, and I will be sure to follow up on many of the latest developments with my local vendors.

On the social side, the in-person poster sessions were a definite highlight - overall the atmosphere, quality of research and enthusiasm of the presenters all contributed to a delightful experience. The second poster session was followed by the networking dinners, one for each - EMAG,AFM/SPM and Frontiers in Bioimaging. I attended the Frontiers dinner at Fazenda, which was still at full swing when I retired well past my bedtime at 10:15pm.

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Hannah Baird, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, UK

“My imagination ran wild” One talk that stood out for me was that of Dr Peter Bankhead during the engaging Artificial Intelligence session. Peter’s 2014 book Analyzing fluorescence microscopy images with ImageJ helped me immensely as a novice PhD student with no knowledge of image analysis, and it was fascinating to see how he went on to combine image analysis with machine learning in the open-source software, QuPath.

In addition to the posters, plenary lectures, and themed sessions, delegates were given the opportunity to talk with over 80 exhibitors at the mmc2023 exhibition. On show was the most cuttingedge technologies available for microscopy, and my imagination ran wild thinking about what could be achieved with some of the equipment there.

Making Imaging Elementary Introducing Unity, the world’s first combined Backscattered Electron and X-ray (BEX) imaging detector.

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Visit nano.oxinst.com

in numbers!

www.mmc-series.org.uk

1270 710

560 6 29

Conference Delegates

Exhibition Attendees

Countries

437 Abstracts

196 Submissions

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83

Continents

Images

Attendees

Exhibitors

278 55 64 270

41

Talks

Bursaries

Commercial Workshops

Invited Speakers

Posters

75%

Exhibition Carpet Recycled & Reintegrated

26

Awards & Honorary Fellowships

1000s

Networking Conversations 49

Calendar We are very pleased to continue offering a range of ‘in-person’ and virtual events this year, in order to maximise accessibility and provide opportunities to those who might not otherwise be able to attend.

The following information was correct at the time of publication but could potentially be subject to change in the coming weeks. Please visit our event calendar at www.rms.org.uk for the latest updates.

Our online calendar includes all the details about forthcoming talks in the International Microscopy Focus Lecture Series – a joint, online initiative established between the RMS, and a number of international societies.

If you have any questions about a booking you have already made for an event, or need any help or advice, please contact us at info@rms.org.uk

2023 September 26 Advanced Reconstruction Toolbox: Leveraging AI to Solve X-ray Imaging Challenges on ZEISS Xradia Platforms (Online, RMS-hosted event) 26 - 27 Nanoscale In Situ Microscopy Workshop 2023, Diamond Light Source (RMS-sponsored event)

October

4 Expansion Microscopy User Group Meeting - Canada Hosted, (Online) 9 – 10 Facilities Management Training Course - York, UK 9 – 13

All Things Cryo - Nottingham, UK

November 16 flowcytometryUK 2023 Cambridge, UK

December 4-5

Virtual European Flow Core Meeting 2023 (Online)

2024

January 4–5

UK Light Microscopy Facility Meeting 2024, Edinburgh, UK

8–9

Flow Facilities Meeting 2024 , Birmingham, UK

February 8–9

EM-UKI 2024 (Electron Microscopy UK and Ireland),York, UK

March 25 – 28 AFM SPM 2024, Durham, UK

June 4–7

elmi2024, Liverpool, UK (RMS-hosted event)

For further information on all these events, please visit our Event Calendar at www.rms.org.uk

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Featured RMS events All Things Cryo 9 – 13 October, Nottingham Scientific organiser: Chris Parmenter, University of Nottingham This course consists of two and half days, broken into morning and afternoon virtual lecture sessions, covering the theory of the techniques.

Facilities Management Course 2023 9 – 10 October,York Scientific organisers: Jemima Burden, University College London; Derek Davies, The Francis Crick Institute; Joanne Marrison, University of York; Peter O’Toole, University of York; Alex Sossick, Natural History Museum

Days 4 and 5 (Thursday and Friday) will be filled with practical demonstrations / Q&A sessions to explore the practical points of the techniques / approaches with the delegates in person, should they wish to come to Nottingham. This course is designed to be suitable for anyone that wants to explore cryogenic microscopy methods to support their research and this could apply to life sciences, material sciences and beyond. to give you the basic knowledge to enable you to run a core facility effectively. There will be tips and tricks throughout from experienced experts in the area. It is geared towards all levels, from those experienced in running a core lab to those looking to move in to this field as a career.

This course will take place the University of York, UK.

This is an intensive in-person course equipped flowcytometryUK 2023 16 November, Cambridge Scientific organisers: Derek Davies, The Francis Crick Institute; Rachael Walker, Babraham Institute The flowcytometryUK 2023 Meeting will take place in person and will highlight the diverse Virtual European Flow Core Meeting 2023 4 – 5 December, Online Scientific organisers: Charlotte Petersen, Aarhus University; Derek Davies, The Francis Crick Institute; Peter O’Toole, RMS President, York University; Desiree Kunkel, BIH at Charité; Marta Monteiro, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência; Marjolijn Hameetman, Leiden University Medical Center This will be the first meeting of what will hopefully become a new tradition - an annual event to meet with fellow flow core colleagues from all over Europe. The meeting is aimed at

areas in which cytometry is a vital resource.

There will be scientific presentations from a number of speakers covering immunology, marine biology, extracellular vesicles and other important research areas. Talks will be interspersed with commercial flash presentations. Sponsors will allow delegates to have access to information on recent developments in the field.

all those that run or work in a Flow Cytometry Core Facility and seeks to address common subject matters, themes, and circumstances within the European community. We will focus on new and emerging technologies as well as operational aspects of running, and working in, a core. We will include talks about national cytometry societies, presentations from current core facilities (Crib talks) and also from our industry colleagues (Technobites). The meeting will run over two days, from lunchtime to lunchtime (04 and 05 December 2023). Although in a virtual format, there will be ample time in the programme for discussion and questions from the community.

The meeting will be ‘live’ and will not be recorded, it will be unavailable online afterwards.

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Journal of

Microscopy The Journal of Microscopy publishes top quality research articles, review articles and Hot Topic papers covering all aspects of microscopy and analysis.

This includes cutting-edge technology and innovative applications in physics, chemistry, material and biological sciences.

You can read the latest Early View papers online at www.journalofmicroscopy.org They include:

Dehydration as alternative sample preparation for soft X-ray tomography

Anthoula Chatzimpinou, Charlotta Funaya, David Rogers, Stephen O’Connor, Sergey Kapishnikov, Paul Sheridan, Kenneth Fahy, Venera Weinhardt Soft X-ray tomography (SXT) is an imaging technique that allows to see the internal structures of cells without the need for special treatments like fixation or staining. Typically, SXT imaging involves freezing and imaging cells at very low temperatures. However, since many labs lack the necessary equipment, we explored whether SXT imaging could be done on dry samples instead. We compared

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different dehydration methods and found that critical point drying (CPD) was the most promising for SXT imaging. CPD-dried cells showed high structural integrity, although they absorbed more X-rays than hydrated cells, demonstrating that CPD-dried sample preparation is a viable alternative for SXT imaging.

Practical strategies for robust and inexpensive imaging of aqueous-cleared tissues

Rebecca M. Williams, Jordana C. Bloom, Cara M. Robertus, Andrew K. Recknagel, David Putnam, John C. Schimenti, Warren R. Zipfel Lightsheet microscopy offers an ideal method for imaging of large (mm–cm scale) biological tissues rendered transparent via optical clearing protocols.

However the diversity of clearing technologies and tissue types, and how these are adapted to the microscope can make tissue mounting complicated and somewhat irreproducible. Tissue preparation for imaging can involve glues and or equilibration in a variety of expensive and/or proprietary formulations.

Here we present practical advice for mounting and capping cleared tissues in optical cuvettes for macroscopic imaging, providing a standardised 3D cell that can be imaged routinely and relatively inexpensively. We show that acrylic cuvettes cause minimal spherical aberration with objective numerical

apertures less than 0.65. Furthermore, we describe methods for aligning and assessing the light sheets, discriminating fluorescence from autofluorescence, identifying chromatic artefacts due to differential scattering and removing streak artefacts such that they do not confound downstream 3D object segmentation analyses, with mouse embryo, liver and heart imaging as demonstrated examples.

Mechanism of action and side effects of colchicine based on biomechanical properties of cells Lanjiao Liu, Mingxin Chen, Yifan Gao, Liguo Tian, Wenxiao Zhang, Zuobin Wang Many diseases are related to changes in the biomechanical properties of cells; their study can provide a theoretical basis for drug screening and can explain the internal working of living cells. In this study, the biomechanical properties of nephrocytes (VERO cells), hepatocytes (HL-7702 cells), and hepatoma cells (SMCC-7721 cells) in culture were detected by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to analyse the side effects of colchicine at different concentrations (0.1 μg/mL (A) and 0.2 μg/mL (B)) at the nanoscale for 2, 4 and 6 h. Compared with the corresponding control cells, the damage to the treated cells increased in a dose-dependent manner.Among normal cells, the injury of nephrocytes (VERO cells) was markedly worse than that of hepatocytes (HL-7702 cells) in both colchicine solutions A and B. Based on the analyses of biomechanical properties, the colchicine solution reduced the rate of division and inhibited metastasis of SMCC-7721 cells. By comparing these two concentrations, we found that the anticancer effect of colchicine solution A was greater than that of solution B. Studying the mechanical properties of biological cells can help understand the mechanism of drug action at the molecular level and provide a

theoretical basis for preventing the emergence and diagnosis of diseases at the nanoscale.

Physical properties and photocatalytic activity of Crdoped TiO2 nanoparticles Mohammad Abushad, Swaleha Naseem, Mohammad Arshad, Adil Shafi, Mohammad Zain Khan, Azizurrahaman Ansari, Vishal Kumar Chakradhary, Fouran Singh, Shahid Husain, Wasi Khan In the present study, nanoparticles of TiO2 and Crdoped TiO2 have been synthesised by a cost-effective acid-modified sol-gel process. The effect of Cr doping on the microstructure, thermal, magnetic and photocatalytic properties of TiO2 were explored in detail. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images exhibit the presence of elongated nanoparticles with an average size of 10 nm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used to study the surface morphology of the synthesised materials, which revealed nonuniform morphologies and less aggregation of the particles in the Cr-doped sample.

Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirms the elemental compositions with the appropriate stoichiometry of the elements. Raman spectra ensure the phase purity of the materials and also a blue shift with the incorporation of Cr ions in TiO2.

X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) predict the chemical state of the elements and oxygen vacancies in the prepared samples. The magnetic nature of all the synthesised samples was examined through the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and revealed weak ferromagnetic behaviour of the samples. These results signify that the oxygen vacancies and defects play a crucial role in developing the ferromagnetic nature of oxide semiconductors. The differential thermal analysis (DTA) shows the structural phase transition at ∼630°C.The photocatalytic performance 53

of the prepared samples was studied for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under irradiation of visible light. A higher p h o t o c a t a ly t i c efficiency was found for the 20% of Cr-doped TiO2. These studies propose that the appropriate incorporation of Cr ions makes TiO2 very efficient for visible lightdriven photocatalysts required for applications in wastewater treatment.

EBSD patterns simulating multilayer twins based on dynamical theory of electron diffraction Xinglin Li, Xiangcheng Li, Tao Wu, Chenglong Lv, Canying Cai

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) can be employed to determine crystal structures but has not been used alone to identify defects at the atom scale due to the lack of understanding of the EBSD patterns generated by various structure defects. In the present work, the EBSD patterns of FCC-Fe with 9-layer, 6-layer and 3-layer twin structures are simulated, respectively, using the revised real space (RRS) method and compared with the counterpart of perfect crystals. Our results show that when the electron beam is incident along a direction parallel to the twin plane, the pattern appears symmetrical with respect to the corresponding Kikuchi band of the twin plane, and the diffraction details within the Kikuchi band also exhibit symmetry with respect to the middle line of the Kikuchi band. Moreover, the overall clarity of the patterns decreases, and the pattern becomes more blurred with increasing the distance from the Kikuchi band corresponding to the twin plane. By contrast, the incident electron beam along the direction perpendicular to the twin plane

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results in diffraction superposition of the matrix region and the shear region, which shows two-fold rotational symmetry with respect to the Kikuchi pole corresponding to the normal to the twin plane.

In addition, some extra Kikuchi bands appear in the EBSD patterns due to the long-period structures of the multilayer twins. As the number of multilayer twins decreases, the number of extra Kikuchi bands decreases and the area of the blurring pattern increases. The correlation between twin structures and EBSD patterns provides theoretical insights for identifying twin structures by the EBSD technique.

Made to measure: An introduction to quantifying microscopy data in the life sciences Siân Culley, Alicia Cuber Caballero, Jemima J Burden, Virginie Uhlmann

Images are at the core of most modern biological experiments and are used as a major source of quantitative information. Numerous algorithms are available to process images and make them more amenable to be measured. Yet the nature of the quantitative output that is useful for a given biological experiment is uniquely dependent upon the question being investigated. Here, we discuss the three main types of information that can be extracted from microscopy data: intensity, morphology, and object counts or categorical labels. For each, we describe where they come from, how they can be measured, and what may affect the relevance of these measurements in downstream data analysis.

Acknowledging that what makes a measurement ‘good’ is ultimately down to the biological question being investigated, this review aims at providing readers with a toolkit to challenge how they quantify their own data and be critical of conclusions drawn from quantitative bioimage analysis experiments.

A new method for calculating interplanar spacing to distinguish between similar phases in EBSD

Fan Peng, Jimei Zhang, Ziwei Liu, Xuemei Song, Wei Zheng, Yi Zeng

Commercial electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) systems generally use interplanar angle matching for pattern indexing, and thus, they are unable to distinguish between some similar phases with close interplanar angles, such as Al and Si. The interplanar spacing is more diagnostic but generally difficult to apply in pattern indexing because it lacks precision.

In this study, we proposed an efficient approach for accurately measuring interplanar spacing by correcting the reciprocal-lattice vector (RLV). The phase discrimination of Al and Si was performed by interplanar spacing matching. The Kikuchi bands were identified automatically by the self-developed method using pattern rotation combined with grey gradient recognition without the help of human eyes. The reliable RLV relationship was extracted by accurately drawing reciprocal-lattice vectors. The lengths of RLVs were corrected, and then the RLVs were used for evaluating lattice spacing. The results of five Kikuchi patterns with different clarity showed that this new method reduced the average error of interplanar spacings by 50.611% and achieved an average accuracy of 1.644% for lattice spacing calculation. The method could distinguish structures with a difference in lattice spacing of at least 3.3%.

This method was also effective for fuzzy patterns and partially missing Kikuchi bands and might be used as a new strategy for improving the calculation accuracy of lattice spacing for fuzzy patterns. The method did not have additional requirements concerning the number of detected Kikuchi bands and poles.

The accuracy of lattice spacing could be effectively improved by correcting the RLVs based on routine pattern recognition. This method might be used as

an auxiliary approach to differentiate between similar phases and is well-adapted to the existing commercial EBSD system.

Submit to the Journal of Microscopy 1.

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Search for Journal of Microscopy on the App Store or Google play and access your personal or institutional subscription wherever you are, whenever you want.

Submit online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmi View the Guidelines for Authors and full submission details online at:

www.journalofmicroscopy.org 55

Open Access in the Journal of Microscopy: Why you should Read and Publish with us!

The Journal of Microscopy is published by the Royal Microscopical Society on our behalf by Wiley. The Journal is critical to the Society as almost all of the income it generates comes back into the Society and supports many of our activities. It is the oldest journal dedicated to the science of microscopy. It was first published as ‘The Microscopic Journal and Structural Record’ in 1841, shortly after the Society was first formed (in 1839). It then became ‘the Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London’, then ‘the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Sciences, and finally, the Journal of Microscopy in 1878. All of these issues are available online in the back-catalogue, and are a fascinating read, including articles from some very famous microscopists such as Ernst Abbe, who published several articles in the journal, and was made an honorary fellow by the Society. Interestingly, even then, part of the aim of publishing the Journal was to provide a source of income for the society, over and above subscriptions from members, and of course, this is still true today.

Today, the Journal faces several problems. First, is the perceived problem of its impact factor, which has been gradually increasing and is now 2.0 (in 2022). The impact factor is based on the average number of citations per paper in the past 2 years and was originally used by librarians to help decide which journals to subscribe to. It then became used as a sign of quality; the higher the impact factor of the journal that a paper is published in, then the better it must be. However, this is not correct. Even in journals that have a high impact factor, some papers are barely cited, and occasionally some are not cited at all. Thus, the simple fact of publishing in a high impact factor journal does not mean a specific paper is in itself very high in quality or has a

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strong impact on the field.

Importantly, the use of the impact factor to judge a paper’s worth has now been largely discredited.

Just over 10 years ago, the scientific community came together to sign DORA, the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, which you can read here: https://sfdora.org/read/. One of the key general recommendations of that declaration was not to use Journal Impact Factors to assess the merit of research articles as well as the contribution of individual scientists in hiring, promotion, grants, fellowships etc. Those recommendations are largely being taken up worldwide. For example, all in the UK, all UKRI grant committees are explicitly told not to use impact factors to judge the outputs of

Figure 1: Editors of the Journal of Microscopy.

the applicants. This should be reassuring to early

on the topic of microscopy, and it is still one of its

career researchers, and yet, many people still

main goals today.

consider impact factor when choosing where to publish.

The second problem that faces the journal and the Society is open access. Open access is a great

I think we need to think more about whether the

venture, in that all papers will eventually be free to

journal is a good place to publish your paper, rather

read, without needing a subscription to the journal.

than simply focus on impact factor. The Journal

Many grant funding agencies now expect that you

of Microscopy is a good place, because all of the

publish your work as ‘open access’. The Journal

editors (Fig. 1) and the editorial board are all expert

of Microscopy currently publishes articles that are

microscopists. This means your paper has the

either open access and free to read, on the payment

best chance of being expertly reviewed by expert

of an APC (article processing charge), or published

microscopists! And then, once it is published, it is

at no cost to the authors, but not freely available to

published alongside many other articles that focus

read for 12 months, and can only be read if you, or

on microscopy, so it is in a good place in terms of

your institution has a subscription to the Journal.

visibility. Finally, the journal should be the natural

However, did you know that if you want or need

home for papers focussed on microscopy, and

to publish your paper ‘open access’ you can do this,

specifically those from members of the Society as

without incurring any costs, if your institution has

well as microscopists generally. This was one of the

signed up to the Wiley Transformational deal? Many

drivers for starting up the Journal many years ago,

institutions across the UK (Jisc institutions), Europe,

to provide a place where the papers are focussed

and many other countries have done this. Under

57

this deal, not only can you read the journal for

atomic force and near field techniques. It publishes

free, but you can also publish open access papers

high quality papers, reviewed by experts, and should

with no cost to you individually. The subscription

be your first journal of choice for all things in

deal includes APC costs for a certain number of

microscopy! So, please do consider us when you

papers per institution. Currently, the Journal of

are next putting your paper together, and if you

Microscopy has a really broad reach; over 9000

are uncertain as to whether it is a good fit or not,

institutions across the world have access to the

please do email us and ask!

journal via subscription. Articles published in 2022

Prof. Michelle Peckham

were read 789 million times over 252 countries and territories. However, papers do tend to be read more widely if they are open access, and you can do this! You can find out more about this and your

General Editor of the Journal of Microscopy m.peckham@leeds.ac.uk

eligibility here: (and see more details below)

Read and Publish

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/

in place with institutions and funders to help authors

journal/13652818/homepage/open-access

publish open access and ensure compliance with

Eventually, the Journal of Microscopy will switch to

open access policies. Authors from an institution

being solely open access. This is great, scientifically,

affiliated with an open access deal may publish

but it gives the Society yet another problem. When

primary research and review articles open access at

this happens, the amount of money that the Society

no charge to the author.

will receive per article for each paper published,

The Journal of Microscopy offers authors a hybrid

will drop by well over 50%, severely impacting the

open access option. The benefits include:

income that the society receives from publishing the Journal, and thus likely to affect our ability to support the wide range of activities that we do

The Journal publisher, Wiley, has several agreements

• •

currently.We are not alone, in that this is a problem for all journals published by scholarly societies. The only way we can start to make up this deficit is by publishing more papers. Currently, we publish about 80 papers a year, in 12 issues. We encourage you to submit your papers to the journal, to help us increase the number of papers we publish, and we

• • •

also encourage any ideas for special themed issues.

standards with rigorous peer-review

To summarise, the Journal of Microscopy is

Consortia included in these agreements include:

the oldest journal dedicated to the science of microscopy and the only peer-reviewed publication of the Royal Microscopical Society. It publishes papers that report on the very latest developments in microscopy such as advances in microscopy techniques or novel areas of application. The scope covers research in the physical and biological sciences and covers imaging methods using light, electrons, X-rays and other radiations as well as

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•

High visibility all articles are immediately, freely available online Easy compliance with open access mandates with Creative Commons licenses Reuse and immediate deposit of final article in any website or repository Copyright retention – You retain the copyright for your article at all times Automatic export to PubMed Central/Europe PubMed Central (PMC) when appropriate High-quality and authoritative publishing

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

• • • • • • • •

Jisc institutions in the UK; Projekt DEAL institutions in Germany; Dutch Universities/UMCs (VSNU); Austrian Academic Library Consortium (KEMÖ); Irish institutions in Wiley’s IReL agreement; Swedish Bibsam institutions; FinELib institutions; Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane (CRUI);

• • •

•

Hungarian Electronic Information Service Programme (EISZ) institutions; Norwegian institution participating in the Unit agreement; Conference of Rectors of Universities (CRUE) and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Spain; Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries (CSAL).

Please visit Wiley Author Services for more

information and to check if your institution is participating: Automatic Article Publication Charge waivers and discounts will be given to authors from countries on the Waivers and Discounts List. Authors should submit a waiver or discount request during the submission of their article.

Please contact Editorial Office Manager Jill Hobbs for further information.

Special Issue of Journal of Microscopy: “Women in Microscopy: Part 1” Celebrating the contributions of women at the forefront of microscopy

This special issue was co-edited by Michelle Peckham (University of Leeds), Ulla Neumann (Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Köln, Germany) and Siân Culley (KCL). Together we solicited papers from a broad range of women involved in microscopy with the aim of celebrating their achievements and contributions to microscopy. This has culminated in Part 1 of Women in Microscopy, which has now been published online.

We hope to publish Part 2 shortly.

To find out more about this special issue, please

Rita Strack

read the introduction here: https://onlinelibrary.

The election of women as Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Club

wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jmi.13207 It is a lovely mix of articles, with advice on careers from Rita Strack, editor of Nature Methods, an account of the election of women as fellows to the Royal Microscopical Society, original papers on advances in microscopy, and reviews that highlight advances in microscopy across a range of topics. I encourage you to read this special issue, and we look forward to part 2!

The

issue

(July

2023)

features

following papers:

A bird’s eye view on microscopy

the

Pam Hamer

Multi-foci parallelised RESOLFT nanoscopy in an extended field-ofview Xavier Casas Moreno, Francesca Pennacchietti, Guillaume Minet, Martina Damenti, Dirk Ollech, Federico Barabas, Ilaria Testa

A method for reproducible highresolution imaging of 3D cancer cell spheroids Thomas A. Phillips, Valeria Caprettini, Nandini Aggarwal, Stefania

59

Marcotti, Rob Tetley, Yanlan Mao, Tanya Shaw, Ciro Chiappini, Maddy Parsons, Susan Cox

intER-ACTINg: The structure and dynamics of ER and actin are interlinked

Non-fitting FLIM-FRET facilitates analysis of protein interactions in live zebrafish embryos

Charlotte Pain, Frances Tolmie, Stefan Wojcik, Pengwei Wang, Verena Kriechbaumer

Julia M. T Auer, Laura C Murphy, Dong Xiao, David U. Li, Ann P Wheeler

In-depth polarisation resolved SHG microscopy in biological tissues using iterative wavefront optimisation Dmitry Nuzhdin, Emily G. Pendleton, Eleanor B. Munger, Luke J. Mortensen, Sophie Brasselet

A perspective of fluorescence microscopy for cellular structural biology with EGFR as witness M. L. Martin-Fernandez

Seeing clearly – Plant anatomy through Katherine Esau’s microscopy lens Anja Geitmann

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Overcoming the challenges of preserving lipid-rich Cannabis sativa L. glandular trichomes for transmission electron microscopy Samuel J. Livingston, Eva Yi Chou, Teagen D. Quilichini, Jonathan E. Page, A. Lacey Samuels

Microscopical palynology: Birch woodland expansion and species hybridisation coincide with periods of climate warming during the Holocene epoch in Iceland Kesara Anamthawat-Jónsson, Lilja Karlsdóttir, Ægir Thór Thórsson, Margrét Hallsdóttir

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Alemnis AG | Switzerland | info@alemnis.ch | +41 33 533 79 00

New Member Welcome The Royal Microscopical Society would like to welcome our new members who have joined us in the last three months. We hope they enjoy a long and rewarding membership with the RMS. Dr Alice Macente Ms Oi Ting Bernadette Kwok Mr Harrison Greenwood

Mr Viktor Ellingsson Dr Matthew Piggott Mr Michael Large

Mr Philip Hubbard Shaoxia Chen Miss Hannah Anderson

If you know of anyone who might be interested in becoming a member of the Royal Microscopical Society and if you would like us to contact them, please send their details to our Membership Administrator, Debbie Hunt – debbie@rms.org.uk Application forms are available to download at www.rms.org.uk/membership Don't forget you can now log into the RMS website and check your membership status, renew and download receipts. If you have never logged into the RMS website, please enter the email address that is linked to your membership and then click 'forgotten password'.

If you have any queries or questions about your membership please contact Debbie Hunt debbie@rms.org.uk

Member Profiles Name

Ajit Roy Tell Us About You? Ajit is a master’s degree student in Optics and Photonics as a part of Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree euroPHOTONiCS programme.

He earned his bachelor's degree in Optics and Optoelectronics Engineering from the Department of Applied Optics and Photonics, University of Calcutta (India).

He has a keen interest in Fourier Optics, Microscopy and Ultrafast Photonics.

Why did you become a member of the RMS? I am an Optics and Photonics master’s student with a great interest in light Microscopy. Currently I'm building the world's latest 6th generation Single Molecule Localisation Microscope in close collaboration with EMBL Imaging Centre

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

and EMBL Cell Biology Biophysics Unit (Ries Lab). I want to continue in this special field of science and want to be a major contributor to the field of Optical microscopy and Bioimaging.

Becoming a part of this society is a primary step towards my greater goal.

How do you feel being an RMS member benefits you?

I feel amazed and overwhelmed. I love microscopy and it was my dream to be a part of this enriched, well-known, old society.

A warm welcome to our new Corporate Members: Agilent Technologies www.agilent.com

high-tech company based in Delft, Netherlands that develops powerful and user-friendly solutions for electron microscopy, bringing researchers and organizations closer to research insights across diverse application fields.We are driven to create a greener and healthier future by making microscopy an easy and accessible technique through automation of the entire workflow.

As a global leader in analytical and clinical laboratory technologies, Agilent is committed to helping our scientists bring great science to life.

Leveraging more than 50 years of analytical and clinical laboratory expertise, we deliver trusted answers to our customers’ most critical questions and challenges. We passionately help scientists and clinicians make the smallest everyday advancements and life-changing discoveries that advance the quality of life.

Alemnis AG www.alemnis.com Alemnis AG is a Swiss pioneer in the field of insitu micro- and nanomechanical property testing with 15 years of experience. At the core of Alemnis instruments lies the ambition to push the boundaries of testing in extreme environments and at extreme timescales. Furthermore, Alemnis AG revolutionizes in-situ micromechanical property testing with their unparalleled True Displacement Control, provide researchers with an exceptional level of control and precision at the nm and µN range.

Delmic B.V. https://www.delmic.com/en/ Delmic is a passionate

Stratocore www.stratocore.com

Research management delivered. Globally.

Stratocore is the leading enterprise software company focused on helping research institutions better manage scientific resources. Stratocore delivers a powerful, continuously supported and refined core facility management solution that is globally deployed at over 200 research organizations around the world. Stratocore increases core facility efficiency and enhances the overall strategic management of institutions’ research enterprises.

Vitrotem B.V. www.vitrotem.com Vitrotem develops and sells userfriendly systems for the fabrication Graphene Liquid Cells (GLCs) that enable researchers to study (biological) materials and processes in liquid at unprecedented resolution in standard electron microscope.

Vitrotem was founded in 2019 as a spin-off of the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. The company is located at Sciencepark Amsterdam and has a satellite lab in Leiden.

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R E P O RT

The 2023 RMS International Scientific Imaging Competition

A

n ever-popular feature linked to our flagship mmc series of conferences is the RMS Scientific Imaging Competition. This has developed from the Micrograph Competition which has been running for over 50 years. I well remember being awarded first prize for a lattice image of a complex oxide crystal, several decades ago…..!

In those days, monochrome micrographs were

competition coming from more than 30 different

usually enlarged to about 10x8 inch prints, mounted

countries, including the United States, India, South

on stiff card and posted in to the RMS office in

Africa and Australia. With the RMS including all

central Oxford. Now that digital photography has

areas of microscopy, we were delighted to receive

all-but replaced negatives and prints, images can

over 200 images or video clips, almost all of which

now be submitted online, with entries to the 2023

showed a very high standard of presentation. One of

John takes the microphone to preside over the award ceremony during mmc2023.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

The shortlisted images were arranged into an attractive exhibition, shown here, in the Foyer at Manchester Central.

the aims behind the competition is to promote the

many images, although some authors produced

presentation of scientific images at the highest level,

rather garish colour “enhancements” which can

demonstrating practical skill in recording the image,

occasionally detract from the image itself. Some

as well as careful processing where appropriate.

very effective images were actually reproduced in

The judging panel, consisting of Joelle Goulding,

grey-scale without any additional, false colour.

Pippa Hawes, Alice Pyne and myself, reviewed all

Authors of the winning entries (shown on pages

the submissions separately, before agreeing on a

20-25) all received certificates and very attractive

short-list from each category, which was selected

prizes, including computer tablets and portable

for displaying at mmc prior to the final judging. The

speakers.

images were on display throughout mmc, in the

We look forward to seeing your entries in two

entrance foyer. Selecting the short-listed entries

years’ time at mmc2025!

was a very tough call, as nearly all images would

Finally, a word of thanks to the office staff Lucy

have been worthy winners in their own right. As

Ridler and Owen Morton who worked behind the

well as considering the underlying science behind

scenes in collating all the entries and setting up the

each image, and whether an image “told a story”,

eye-catching display of images.

we also looked for that elusive “wow factor”, which

Find out more about all the winning entries from

caught the viewer’s eye. The use of common image

the 2023 RMS Scientific Imaging Competition.

processing software was used very effectively in

John Hutchison

65

R E P O RT

RMS Early Career Symposium at mmc2023

By Alexander Johnson, Early Career Award-winner Current affiliation: Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

P

roviding

career

to investigate nanostructures within cells, but

researchers to showcase and integrate

a

platform

for

early

also shared insights into how she balanced career

their research into the scientific community

progression while starting a family. Next, it was the

is fundamental to maintaining and developing a

selected abstract talks from students, postdocs and

healthy research environment. So, it was fantastic to

early career professionals. These included examples

attend the recent RMS Early Career Symposium at

of applying state-of-the-art imaging and analysis

mmc2023 to see this very thing in action - early

tools to investigate biological processes; such as

career researchers promoting their research

the function of glycosylation in cell motility (Joanna

contributions, networking, and hearing the career

Cull [Oxford Brookes University, UK]), stem cell

experiences of fellow/senior researchers. It was

renewal (Aishwarya Sivakumar [University of

even more fantastic to attend the symposium as a

Edinburgh, UK]) and a novel analysis package to

nominee of the RMS Early Career Award!

quantify electron microscopy images (SimpliPyTEM)

The symposium specifically focuses on research in the field of microscopy, so hosted a wide range of research topics with a strong interdisciplinary theme throughout. It opened with an invited talk by Dr. Judy Kim (Rosalind Franklin Institute, UK) who not only spoke about her work using electron ptychography

(Gabriel Ing [University College London, UK]). A highlight was the presentation of Jay Christopher (University of Strathclyde, UK) who shared his work on 3D printing lenses for fluorescence microscopy – it will be extremely interesting to see how these printing approaches can reduce cost barriers and

Figure 1. Multiscale quantitative imaging of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana. Confocal imaging can be used to examine the overall efficiency of endocytosis using lipid dye markers like FM4-64 at the tissue scale.TIRF and SIM provide live high and super resolution imaging of single events of endocytosis in intact plant samples, which can define endocytic dynamics and provide precise protein localizations. SEM and STEM can be used to examine the ultrastructure of endocytic events, and further combined with tomography to visualise endocytosis in three dimensions.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Figure 2. RMS Early Career Committee Chair Liam Rooney (left) and RMS Vice President Grace Burke presenting me with the RMS early career award.

impact custom optical designs.

functions in plants is poorly understood. A major

Next, it was the RMS Early Career Award competition, which

seeks

to

recognise

the

achievements and contributions to the imaging community of an early career scientist. It takes the form of a five-minute presentation where nominees are judged on the impact, complexity, and novelty of their research. Mart Last (Leiden University Medical Center, NL) presented his research pioneering correlated light and electron microscopy using super-resolution light microscopy and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-CLEM), and Lara Dresser (University of York, UK) demonstrated how to use FRET and model membrane vesicles to understand the biophysics of membrane fusion events. Finally, I presented my work investigating endocytosis in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana.

reason for this has been the lack of tools to visualise and quantify CME in plants at appropriate resolutions.

This is because plants are an ‘unfriendly’ sample for many microscopy approaches; for example, cell walls produce many refractive index mismatches and light scattering effects, and the extreme turgor pressure in plant cells has hampered the preservation of CME structures in traditional electron microscopy protocols. Therefore, to begin investigating planta CME, we had to overcome these optical and sample preparation challenges. By working with an amazing team of supervisors, colleagues and collaborators, I developed a range of quantitative tools to directly image CME in plant samples at multiple scales: automated unbiased analysis pipelines paired with (i) confocal provides analysis of tissue scale efficiency of CME, (ii) total internal reflection fluorescence

While clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is an

microscopy (TIRF-M) and structured illumination

essential eukaryotic process, surprisingly, how it

microscopy (SIM) provide temporal dynamics

67

and precise localisations of proteins at live single

have been extremely lucky that people have trusted

events, (iii) scanning electron microscope (SEM) and

in my research vision, and I’ve found willing and

scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)

amazingly talented interdisciplinary collaborators to

tomography of metal replicated unroofed plant cells

enable them. Special mentions include Dr. Christien

provide the high-throughput and 3D analysis of

Merrifield (CNRS, FR), Dr. Grégory Vert (CNRS,

endocytic events at the ultrastructural resolutions

FR) and Prof. Jiří Friml (Institute of Science and

(Fig. 1). Using these tools, we have been able to

Technology Austria).

significantly update our working model of plant CME and uncover that plant endocytosis is evolutionarily

References:

unique from other eukaryotic model systems. For

1.

mechanistic

example, we found that despite the high turgor in

framework

of

clathrin-mediated

endocytosis in plants. Elife, 2020. 9.

plants, plant CME is independent of actin [1], and that it is in fact a plant-specific complex (absent

Narasimhan, M., et al., Evolutionarily unique

2.

Johnson, A., et al., The TPLATE complex mediates

in yeast and mammals) that mediates endocytic

membrane bending during plant clathrin-mediated

membrane bending [2]. To aid the progression of

endocytosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2021.

plant CME investigation, and provide the community

118(51).

with a standardised toolkit which allows the direct comparison of data generated from different labs, I

3.

quantitative

have published the full protocols, analysis codes and

evaluation

of

clathrin-mediated

endocytosis in the plant model Arabidopsis. J Cell

example data for these techniques as open access

Sci, 2020. 133(15).

resource publications [3, 4]. I am honored to say that the judges presented me with the award for

Johnson, A., et al., Experimental toolbox for

4.

Johnson, A., et al., Three-dimensional visualization

this work (Fig.2)!

of planta clathrin-coated vesicles at ultrastructural

I would like to again express my gratitude to those

resolution. Mol Plant, 2022. 15(10): p. 1533-

who have supported me throughout my career. I

1542.

Contacting the Royal Microscopical Society The offices of the Royal Microscopical Society are at: 37/38 St Clements, Oxford, OX4 1AJ, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1865 254760 For general enquiries email info@rms.org.uk For information about meetings and courses email events@rms.org.uk For membership enquiries email membership@rms.org.uk

www.rms.org.uk

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

R E P O RT

Joanna Cull – mmc2023 Learning Zone Co-Ordinator for the RMS

I

’m a third-year PhD student at Oxford Brookes

Development, 2) Open-source hardware and

University on the Oxford Interdisciplinary

software and 3) Techniques, image analysis and

Bioscience Doctoral Training Programme, and

practice. Two workshops were delivered around

my internship at the RMS involved coordinating the

the theme of open-source hardware and software.

design and delivery of the free-to-attend Learning

The first workshop was an introduction to image

Zone at Microscience Microscopy Congress 2023

analysis in three popular free platforms: FIJI, napari

(mmc2023), 4-6th July 2023.

and Jupyter notebooks. The second workshop showcased five open-source hardware projects in microscopy which included EnderScope, UC2 and OpenFlexure. It also included a demonstration from the Natural History Museum about the use of 3D printed models and ‘Museum in a box’ in outreach and engagement for the visually impaired.

Both workshops on open-source software and hardware had a record attendance for the Learning Zone. This was a great insight into how conference programmes are put together! I also liaised with the Historical Committee to showcase their

The aim of the Learning Zone is to provide core microscopy knowledge and provide early career

collection of rare historical McCormick collection of microscopes and slides on the Learning Zone.

researchers with advice and tools to help them

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at the RMS

progress. Working alongside Andrew Scott, the

and have learnt so many invaluable skills – I was

design process involved planning of audio/visual,

given so many opportunities to develop and learn.

power, signage, and furniture requirements. It

Being able to attend mmc2023 and see the delivery

also involved liaising with industry to arrange

of the Learning Zone was very rewarding. It was

sponsorship through the loan of microscopes that

great to interact with so many different people and

were used in the Learning Zone for demonstrations.

disciplines and I will miss the teamwork at the RMS!

It was a great experience to communicate with industry and get that experience, as it can be hard to make those connections working in an academic lab. It was a great insight into how industry works!

I worked alongside Kerry Thompson and the Outreach and Education Committee to create and deliver a programme of 25 lectures. These were based on three themes: 1) Career and Professional

69

NEWS Dr Peter O'Toole welcomes delegates to mmc2023.

From the RMS President Dear Readers, It is my great pleasure to be writing my first piece for infocus Magazine as RMS President. It is a tremendous honour and a privilege to have been chosen to lead this wonderful Society, and I feel humbled that my colleagues on the RMS Council have put their faith in me. I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Professor Grace Burke, who led the society so well for four years and, I am glad to say, will continue to provide her support and wisdom as Vice President. I hope to build on everything that has been achieved under Grace’s leadership – and all others who have held this privileged position before me.

For those who don’t know me, I have a broad background in microscopy – my lab at The University

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of York employs both light and electron microscopy, as well as an array of flow cytometers and other assorted instruments. I have been involved in microscopy and cytometry since the start of my PhD (I won’t say how long ago!), and while my current lab deals mostly with life sciences samples, we still have a significant number of materials projects running through it. I have been involved with the RMS since the early ‘Noughties’ – serving as a science section Committee Member, then as Committee Chair, and then as part of the Society’s Executive Committee.

While it is still so fresh in the memory, I couldn’t possibly write this entry without commenting on the tremendous success of mmc2023, which saw the biggest attendance in its history. It was great to

catch up with so many friends and colleagues and to enjoy all the amazing science on show – in both the conference rooms and exhibition hall. I would like to pay special tribute to the efforts of the Scientific Organisers and RMS Office Staff, who pulled out all the stops to put on the biggest – and perhaps best ever – mmc.

Since taking on the Presidency, I have been thinking a lot about the bigger picture where microscopy is concerned, and how important it is to the world.

It strikes me that we can sometimes lose sight of this when we are so focused on our own particular areas within academia or industry. But the fact is that almost everything around us has, at some point, gone under a microscope. From the jet engines on our aeroplanes that fly us safely, to the medicines we are prescribed; from ensuring the quality of our water to the food we eat - microscopy is involved somewhere along the line.

This is why an international organisation such as the RMS, and its role in bringing scientific communities together, is so important. Science cannot – and does not – operate in a vacuum. Collaborations must be fostered; knowledge must be harnessed and disseminated. I wonder how many crucial conversations have taken place at RMS meetings and conferences over the years for instance? Or put another way, how many new discoveries and technological advances might not have materialised without such opportunities to engage and share?

I don’t think it is overstating the case to say that the work we do here at the RMS is, in its own way, profoundly important in helping the world move forward.

Speaking of RMS meetings and other events, a number of other highly successful events have taken place this summer, including our Light Microscopy and Confocal Courses, both returning for the first time since Covid, with excellent numbers and great feedback. Hot on the heels of mmc2023 was our Super-Resolution Workshop, which was superbly well attended – showing the growth of interest in this ever-developing area.

is very much on the ‘up’, with an improved ‘impact factor’. This is a great endorsement of the work of the Journal Editors, and those who have submitted, reviewed and otherwise contributed to its increasing success. You can read more about the Journal on page 52.

Looking ahead, it is really exciting to see our programme is full of different activities – ranging from our annual courses and meetings such as the Flow Cytometry Course in early September, to the new and more niche areas such as Adhesion and Migration Meeting, taking place in Warwick. In addition, the RMS continues to offer its assistance in hosting events for others – including corporate members. One such event – a webinar hosted on behalf of Zeiss – is taking place in late September.

We will be looking to take on more of these events, while continuing to support other initiatives – such as FlowCytometryUK, which we are preparing to host in November.

Before signing off, I would like to pay special tribute to our long-standing Chief Executive and RMS staff member Allison Winton, who is retiring after almost 40 years at the Society. As you will read elsewhere in this issue, Allison’s knowledge of the RMS and its activities over the years is second to none, and she has certainly been an invaluable mentor for me personally, throughout my time here.

While we will miss Allison greatly, it is – more importantly - an exciting time for her, as she embarks on a new chapter in her life, and I look forward to regular updates on her activities!

It is also an exciting moment for the RMS, as we welcome our new Chief Executive, Sali Davis. It was great to get to know Sali at mmc2023, and her obvious enthusiasm for the science world. Sali has a wealth of knowledge and experience within the charitable sector, and I’m really looking forward to working with her. I am sure she will provide great stewardship for the Society as we move forward.

My very best wishes to you all.

Dr Peter O’Toole, RMS President

On the publications front, the Journal of Microscopy

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NEWS

Dr Peter O’Toole appointed as President of the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) Director of the Technology Facility and Head of the Imaging and Cytometry Labs at the University of York, and renowned for his teaching role at the RMS

The RMS is delighted to welcome Dr Peter O’Toole as the Society’s new President, following its Annual General Meeting at mmc2023 in Manchester.

Peter, who is Director of the Technology Facility and heads the Imaging and Cytometry Labs at the University of York, takes over the reins from outgoing President Professor Grace Burke, who has led the Society since 2019.

Peter, who was previously RMS Vice President, has a long and distinguished association with the Society. Among his many contributions to RMS activities, he is perhaps best known for his extensive involvement with teaching microscopy and flow cytometry - including both the RMS Light Microscopy Summer School and the RMS Practical Flow Cytometry courses - as well as being one of the pioneers of the influential Light Microscopy and Flow Cytometry Facilities Meetings that have helped these communities come together.

He added: “I am fortunate to be following on from Grace Burke, who has shown great leadership and wisdom in guiding the RMS over these last few years – especially as these have been a particularly challenging period for the scientific community during the Covid pandemic. Following Grace is no easy task, but I am thankful that she will remain as a Vice-President to help support.”

Grace, who is Laboratory Fellow at Idaho National Laboratory, USA, and Professor Emeritus University of Manchester said: “It has been a great honour to serve as RMS President and I would like to thank everyone at the Society for their incredible support over the past four years. I have truly enjoyed my time in the role, and take great pride in everything we have achieved – and continue to achieve - as an international Society (founded in 1839!) in support of all forms of microscopy and related techniques.”

She added: “I am delighted to pass on the baton to Peter O’Toole, who I have come to know well as a colleague and friend. Pete is a great asset to the RMS and the wider microscopy community; the Society is undoubtedly in safe hands under his leadership.”

In his role at York, Peter oversees both the Imaging and Cytometry labs, featuring an array of confocal microscopes, flow cytometers and electron microscopes. He collaborates with many leading microscopy and cytometry companies, and his group also provides research support and consultancy to many academics and commercial organisations.

His research is currently focused on both technology and method development of novel probes and imaging modalities.

Peter said: “I have always been immensely proud to be a part of this wonderful Society, and it is a huge honour to serve as RMS President. I look forward to working alongside all our members, volunteers, and staff, as we look to continue to evolve and develop further to continue supporting the science of microscopy, imaging, analysis and flow cytometry communities.”

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Peter receives the RMS President’s official medallion from outgoing President Grace Burke.

Dr Robert Harniman to receive RMS Vice President's Award

Award recognises outstanding contributions of engineers, technicians or laboratory research support scientists.

Rob has led the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) facility at the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry for the last 11 years, making it a highly respected hub for the technique. He has driven AFM as an interdisciplinary platform, collaborating across the Schools of Chemistry, Physics, Earth Sciences, Medical Sciences, and the Faculties of Life Sciences and Engineering.

Rob is a well-known and respected expert within the University and beyond, as a pointRob Harn iman. of-reference for AFM. He is renowned for his application of advanced force microscopy skills, his innovations, original project ideas and his thoroughly positive, ‘can-do’ spirit. His collaborations have resulted in over 80 publications, with 17 in Science and Nature journals, with an h-index of 32.

Rob has steered the addition of new capabilities within the AFM facility to broaden the relevance of the technique, and secured funding for a range of new projects and interdisciplinary collaborations, both local and international.

In addition to his extremely rich portfolio of skills in force microscopy, Rob has also been heavily involved in the development of new instrumentation. This has been influential in several areas including photothermal and photoradiative cantilever drives, and perhaps most significantly, through vertically-oriented probe (VOP) force microscopy.

Rob designed and built the first high-speed noncontact VOP microscope, achieving remarkable

resolution imaging molecular ultra-structure. The unique balance of sensitivity and control in VOP microscopy was also essential in the world-first direct measurement of the spin-momentum of photons, a fundamental quantum force. Rob’s contributions were vital in the adaptation of vertical probe microscopy to measure this effect and prove the physical existence of the Belinfante momentum.

Rob’s experience across a range of fields at the nanoscale has not only enabled him to invent new techniques in applications such as the nano-templating of diamond, but also enriches the teaching environment at the University. In the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, he has developed and supervised numerous interdisciplinary Masters projects where AFM forms the core in technological development or characterisation of unique materials. During the Covid lockdown, he developed innovative datamining projects for Masters students, with such success that these projects were successful to the point they are now a regular feature in the School syllabus.

Former RMS Vice President Susan Anderson said: “Rob’s achievements are seriously impressive, and he continues to go above and beyond his technical role in the AFM Facility at Bristol.

Through the application of his skills, innovations and collaborations, he is enriching both the learning of others, and the field in general. He is a highly deserving recipient of the Vice President's Award.”

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NEWS

RMS appoints new Chief Executive, Sali Davis, following retirement of long-serving Allison Winton The Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) is very pleased to announce the appointment of Sali Davis as its new Chief Executive, following the retirement of Allison Winton – who has served almost 40 years at the Society.

Sali, who comes from a legal background, joins the

Sali is a lay panel member for Social Care Wales sitting on Fitness to Practise panels for registrants

RMS having spent 14 years as the Chief Executive of Optometry Wales, a membership body representing all primary care Optometrists in Wales. Prior to this,

in the Social Care profession. She is also a ‘Mentor Mum’, coaching new mothers who are returning to the workplace following maternity leave.

Sali Davis.

74

she worked for Deloitte and Touche LLP, running a practice review programme for Tax Partners on both a local and national basis. She has also worked as a Project Officer for the Royal College of GPs.

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Sali said: “I am so excited to take on this new challenge, and to be joining such a highly respected international Society with a rich and unique history. Under Allison’s leadership the RMS has strengthened its reputation for the delivery of high quality events, publications and Outreach and Education activities. I hope to ensure her legacy is preserved, and to build on everything that has been achieved.”

She added: “Having attended mmc2023, I was able to see what a huge role the RMS plays on the international stage and how crucial it is to the scientific communities. Within the first few months of my role, I will be spending time immersing myself in the world of microscopy, working with our dedicated team and identifying opportunities for greater collaboration with stakeholders across the international stage and looking at what opportunities there are to really promote the work that we do.

“I am very much looking forward to meeting all committee chairs, attending committee meetings and first and foremost, supporting the team at RMS to help them do what they do best – serving our membership to the best of our combined abilities.”

Allison, who joined the RMS in 1984 as Secretary to the Administrator, is retiring having held the Chief Executive post since 2017, and the position of Events Director for five years prior to that.

During her decades of service, Allison has performed a wide variety of roles – from publications advertising and sponsorship, to organising outreach initiatives, exhibitions, courses and conferences. She has overseen the

delivery of countless major events, and has worked with no fewer than 18 different RMS Presidents.

She said: “The RMS is a brilliant organisation and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of it for so many years. It is a bittersweet moment for me, but I feel the time is right to step down and move onto the next chapter in my life. Over the years I have worked with some amazing people and I would like to thank everyone involved at the RMS – past and present – for making this such a wonderful journey.

I would also like to wish Sali every best wish for the future, and I hope that she will enjoy working for the Society as much as I have – it is such a special organisation, and I am sure it is in very good hands under her leadership.”

RMS President Dr Peter O’Toole said: “Allison has

been an incredible support, ambassador and leader for the RMS for so many years. She has also been a great mentor for me personally – in terms of learning about the Society and how to navigate the charitable world. We will all miss her greatly, but it is also an exciting time for Allison, as she opens a new chapter in her life, and we wish her every happiness.

“This also opens up an exciting new chapter for the RMS, and I am delighted to welcome Sali Davis as our new Chief Executive.

Sali has a vast amount of experience within the charitable sector and great enthusiasm for the scientific world. I’m really looking forward to working alongside her and the rest of the RMS team as we move forward together.”

Allison Winton.

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NEWS

Professor Grace Burke becomes an Honorary Fellow of the RMS Former RMS and MSA President receives prestigious accolade at mmc2023 The RMS was delighted to announce a surprise Honorary Fellowship for Professor Grace Burke at mmc2023.

with Peter Swann (founder of the company Gatan), and subsequently F. J. (John) Humphreys, on the mechanism of stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steel. Here, she pioneered the use of energy dispersive X-ray analysis using scanning transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to understand microstructural and microchemical

Grace, who recently stepped down as RMS

changes that affect environment-sensitive behaviour

President having led the Society since 2019, learned

of austenitic stainless steel.

the news during the RMS Annual General Meeting which took place at the event.

Grace

has

made

seminal

After returning Stateside, Grace joined the US Steel Research Laboratory, where she worked

contributions

to

in

corrosion,

in

physical

metallurgy/

thermomechanical processing of steels, and led

remarkable career, which has included long periods

the use of analytical S/TEM. It was during this time

in both industry and academia, in the US and UK.

that she became involved with Atom Probe Field-

She took her Undergraduate degree in Metallurgical

Ion Microscopy to study a variety of precipitation/

Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in the

segregation phenomena, eventually starting her

USA, and then travelled to the UK to undertake

research into irradiation embrittlement of nuclear

a PhD in Metallurgy at Imperial College London

reactor pressure vessel steels.

Grace receives the Hon fellowship certificate from new RMS President Peter O’Toole.

76

then

microscopy and Materials Science throughout her

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Following the demise of basic research at US Steel,

Grace became RMS President in 2019, and is the

Grace continued this research as a member of the

only person to have served as President for both

Research faculty at the University of Pittsburgh,

the RMS and MSA. In 2018 Grace received the

where she continued to work in irradiation

President's Award of the MicroAnalysis Society, and

damage and thermomechanical processing of

in 2020 she won the Henry Clifton Sorby Award

steels. She moved to the Westinghouse Science and

of the International Metallographic Society / ASM

Technology Centre in 1987, and continued to work on a broad range of materials, including structural materials used in light water reactors.

Grace

eventually transferred to the (Westinghouse) Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, where she

International. Most recently, in February 2023, Grace received the Charles S. Barrett Silver Medal of ASM International and presented the Barrett Lecture in Golden CO at the Rocky Mountain ASM Chapter.

continued her research into materials for nuclear

Despite long periods in industry, Grace has over

power systems.

250 publications, all of which have utilised advanced

She became President of the Microscopy Society of

microscopy methods to elucidate key microstructure-

America (MSA) in 2005, and in 2011, following her

property-performance relationships, particularly in

nearly 30-year career in the US nuclear industry, she

metals. In addition, she has made seminal contributions

accepted a position at the University of Manchester

towards the correlation of Atom Probe Field-Ion

as Professor and Director of the Materials

Microscopy with analytical transmission electron

Performance Centre, where she also was appointed

microscopy for structural materials, and the use of

Director of the Electron Microscopy Centre (2012-

in-situ microscopy methods for studying degradation

2016).

phenomena in engineering materials.

Big thanks to departing interns, Zoe Barr and Joanna Cull!

The RMS staff team has said goodbye to two PhD

more on page 69).

students who have been carrying out internship

Meanwhile

projects as part of their courses.

We would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Joanna Cull

has

of

to gather the success

Oxford

stories of the Hitachi

Brookes University,

SEM Outreach scheme –

and Zoe Barr, of

an RMS-backed initiative

the University of St

enabling

Andrews.

to carry out projects

Jo

RMS Learning Zone at

mmc2023

and

schoolchildren

with a portable electron

co-ordinated

preparations for the

Zoe Barr.

Zoe

written an impact report

microscope. You can read Jo Cull.

more about Zoe’s work

and the project itself in our next issue of infocus!

was instrumental to

We would like to wish both Jo and Zoe all the best

its success during

in their future studies and careers.

the Congress (read

77

NEWS

Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski awarded RMS Honorary Fellowship World-leading electron microscopist receives Society’s most prestigious accolade Rafal is currently Co-Director of the Ernst RuskaCentre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, which has come to be regarded as one of the world’s leading centres for electron microscopy research. He has facilitated many successful research proposals involving national and international collaborations and, together with his colleagues Joachim Mayer and Carsten Sachse, is leading the development of several unique instruments that combine highly sought-after sample handling and imaging capabilities.

Professor Rafal Dunin-Borkowski signs the RMS Hon Fellows Register.

The RMS is delighted to announce Professor Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski as an RMS Honorary Fellow.

Rafal is universally-recognised as a worldleading electron microscopist, who has made major contributions to a wide range of electron microscopy techniques and applications.

Having obtained his M.A. in physics and PhD in materials science at the University of Cambridge, Rafal held postdoctoral and research scientist appointments in Cambridge, Arizona State University and Oxford, and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at Cambridge, before his appointment as Founding Director of the Center for Nanoscopy at the Technical University of Denmark.

In the latter position, Rafal had responsibility for the design, construction and commissioning of the microscope building and its suite of state-of-the-art instruments, which included a leading facility for environmental TEM, and he supervised a large staff of research scientists and technicians to support its operation.

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Rafal has made ground-breaking personal contributions to several fields involving quantitative electron microscopy, including electron holography of magnetic and electric fields, electron tomography, aberration-corrected electron microscopy, and instrumentation development. His research has impacted the fields of chemistry, geology and biology, as well as his core disciplines of physics and materials science.

Rafal is the author/co-author of over 500 peerreviewed publications, and his published works have been cited more than 22,000 times, with a Hirsch (‘h’) factor of 72. He has also authored/co-authored 27 book chapters and numerous review papers.

Rafal is widely sought after as an invited speaker at many national and international conferences, and he continues to provide commendable service on important national and international committees and advisory boards across the globe.

RMS Vice President, Professor Grace Burke said: “Rafal is without doubt a world-leading electron microscopist who has not only made a series of groundbreaking personal contributions across multiple fields throughout his career, but also driven scientific discovery and innovation through his remarkable vision and inspiring leadership qualities.

It is my very great pleasure to recognise him with our highest award - Honorary Fellowship of the RMS.”

Light Microscopy author Jeremy Sanderson receives RMS President’s Award RMS stalwart has been actively engaged with the RMS for 35 years The RMS is delighted to announce Jeremy Sanderson as a recipient of the RMS President’s Award – in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the work of the Society.

Jeremy, who received his award at mmc2023, is a well-known and highly respected member of the national and international microscopy communities.

Over the past 35 years he has contributed directly and indirectly to the work of the RMS in many different ways.

Jeremy joined the RMS in 1988 and has been an actively engaged member of the Society ever since.

His talent for microscopy was first recognised in 1991 when his Tech RMS project (a precursor to the RMS Diploma) was awarded a Student Medal in recognition of his outstanding examination paper and viva.

In 1994 he published his first microscopy handbook through the RMS (Biological Microtechnique), which focused on histological sample preparation for the microscopy enthusiast. More recently he has published ‘Understanding Light Microscopy’ (RMS/ Wiley 2019), a substantial addition to the literature of unusual breadth and depth.

In the early 1990s Jeremy began teaching the principles of light microscopy through the RMS LM

summer school in Leeds, and later York. He also became a stalwart of the confocal microscopy part of the Learning Zone at MMC, an essential feature of this flagship RMS event. Jeremy served on the technology-focused LM Section of the RMS from 2006-2009, and his dedication and support for the Society were further recognised by his appointment as a Trustee on the governing Council of the RMS from 2009 – 2012.

As a ‘lover of the microscope’, Jeremy embodies the spirit of the RMS in his professional life. He has worked as a histologist with the NHS in Oxford, as a core facility technician at the MPI-CBG in Dresden, and has directed light microscopy facilities at the University of Sheffield and the MRC unit Harwell.

RMS President Grace Burke said: “Over the years, Jeremy has dedicated a huge amount of his time and expertise to a wide range of RMS activities, especially through his invaluable teaching and writing on the subject of light microscopy. He is an enormously popular figure within the microscopy community – renowned both for the seriousness and dedication he brings to his work, and the lightness and good humour he shares with colleagues. It is a great pleasure to announce Jeremy as recipient of the RMS President’s Award.”

Jeremy (left) receiving the RMS President’s Award at mmc2023, with Professor Grace Burke and Dr Peter O’Tool.

79

NEWS

Dr Richard Leapman receives RMS #brandmaker_script President’s Award Scientific Editor on the Journal of Microscopy stepping down after 24 years’ service

of Materials at the University of Oxford, UK, and in the Department of Applied and Engineering Physics

colorchangecopyright

at Cornell University, NY, where he contributed to the development of electron spectroscopy for the nanoscale characterisation of materials.

He subsequently moved to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop methods based on scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron spectroscopy to determine the structure and chemical composition of cells and supramolecular assemblies. He was elected a Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America in 2011.

Richard has acted as a Scientific Editor of the Journal of Microscopy for many years, a member of the editorial boards of other microscopy Richard Leapman.

and nanotechnology journals and has served on numerous national scientific advisory committees.

Congratulations to Dr Richard Leapman, who has also received the RMS President’s Award, in recognition of his outstanding contributions as a Scientific Editor for the Journal of Microscopy.

Richard, who is stepping down from the Journal of Microscopy Editorial Board having joined in 1999, received the award at the Microscopy and Microanalysis (M&M) 2023 event in Minneapolis.

80

RMS Executive Honorary Secretary and Journal of Microscopy Editor Michelle Peckham said: “For so many years, Richard has been a key member of the Journal team and contributed to the publication’s ongoing success. In addition to his work as a Scientific Editor, he has attended numerous meetings to promote the Journal – notably the Microscopy & Microanalysis events held in the United States. On

Richard obtained B.A and M.A in Natural Sciences

behalf of the RMS, I would like to thank Richard for

and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He then

his hard work over the years and wish him well for

trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department

the future.”

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

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Allison Winton: A personal Reflection on nearly 40 years at the RMS It hardly seems possible, but RMS Chief Executive Allison Winton is retiring after more than 39 years of service at the Society. For so long the ‘face’ of the RMS, and having worked in numerous different roles over the decades, Allison has an unparalleled working knowledge of the Society, its achievements, and the personalities that have driven it forward throughout its recent history.

Here she reflects on her remarkable career: My RMS story starts with two weeks of work

English sheepdog, Judy Lewis and other members

experience at the Society during the Easter Holidays

of staff.

in 1984. I was studying for an RSA Diploma for

administration

Personal Assistants at Abingdon College of Further Education, and the Head of Year suggested that I was exactly the ‘sort of person’ that would fit in well

at

the

RMS (as Karen Collins was the following year!).

I arrived at the St Clements offices with the scruffy red

door,

and

was introduced to Colonel Fleming and Ben the elderly Old

Job offer letter 1984: Allison still has the original copy of the job offer letter she received from RMS Administrator Colonel Fleming in 1984.

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I got involved with some

Over the next few years, my knowledge of the Just a week after joining the RMS in 1984, Allison (second left) is pictured here at the MICRO event of that year in London, with RMS colleagues including the Administrator, Colonel Fleming, in the foreground. Allison's duties included serving drinks at the evening receptions - hence the bottle of wine!

tasks, and helped out at registration for the Microscopy of Catalysis Meeting which I think took place at the Department of Engineering at the University of Oxford, organised by Ed Boyes. I must have done okay during my work experience, because there was a vacancy for ‘Secretary to the Administrator’ and I was asked if I would like that role, subject to the agreement of the Executive

Society grew, and I also became involved in the advertising, and assisting Peter Evennett with the production, of the Proceedings. Back in 1984 there were just eight full-time members of staff, plus a part-time bookkeeper. The office environment was much more formal then, with set routines – start at 9 am, coffee at 11 am, lunch at 1 pm, tea at 3 pm, and depart at 5 pm, and all instructions for events were written like military plans! We always referred to Colonel Fleming as Colonel Fleming, and Mr Baker, the retired bank manager who only worked

Honorary Secretary, Gillian Bullock.

on Wednesday, referred to each other in this formal

My first proper day was 1 July 1984, the week before

and supportive of all the staff in the office, and all

MICRO 84, which was held at the Bloomsbury Crest Hotel and the School of Pharmacy in London. In the office there were no computers, emails or faxes, just electric typewriters! We were fully reliant on the post, of which we had two deliveries a day. I was told that on opening the post, never have your legs under the desk, in case of any letter or parcel bombs being sent to the RMS! The committee structure was very similar to how it is now, though the Flow Cytometry, AFM & SPM, DAIM and Early Career committees did not exist. The committee members all looked much older than they do now, but that may just be because I was so young then! We ran a full programme of

style too. Colonel Fleming was very protective members of RMS staff knew that if we ever needed help with anything he would be there for us.

In July 1988, just before the EUREM 88 event in York, Colonel Fleming left the Society.

It was

quite a tumultuous time for the Society, which led to contested elections to Council later that year.

During this time, Kate Wooding (nee Wellby) and Dawn Hopkins (nee Hague) both left the Society to further their careers, only to return in 2015 to cover periods of maternity leave, and they are still working at the Society to this day. Judy, Karen and I kept the Society running from July to November

events, the LM and EM Schools and other courses

1988.

and conferences, plus a five-day MICRO Conference

I was promoted to Exhibition Organiser in the

and Exhibition every other year.

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to the lake! To this day I remember hiring in heaters to dry the air in the exhibition after a particularly Allison with Karen Collins - who retired at the end of 2016 - and, right, Dawn Hopkins (current Exhibition Manager, after returning to the RMS in 2015) in a photo from 1988.

wet and windy typical August bank holiday weekend, to hopefully make it a better and less damp environment for setting up the microscopes.

summer of 1988, and involved in the final stages of

The walls of the marquee flapped in the wind, and

the EUREM 88 Exhibition at the University of York.

the floor was a temporary structure made up of

This was a baptism of fire with an exhibition in a

bouncy floorboards – a real challenge for setting

marquee on scaffolding, constructed over steps next

up SEMs! For those who required liquid nitrogen, we just wheeled cannisters round the lake to the

Micro ’94 held in West London was one of many major events Allison helped to organise over the years. She is pictured here, catching up with Agnes Murphy of Microscopy and Analysis.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

at that time. They didn’t really have anything to add other than suggesting that the office needn’t be in Oxford, but could be anywhere in the UK! At the end of 1988, Paul Hirst was appointed as the new Administrator, and he used to refer to me as the “fount of all knowledge”! We were then busy working on the 150th Anniversary of the Society we were also involved in the organisation of a sixmonth exhibition at the Science Museum in London (we ran a number of evening receptions where we used to serve cheese and chicken legs, and wine, of course, which Brian Bracegirdle used to buy earlier in the day and store in his office until we arrived!), a two-day meeting at the Royal Institution, followed by EMAG-MICRO 89 at the Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury, with the conference sessions across the road at the Institute of Child Health.

Allison pictured at the RMS Council Dinner, Christmas 1995.

exhibition on sack trollies – health and safety would not be impressed now! EUREM 88 was a very busy

The Conference Dinner was at The Brewery in East London. The EMAG-MICRO exhibition was ‘an experience’, being situated in two large rooms, a marquee and along numerous corridors at the

event with all accommodation in the colleges on campus, and a concert at the Minster followed by a reception at the racecourse. Prior to the event, on the abstract deadline date, we had four sacks of post delivered, which all contained abstracts in hard backed envelopes, which took about two days to open and catalogue! The congress dinner (to which the RMS staff were invited as guests) was at Castle Howard – this consisted of a very slow walk in a queue through various rooms, with drinks given to you in each room, but no food until the very end room! I do remember having to wake some attendees up who had fallen asleep in various places around the venue, just so that they could get the buses back to the University!

Allison demonstrates her karaoke credentials during the 2006 trip to Sapporo, Japan, where the RMS narrowly lost out in a bid to host the 2010 International Microscopy Congress (IMC) in London.

During the Autumn of 1988, although I was now working on the exhibitions and Proceedings

Royal National Hotel, very unlike the professional

advertising, I still attended all the committee

exhibition venues we use for mmc nowadays. The

meetings and took minutes. This gave me a good

organisation of the 150th anniversary year was an

overall view of how the Society operated, which has

amazing experience to be involved in, and it was

been really useful to this day. A review into how

good to witness the Royal Mail RMS postage stamps

the RMS was run was conducted by our auditors

being launched, as well as seeing Peter Evennett and

85

which the exhibitor was happy with, but that wasn’t emc2012 was the first big RMS event to be held at Manchester Central. Allison is pictured here in the staffroom, directing proceedings alongside Karen Collins.

Dick Paden on the TV programme Blue Peter with microscopes on display. Producing the souvenir catalogue of the Science Museum Exhibition was a challenge, but fun too, with almost daily phone calls with Peter Evennett, and some of those at 7am in the morning in the office, when he was on holiday in Norway with his family. Soon after this we had our very first fax machine! It was very exciting to be able to fax a proof to someone in say, Australia, and have a reply on my return to the office the next day!

I was then involved in the organisation of MICROs at a variety of London hotels between 1990 – 2000.

The Bloomsbury Crest Hotel was no longer suitable, so we tried the London West Hotel in Lillie Road as well as the Novotel in Hammersmith. I was talking about the Novotel experience with a number of exhibitors at mmc2023, and we all remembered it being like a multi-storey car park, with enormous pillars! I remember one year turning up to find that they had done some building work between me selling exhibition space and the day of the event.

When one exhibitor was due to arrive to set up their stand, we had discovered that it was no longer possible to put their stand there, as the hotel had done some building work, reducing this area of exhibition space! We managed to find a solution

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a great experience to start the exhibition build with. During my time as Exhibition Organiser I worked very hard at developing a good working relationship with all the exhibiting companies, and understanding their needs and requirements. The Corporate Advisory Board (formerly the Trade Advisory Committee) was a great place to develop this relationship. I also started to attend other exhibitions as an exhibitor, which gave me a good insight into what it’s like to be an exhibitor too – e.g. 15 minutes for exhibition time during a one-day meeting should definitely NOT be done!

The Novotel in Hammersmith was becoming too small for MICRO, and at MICRO 2000 we had a waiting list of approximately 20 companies! It was time to find a new venue, and I was very much involved in the planning and move to ExCeL for the first MicroScience event in 2002. MicroScience was a new name, but still keeping the MICRO. We went for a new layout, having the exhibition in a diamond layout – this worked in that you nearly always walked different ways through the exhibition, but many people complained about getting lost!

Moving to ExCeL brought us many new challenges; we had to order and pay for so many more things than we had at the London hotels, e.g. carpets in the exhibition, but this was a really exciting project to be involved with.

Paul retired in 2005, as did Judy Lewis (then Deputy

joining Rod Shipley (then at FEI) at crab restaurants,

Administrator) and Rob Flavin was recruited as the

and going out with Pete Lander (then at JEOL)

Executive Director. Rob came to the Society with

and others to a beer party followed by a karaoke

many fresh and new ideas, and made many changes

evening – those who were there will remember it

to the fabric of the office building. He and I went

well, and I still have the photos!! Following on from

to Sapporo in September in 2006 to assist Debbie

going to IMC in 2006, I started to go to many other

Stokes and John Hutchison with the bid to run

international meetings, and these included many

the International Microscopy Congress (IMC) at

M&M meetings in the US, Neuroscience in the US,

ExCeL in September 2010. We were unlucky and

EMC in Aachen and Lyon and IMC in Prague and

came second to Brazil, but it was a tremendous

Sydney. Such great opportunities to meet current

opportunity to visit Japan and see an International

and potential new members and exhibitors, and

Congress in action. We had some fun socially too,

of course to fly the flag for the RMS - we are an

Allison is joined by former RMS Exhibitions Manager Chloe Goode at M&M 2014 in Connecticut, USA.

87

Allison travelling in style with Chloe Goode at IMC in Prague, 2014.

International Society!

2007

was also our first involvement in the elmi meeting, which we ran in York with Peter O’Toole.

Elmi is a very

different event for us and finding

workshop

rooms

is a challenge, but a good one!

Since then we have

organised elmi in Leuven and Dublin, a virtual elmi in 2022, and the RMS will be organising the 2024 elmi in Liverpool.

Rob left the Society in 2009 and started his own

had originally thought it would be great to follow

promotion company, CooperRepCo, and continued

on after the Olympics, but unfortunately the

working with the Society. I was then promoted

Olympics had tenancy agreements in place for all

to Event Director, attending all committees and

London venues until the end of September 2012,

overseeing all RMS Events, with Karen Collins

with no flexibility, even though the venues would

becoming the Administrator, and we were a great

not be used for our dates as the Olympics would

team, working together on overseeing the various

be over by then. This started us on a mission

aspects of the Society.

to find an alternative venue, and I contacted all

Our next challenge was emc2012! During emc2008 in Aachen, we had successfully won the bid to host emc2012, on behalf of the European Microscopy Society (EMS), in London in September 2012. We

88

Allison chatting with Peter Wilson from Integrated Dynamics Engineering at the IMC Congress in Sydney, Australia in 2018.

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

potential venues around the UK.

Manchester

Central could offer us the dates we needed, and on paper, it looked like they could offer us the space we needed as well. So Karen and I, accompanied

by Les Stump (the Honorary Treasurer) visited the

retirement at the end of the year. I had discussions

venue and realised that it could be ideal! We then

with Karen and members of the Executive

visited again with Debbie Stokes (emc2012 Chair)

Committee, and after giving a presentation to the

and representatives of the EMS, who all agreed. The

Executive Committee with my thoughts and plans

whole office team then organised the whole of the

for the future, I was promoted to the position

emc2012 congress in Manchester, with the Congress

of Chief Executive from 1 January 2017. I really

Banquet at Manchester United, Old Trafford. It was

missed working with Karen, but fortunately Tor

an amazing event to be involved in, and to see it all

(Masters) and Adam (Clay) were appointed as

run so successfully. I was in Manchester for 10 days

Event and Finance Directors at the beginning of

before, during and at emc2012, and managed just

2017, and we have developed excellent working

four hours of sleep each night, as the adrenaline and

relationships of support, bouncing ideas of each

stress involved in such a large event kept me awake.

other, and delivering the very best we can for the

It was all worth it though!

Society. The first two years of being Chief Executive

After emc2012 had taken place, we realised that ExCeL didn’t really provide us with suitable lecture theatres close enough to the exhibition, and we realised that this was something we had at Manchester Central. After Council and CAB approval of moving to Manchester Central, we moved mmc (a new name from Microscience, but short for Microscience Microscopy Congress) to Manchester for mmc2014. This went well, and we then had further discussions about moving our congress to ‘odd’ years to avoid the EMC and IMC International Congresses, and talked to EMAG about joining us at mmc – this was all agreed, and

went well, with much of this time focussed on being the Professional Congress Organiser (PCO) for emc2020 in Copenhagen. This was a very busy time as we still had mmc2019 taking place, and we took on two additional members of staff to work solely on emc2020. All was looking great, with all plans coming together, and we held an exhibitor site visit at the Bella Center in Copenhagen in February 2020. We were hearing about Covid at that time, but were still planning with Klaus Qvortrup and the rest of the organising committee, for emc2020 to go ahead in August 2020. Then Covid started to affect us all…….

the first mmc incorporating EMAG took place in

During the first national UK Lockdown, we went

Manchester in 2015. This then started the pattern

from being in the office on the Monday to everyone

of mmc every other year, during ‘odd’ years, and the

working remotely from the Wednesday. Fortunately,

successful organisation of mmc2017 and mmc2019.

all our IT could handle this, and we just changed our

We’ve had many experiences at the Manchester

working patterns to suit, with lots of Teams meetings

event, with the staff at the venue being really helpful

etc. We were still hopeful that emc2020 would be

and friendly. I only had one instance where I had

able to go ahead, but were starting to worry that

to complain and that was during the mmc2017

we would not get the attendance needed…We

exhibition breakdown, where traffic would not let

were unable to cancel the event because of the

any of the exhibitors through to the loading bay

financial implications, but fortunately the Danish

when the exhibition closed. I went out to find out

government decreed that no event with more than

what was happening, and was told that traffic were

1,000 people could take place until the September,

waiting to hear from the organisers that they could

so our financial loss was less than it could have been.

let people through – that was the only time that I

It was so disappointing for everyone concerned, but

said in a firm voice, “I am the organiser – let them

we had no option. We did, however, run a virtual

through!”

emc2020 student congress in the November which

During 2016 Karen (Collins) decided to take early

was well received.

Early on in the pandemic we

89

started working for the Society, we all had electric Allison receiving the RMS Winton Prize, named in honour of her years of dedicated service to the Society. She is pictured with former RMS President Grace Burke.

realised that we would not be able to run any inperson events or committee meetings, and swiftly moved forward with Zoom committee meetings, as well as developing various online meetings, and ways of communication and keeping the community together. I would like to thank both Tor and Adam for developing these virtual meetings so well.

During the height of the pandemic most of the RMS Staff were furloughed, and during this time, just Tor, Adam, Jill and I continued working. It was a strange time indeed, but great to develop the virtual meetings, which we continue to this day, but now we run a mix of different types of meetings – in-person,

correspondence (peach for the alphabetical file, white for the date file and green for the event file).

Badges were made using a machine where we had to turn a wheel to print each letter of someone’s name and affiliation (not quite the mail merges we have today) which was very time consuming. These names then had to have the back bit pulled off and the name stuck on a paper badge, taking care to attach names in a straight line! Bas Ploem became involved with our first foray into computers, helping us to develop Lex, the first RMS Database. Bas spent many hours in the office, and always worked to the wire to get as much done before walking along St Clements to the bus stop to catch the bus

virtual and hybrid.

to the airport! He did miss the bus a couple of

There was a gradual return to working in the office

Leiden, working in the University in the mornings

but there is more working from home now, as we all realise the benefits of not sitting in heavy traffic every day! We do still like to be in the office though, working with the rest of the brilliant RMS Team!

90

typewriters, making three carbon copies of all typed

times. Karen and I spent a very enjoyable week in finding out more about Lex, and then exploring The Netherlands in the afternoons – a great experience.

Our very first email address was accessed on just the one computer in the office, with an address as

During my time at the RMS I have seen many changes

part of Oxford University. We had to switch it on

in technology! As I mentioned earlier, when I first

and dial up each time, and if we received an email we

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

were unable to forward it to anyone in the office to

emotional happy tears! Looking back at my years

deal with and were unable to print it, so we used to

at the Society, I feel incredibly lucky to have worked

write down what the email said by hand, and then

with so many amazing people on so many things.

pass the piece of paper over to the appropriate

When I took over the post of Chief Executive I said

member of staff! Incredible to think that is what

that I am the ‘caretaker’ of the Society, and that the

happened then!! The move to us all having our own

Society will long outlive me! I wish my successor

laptops was an excellent development, as this meant

Sali Davis, every best wish for the future, and I hope

we all still have access at events and at home.

that she will enjoy working for the Society as much

The growth of Outreach activities has been great to

as I have – it is such a special organisation.

see. The ‘A Microscope For Every School (AMFES)

I would like to thank the following ex-members of

Scheme) which was introduced in the early 1990s,

staff, and there are many more too (sorry to anyone

where the Society raised some money so that

I have missed):

we could provide a partial refund for up to two recommended microscopes purchased for UK primary schools is still running today. The biggest change and development was the introduction of the Microscope Activity Kits, which were the brainchild

Colonel Fleming, Judy Lewis, Karen Collins, Rob Flavin, Susan Robertson, Rachel Holborrow (nee Knibb), Liz Howe, Chloe Goode, Mel Reedman, Zu Dragnevska and Amanda Jarman.

of Susan Anderson, who led the development of

I would particularly like to thank the current RMS

these. This scheme has been absolutely amazing,

staff team of Tor Masters, Adam Clay, Jade Sturdy,

and I’m so pleased at how successful the scheme

Dawn Hopkins, Kate Wooding, Debbie Hunt, Tracey

has been and continues to be.

Back in the early

Clay, Lucy Ridler, Owen Morton, Jill Hobbs, Georgina

1990s I spent some time travelling around the UK

Fletcher, Katie Reynolds, Nick Cameron, Jess Cole

visiting various Science Centres and Museums,

and Alessandra Reni – for making the RMS such a

some of which was with Peter Evennett and Chris

great place to work at on a day-to-day basis – the

Hammond. We were trying to find a new home

current team is the best team ever and I’ll miss you

for the Buxton Micrarium displays, as the town

all!

council of Buxton wanted its pump room back…..

Over the years I have worked with some amazing

Unfortunately we were unsuccessful finding a new

members and committee members, and to name

home, but it was really interesting seeing what was

some who I would particularly like to thank over

available in the various museums. The Tabletop

very many years – Peter Evennett, Chris Hammond,

SEM Scheme, masterminded by Alex Ball and James

John Hutchison, Chris Kennedy, Les Stump, Jeremy

Perkins (with Hitachi, IRIS and the NHM) has been

Sanderson, Phil Robinson, Gillian Bullock, Lynne

an amazing scheme going out to many schools in

Joyce, Debbie Stokes, Tony Wilson, Mark Rainforth,

the UK. I really hope that they are successful in

Pete Nellist, Dick Paden, Susan Brooks and Ron

obtaining funding to move this forward.

Van Noorden, and those no longer with us – Savile

I am writing this after having the most successful

Bradbury, Brian Bracegirdle, Nick Wrigley, Don

mmc (and EMAG) in Manchester, since we

Thomson, Nick Read, and, of course, Chris Hawes.

organised the first congress there in 2014. We had

You have all had such an impact on me.

more conference delegates and exhibition visitors

I would like to thank all current members of

attending, and there was a real ‘buzz’ at the whole

Council, the Sections, FIGs, History Committee,

event. I was especially touched and surprised to be

the Corporate Advisory Board, and especially our

awarded the very first Winton Award, and for once

current Executive Committee, who put so much

I was totally speechless, as well as fighting back the

of their own time into the Society. They will do a

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great job at guiding the Society through the next

unique Society, and I feel privileged to have spent

few years - thank you Pete, Grace, Rik, Michelle, Rod,

nearly 40 years working here.

Maddy, Andy, Kerry and Susan.

Finally, I would like to thank my Mum and Dad for

The RMS is in a great place for the future, and will continue to grow despite the challenges of Open

being there for me and for supporting me throughout my RMS career, my daughter Lauren (who feels like the RMS is part of her extended family), and of

Access. I wish everyone involved with the Society

course, my partner Gary and his family. I am so lucky

all the very best for the future – such a special and

to have you all in my life.

Allison’s RMS career in numbers, and other fun facts:

39 years at the Society, she has: worked with 18 RMS Presidents worked with 6 Honorary Treasurers (one of whom twice, as Lynne Joyce had two terms in office) worked with 6 Executive Honorary Secretaries Been involved in the organisation of: 8 MICROs 1 Industrial and BioMedical MICRO in 1987 3 EUREM/EMC meetings (York, Manchester and almost Copenhagen), though EMC2020 was cancelled a few months before because of Covid 1 EMAG/MICRO in 1989 5 MicroSciences 6 mmc congresses (5 with EMAG) Seen the publication of 468 issues of the Journal of Microscopy and 168 During Allison’s

issues of the RMS Members’ Magazine, covering its transformation from the ‘Proceeding of the RMS’ into infocus in 2006, and then its recent transition to an online publication.

•

The RMS staff mmc uniform is one thing that

in my Chemistry and Physics O Levels! I’ve

hasn’t changed much during Allison’s career!

learnt so much while at the RMS though, and

She says:

“At MICROs in the 1980s, our

wish that I had been enthused in science

uniforms consisted of men’s striped blue and

while at school. This is one of the reasons

white shirts from M&S, which then changed

why I think the RMS Outreach Programme

to the current Boden stripy tops. The only

is so important.”

time we diverted away from stripes was at emc2012, when we wore something ‘red’!”

•

Allison has very little formal scientific education. She says: “I only gained grade C

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•

Finally, Allison has very many RMS ‘stories’ from over the years, none of which, she tells us, “can possibly be put into print!”

Allison (back, centre) joins the rest of the RMS team for a group photo in the Manchester Central foyer at mmc2023.

Allison strikes a colourful pose with Jade Sturdy (PA to the Chief Executive) during the exhibition ‘build’ ahead of mmc2023.

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Study for an RMS Diploma!

Recent Diplomates share their experiences in new video

T

he RMS is committed to encouraging members to improve and develop their skills and understanding of microscopy; we believe qualifications play an important part in this.

This approach ensures that the study is both

If you are an RMS Member using microscopy or

for anyone who might be interested in applying.

cytometry as part of your career, you can apply to

Many thanks to Jennifer Simpson, Craig Holliday and

study for an RMS Diploma - a flexible, portfoliobased qualification designed to complement and fit around your current employment.

The Diploma is intended to be of a similar standard to a Masters degree. Projects are designed by the candidate with the assistance of their line-manager, and with input from existing Fellows of the Society.

Diploma video.

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ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

challenging and rewarding whilst complementing the candidate’s existing employment.

We caught up with some of our recent diplomates to find out more about their experience of completing the course – including words of advice

Alfonso Schmidt for giving up their time to share their thoughts on the RMS Diploma!

Watch the video on YouTube.

Find out more about the RMS Diploma, including how to apply.

Still life of cerebral cortex (RMS 2023 Digital Calendar image for June) Dendrite of a pyramidal nerve cell from cerebral cortex surrounded by a glial network. On numerous drumstick-like dendritic spines, red-marked synaptic contacts are visible. Synapses are sites of electrochemical transmission of information signals and together with dendritic spines represent important structures for learning and memory formation.The image is a 3D reconstruction resulted from serial electron microscopy. Scale cube = 0.1 µm per side. Equipment Used: computer-aided serial electron microscopy.

Josef Spacek, emertus professor of pathology, Charles University Hospital, Hradec Kralove, Czechi.

Mountain Valleys (RMS 2023 Digital Calendar image for August) 3D model of surface topography with an overlay of chemical composition on a Cobaltite sample generated with MountainsSpectral® software.

Equipment Used: JEOL SEM IT700HR and JEOL EDS system + SMILE VIEW™ Map software powered by Mountains®.

Digital Surf in collaboration with JEOL (France). Sample courtesy of Emmanuel Guilmeau (CRISMAT) and Jean-Claude Ménard (JEOL France).

C O M PA N Y N E W S

FocalPlane Network

The FocalPlane Network is an international

members using the online contact form available in

directory of researchers with microscopy expertise

the member’s details (no email addresses are made

including developers, imaging scientists and bioimage

public). If you want to become a member of the

analysts. The idea behind the FocalPlane Network

Network, request access to the Network and enter

is to facilitate promotion and networking as well

your details in your profile page. Your registration

as assisting those seeking conference speakers,

will then be manually approved to ensure the entry

committee members, reviewers or collaborators.

is valid and to avoid spam. The FocalPlane Network

We aim to be an inclusive site that will help promote diversity in the microscopy community.

Members provide information on their scientific

practice in mind to ensure all personal information is secured.

field, microscopy area of expertise, place of work

We would like to thank the members of the

and career stage. They can also voluntarily provide

community and our Scientific Advisory Board

details on aspects of diversity such as gender, race/

for their help and input in shaping the FocalPlane

ethnicity, LGBTQ+ identity and disability status.

Network.We also want to thank Sian Culley and the

There are two options for using the Network: as a ‘user’ or as a ‘member’. As a ‘user’, you will have access to the database but your details will not appear on the site, while as a ‘member’, your details will be included for others to see and

RMS team behind the Microscopy Gender Equality Resource for their feedback. We recommend checking this resource if you are looking specifically for women in the field of microscopy, imaging and cytometry.

potentially contact you. If you are already registered

https://focalplane.biologists.com/

on FocalPlane, request access to the Network on

network/

your profile page as either a ‘user’ or a ‘member’.

https://focalplane.biologists.com/

If you are not registered, you must do this first, and then request access. Once you are a user of the FocalPlane Network, you can contact other

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has been designed with data protection best-

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network/?utm_source=infocus&utm_ medium=blog&utm_id=RMS

LiveCodim achieves a resolution of 90nm We are proud that we achieved 90 nm spatial resolution on the LiveCodim super-resolution system. We have taken part in a recent EMBO course organised in Prague at the Institute of Molecular Genetics (IMG) and here is something we were able to capture. Nucleopores in green and mitochondria in red, pushing the limits further.

A small microscope add-on which can turn your widefield into a super-resolution platform. www.telight.eu

KEYENCE Digital Microscope Ensures Both Quality and Safety of GC Aesthetics Implants Over the years, KEYENCE has become a global leader in the development of measurement and quality assurance solutions. It was no surprise, therefore, to see medical aesthetics specialist GC Aesthetics™ turn to KEYENCE when the time came to acquire a new digital microscope. One particular requirement is that of surface finish on implants to assess various metrology parameters and surface topography features, patterns, consistency and uniformity.

Techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and digital microscopy were outsourced by GC Aesthetics™. According to Mr. Harvie, results turnaround time with outsourcing such tests was time consuming.

“We purchased and started operating a KEYENCE digital microscope, a product known to provide superior analysis thanks to clearer observations.

Having in-house capability to produce high resolution images of surface topographies along with the necessary metrology parameter specific data on surface profiles gives GC Aesthetics™ the ability to produce test data very quickly, maintain quality and control,” says Mr Harvie.

Not only is speed to results of vital importance.

So too is the number of samples GC Aesthetics™ can test, review and compare. This now gives the company an unprecedented ability to turn-around and produce high volumes of sample data on varied samples in days, and in some cases hours, compared to before.

Another key advantage of using a KEYENCE solution is the initial, and indeed ongoing, training.

“It proved extremely helpful to GC Aesthetics™” said Mr Harvie.“KEYENCE has shown a high degree of understanding as to the needs of its customer; this was instrumental in delivering a satisfactory outcome with regard to complex testing needs.”

Months on from its acquisition, the KEYENCE digital microscope delivers high quality information and enables GC Aesthetics™ stakeholders to make informed choices. That’s a positive outcome for everyone involved. www.keyence.co.uk/infocus/ gcaesthetics/202309

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C O M PA N Y N E W S

Vision Labs Can See Clearly Now Thanks to KEYENCE More than 6 in 10 people in the UK have some requirement for glasses, meaning the range of lens combinations required to suit all of their needs is almost infinite. Significant effort goes into the cutting, polishing and treatment of every lens. One of the UK’s leading manufacturers of bespoke lenses, and a partner of 20 years plus to many of the leading names in the dispensing optician sector, is Vision Labs Ltd.

offer this – combined with two-dimensional edge detection software which snaps to the lines of contrast meaning the risk of differences between users is eliminated, allows calibration tolerances as low as 0.1 microns.

Meanwhile, the glare removal feature and rapid 3D depth composition, combined with the VHX’s easyto-use of software, meant that wear on diamond cutting tools can be rapidly assessed to ensure they are replaced only when needed, creating cost savings for Vision Labs.

Perhaps the greatest benefit has come in the area of analysing coatings, where the VHX’s world first Optical Shadow Effect Mode allows these transparent features to be viewed more readily and so defects are identified more rapidly. The multilighting feature, allowing immediate change between ring, coaxial, polarised and transmitted lighting, also assists the clarity of view.

Anthony Woodhouse, Technical Manager of Vision Labs, explains: “Previously we assessed machine tools using an eye glass with a scale. However, this method has limitations, even for the highly experienced tool setters within our team.”

Because of these challenges, the management team at Vision Labs sought another solution, and it came in the form of a KEYENCE VHX-7000 digital microscope. The system’s high magnification and 4,000 pixel count – the world’s first microscope to

Anthony Woodhouse continues: “The KEYENCE microscope is easy to use and removes the issues associated with the previous visual testing. We had used other KEYENCE equipment with great success for a number of years and so we were already aware not just of the quality of their products, but the depth of support and training that would be provided.” www.keyence.co.uk/infocus/ visionlabs/202309

Warwick is equipped with an advanced QPI microscope Q-Phase was successfully installed and calibrated

Microscopy Development Unit (CAMDU). Telight is

at the Medical Faculty of Warwick University.

also a platinum sponsor at a conference that will

Instructions on how to control

take place in Warwick Adhesion

the microscope and subsequently

and migration in disease 2023, we

analyse the obtained data using

would be glad to talk to you about

our software were provided to

our machine.

main users and responsible persons

www.telight.eu

from the Computing and Advanced

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Quantum Design UK and Ireland Partners with RHK Technology As a hybrid manufacturer and distributor of key scientific technology, we at Quantum Design UK and Ireland are always looking to provide our customers the best technology for their research and development.

With a globally renowned service team backed by our central headquarters in San Diego and with offices stretching across to Europe, South America, Asia as well in the UK, our manufactured systems are some of the best and most unique in the world, with a very strong service support structure.

This benchmark is also how we create our supplier network and choose which manufacturers that we partner with and introduce into our respective territories. RHK Technology is one such manufacturer whom we are now in partnership with and distributing for here in the UK and Ireland.

RHKs surface science systems integrate only the best analytical and preparation instruments from only the top industry suppliers. With support from the best scientists, RHK continue to advance this technology further for supporting university, industry and government labs around the globe.

Founded in 1981 by Adam Kollin, President of RHK Technology, they bring over 30 years of experience in the design and manufacture of advanced UHV SPM instruments with their install base, currently

consisting of over 200 systems and 1200 controllers, continuing to grow. This install base includes the world’s first closed-cycle cryogen-free SPM in the form of their PanScan systems, to UHV SPM technology in the form of the Beetle family, to even their R10 SPM controller.

A combination of this experience and versatile history, along with positive comments from their existing global customer base which consists of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tsinghua University, Los Alamos National Laboratory and others, has contributed to QDUKI and RHK agreeing to work together to continue their support of global research and development activity.

“Together, QDUKI and RHK Technology will bring their key technology and combined experience to the UK and Ireland’s cryogenic and microscopy research community,” commented Dr Satyam Ladva, Technical Product Manager at QDUKI. He continued: “And aid in its development and growth, both supporting those already immersed in this area but also to aid those venturing into this field of research for the first time.” www.qd-uki.co.uk

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C O M PA N Y N E W S Vision Engineering Group welcomes new Managing Director Experienced business leader Sam Crossley joins Vision Engineering as it navigates sustained growth across global markets.

Vision Engineering is pleased to announce the appointment of Sam Crossley as Managing Director, a role that will draw upon his extensive global leadership and financial experience.

Previously a member of the senior leadership team at Rotork, which employs over 3,700 employees in 39 countries and serving customers in over 170 countries, Sam has an in-depth market knowledge in oil & gas, petrochemical, mining and automation, specialising in engineered technical products including mechanicals seals, pumps, valves and fluid control sectors. Sam’s broad international experience includes steering company growth in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Russia, Europe, Africa and North America.

range of sectors, they are recognised internationally for their clear focus on improving productivity for those who use magnification through superior ergonomics. “Our market leading technology, focus on ergonomics, and innovation are undoubtedly three main pillars that support the global reputation of our brand. In these areas our record is second to none.”

The many industries in which Vision Engineering’s solutions have become standard equipment include electronics, automotive, aerospace, medical device manufacture, biotech, telecom and cable. Its sales and tech support offices are located throughout North America, Europe and Asia, supported by a fully trained network of distributors. www.visioneng.com

Says Sam: “What appealed most about joining the team at Vision Engineering was the idea of leading an innovative technology company with such a long and distinguished history. There are plenty of exciting opportunities to grow the business, and I will be focussing on these over the coming years.

Vision Engineering has a well-deserved brand and reputation and I’m delighted to be leading it into its next phase of global growth.”

Mark Curtis, current Managing Director will continue to head the Board of Vision Engineering Group as Chief Executive Officer, focusing on strategic development and wider Group growth opportunities.

Vision Engineering is a world-renowned name in the design and manufacture of industry-leading microscopy, metrology and digital 3D visualisation solutions. Designed to help those working in a wide

If you would like your Company News to appear on these pages, please contact infocus Magazine at advertising@infocus.org.uk The announcements in this Section are compiled by the manufacturers. They in no way represent a recommendation by the Royal Microscopical Society for any particular instrument or equipment. The Royal Microscopical Society does not endorse, support, recommend or verify the information provided on these pages.

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Light Under the Microscope Winston Ingram

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My idea for this project was to be able to control light emitted from different sources, and illuminate each subject with the desired colour.

I selected various different lights - halogen, torch, house lamp - and by shining them through different types of clear, plastic prisms (one for each photo), directed them on to the specimen stage of my microscope. I then used a variety of techniques - fluorescence, polarisation, brightfield and darkfield (sometimes in isolation, sometimes combined) - to photograph the results.

The main challenge was to get the correct intensity to illuminate the subject without washing it out. I experimented with different intensities until I got each subject illuminated with no ‘wash-out’.

The microscope used is a Stereo, with the facility to interchange colour cubes - a modification I made myself.

I hope you like the results!

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Figures description

A red light source was used for Figures 6 and 7, a

For Figure 1, I used a darkfield condenser, so as to

blue filter in Figure 8, and red filter for photo 9.This

get a black background, with an external fibre optic

enabled the overall colour for each photo.

light source. This technique was also used in Figures

Figures 1, 2 and 3 were taken using darkfield and the

2 and 3. I used a green card for Figure 4, and a red

final six, with brightfield.

card in Figure 5.

Figure 1.

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Figure 2.

Figure 3.

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Figure 4.

Figure 5.

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Figure 6.

Figure 7.

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Figure 8.

Figure 9.

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About the author

Winston Ingram was born in 1940, and from an early age developed an interest in Science and Photography.

He went into private practice in 1978, working freelance for various companies, and teaching scientific, medical and technical photography. He retired in 2002 and started producing books using photo microscopy as an art form. He likes to explore different techniques with the microscope, and also mix the various facilities available.

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NEW PRODUCTS

HORIBA expands its MicroXRF analysers series HORIBA has further expanded its XGT-9000 series product line with the release of the two new microXRF (X-ray fluorescence) analysers: the XGT-9000 Pro and the XGT-9000 Expert X-ray Analytical

These new capabilities enable time reductions and efficiencies of material analysis, both in terms of quality control and R&D processes in material

Microscopes.

manufacturers and a broad range of other industries.

The XGT-9000 Series is ideal for a broad range

With the increasing importance of quality control

of fields, including fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries,

in manufacturing process, the detection of tens of

pharmaceutical, and other industrial fields to detect

microns sized (1micron = 0.001mm) contaminants

foreign mater and develop new materials. It can also

or foreign mater, which are difficult to be visually

be used in astrogeology, archaeology, forensics, and

recognised, has been a challenge. Such a microscopic

other research fields to perform non-destructive

contaminant can result in lower performance and

analyses on precious samples. The XGT-9000 Series

other serious problems. That is why micro-XRF

has also been used during the initial analysis of sand

analysers are becoming more essential than ever

and gravel collected from the Ryugu asteroid by the

before.

Explorer “Hayabusa2”.

While micro-XRF analysers are powerful for the

The new XGT-9000 Pro and XGT-9000 Expert

analysis of inorganic materials and metals, high-

incorporate improved detection systems and

sensitivity analysis of light elements below sodium

HORIBA’s patented pulse processing algorithm

(Na) has generally been difficult for them up until

to achieve significantly faster analysis. Additionally,

now. The analysis of nitrides and organic matter

the XGT-9000 Expert realises the world’s first

had required a different type of analyser. The

light element analysis (down to boron) in a

ability of the XGT-9000 Expert to achieve high-

benchtop energy dispersive micro-XRF analyser.

sensitivity analyses of light elements such as carbon

Supersensitive analysis of light elements, such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O) allows the analyses of oxides, nitrides, organic matter, and other materials by a single micro-XRF analyser

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without the use of several different instruments.

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(C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O), allows a single instrument to provide a way to analyse not only metals, but also oxides, nitrides and organic matter. https://horiba.link/xgt-9000

BlueScientific distributes cuttingedge technologies, and the new Axia ChemiSEM from Thermo Scientific

It’s highly accessible and user-friendly, rapidly processing samples to provide reliable data on morphology and elemental composition in just two minutes.

While SEM has significantly improved recently, it remains a complex technique. Axia ChemiSEM simplifies without compromising functionality and flexibility. Continuous EDS provides live elemental data updates and the toggle on/off feature isolates samples areas of interest easily.

Axia ChemiSEM introduces a new SEM-EDS workflow for acquiring, processing and presenting compositional sample information. It applies to diverse fields, including: • Process and quality control • Failure analysis • Materials science • Glass fibre-reinforced polymers • Composite materials • Battery materials • Aerospace materials development Its low energy capability makes Axia ChemiSEM an ideal choice for polymer analysis, operating at 200v and featuring beam declaration for enhanced imaging. A unique capability is our ability to operate at low voltages as low as 200V, which combined with beam declaration for enhanced imaging makes it the ideal choice for polymer analysis.

Axia ChemiSEM offers an integrated user guide, real-time compositional imaging, and alignmentfree operation. It simplifies workflows, saves time, and enhances laboratory sustainability without compromising space. The Axia ChemiSEM system is capable of accommodating samples weighing up to 10kg. It allows for precise x-y movement, offering versatility in sample positioning. Its open door design facilitates easy loading of large and awkward samples, allowing seamless handling of various sample types without sacrificing efficiency.

The SEM device delivers high-quality imaging performance to meet diverse application needs.

It can handle a wide range of samples, including insulating items, with its Low Vac operation. The advanced beam scanning capabilities ensure highfidelity imaging, providing detailed and accurate analysis results. The Axia ChemiSEM system provides access to a range of application software options. It supports advanced system automation through software like Thermo Scientific Maps.

Thermo Scientific AutoScript also allows users to tailor the system to meet their requirements. For consistent, high-quality performance compared to a benchtop, look no further than Axia ChemiSEM. https://blue-scientific.com/product/ axia-chemisem/

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NEW PRODUCTS

Taking Defect Analysis of Materials to a Whole New Level

Many of those tasked with checking for defects

with a large screen, the unit has an intuitive user

in materials are hampered by having to rely on

interface, sub-menus and a step-by-step guide that

relatively basic microscopes, whereby the operator

means even a novice can carry out detailed material

is looking top-down on to a sample, which makes it

analysis. Thanks to a built-in 1TB hard drive that

very difficult to determine whether the problem is

enables ultra-high resolution images to be saved,

a dent, a scratch or a raised section.

the operator can share them over a network or via

Another issue for inspectors is that the vast majority of microscopes used in defect analysis on

automatically in Excel format.

materials provide low magnification observation,

A particularly powerful (and world-first) feature of

making it difficult to check grain size or carry out

the software includes Optical Shadow Effect Mode

particle analysis of the structure when working

which uses illumination at multiple angles to identify

with composites. It’s also impossible to share in

defects that would not be visible to traditional

real-time any data gathered during defect analysis

microscopes. At the same time, all analysis can be

with colleagues or departments on other sites or in

carried out in 3D (although a two-dimensional

other parts of the world.

function is available) which is simply not possible

Enter the VHX-7000 from KEYENCE, the world’s

with basic microscopes.

first 4K ultra-high accuracy digital microscope. It

Also, the VHX-7000

offers magnifications from 20x to 6000x and has the

interchangeable parts, so that customers have

ability to subtly shift the finely-tuned XY motorised

complete flexibility when building a system

stage. It also has a handheld option for all-round

specification around their particular application.

inspection of larger parts.

www.keyence.co.uk/infocus/

A key differentiating factor of this digital microscope

defectanalysis/202309

is its software. Based around a Windows 10 PC

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a USB drive. Detailed reports can also be produced

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is

customisable, with

HORIBA introduces nanoGPS navYXTM to make collaborative correlative microscopy easier and faster

HORIBA UK has introduced nanoGPS navYXTM, a combination of HORIBA’s patented nanoGPS tag and navYX software, that makes it easier and faster than ever before for researchers to get more data from their samples.

Collaborative Correlative Microscopy allows the combination of measurement modalities to enable an enhanced understanding of a sample. Until now, relocating specific areas of interest after a sample has been moved between instruments, has taken a long time. Now, with the nanoGPS navYX, researchers can relocate these interesting regions in just a few seconds.

The nanoGPS navYX uses HORIBA’s patented coordinate transfer tag technology to simply and seamlessly locate the same points of interest on a sample when it is transferred between different microscopy modalities and instruments.

Researchers simply attach a small, patterned tag near to the sample or substrate, and the embedded position-sensing technology allows both absolute XY coordinates and angular orientation to be automatically converted, ensuring the same point of interest can be re-localised to within a few

microns. The tags are multimodal and multiscale and can be used with various instruments, including Raman microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, cathodoluminescence and upright optical microscopes.

Delivering enhanced accuracy, nanoGPS navYX automatically accounts for sample rotation and magnification differences, and enables the overlay of data from each modality to get additional information on specific zones of interest. To combine micro-molecular analysis with other more conventional characterisation techniques, collaboration between specialists in different labs is common, and transferring the sample from one technique to another has always been problematic.

With nanoGPS navYX, there is no risk of confusion or misunderstanding when samples are sent to other laboratories. nanoGPS navYX tags do not age and can be easily fixed permanently to your samples using carbon tape, and as each tag is only 2 mm x 2 mm, they can be used with different samples and substrates in materials, life and environmental sciences research. https://horiba.link/nanogps

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NEW PRODUCTS

Control your Fluorescence LED Illumination in Software

LED illumination has revolutionised widefield

advanced applications. Both the advanced pE-400max

fluorescence, especially with the ability to control

and white light pE-400 offer USB connectivity and

the light source through popular imaging software

support in µManager, and are set to be integrated

programs.

into more programs soon.

USB connectivity features on many CoolLED

For everyday fluorescence applications, the popular

Illumination Systems, allowing the efficient control

pE-300white and pE-300ultra are supported in all the

of illumination settings when coupled with imaging

major software programs, including both Evident

software support. Whether acquiring images in

cellSens Standard and Dimension, Nikon NIS

live mode or performing a complex time-lapse

Elements and Leica LAS X.

experiment, the ability to program, save and reload LED selection and intensity settings provides both user efficiency and experimental precision.

Systems come into their own, and software is just one method. The pE-800 Series and pE-400max also

Choose from a wide range of LED Illumination

include the intuitive CoolLED LightBridge virtual

Systems, including

pE-800

control pod to complement imaging software.

Series for lightning-fast fluorescence microscopy

Moreover, the pE-300 Series and pE-400 Series

and supercharged calcium imaging which can be

include bench-top control pods for simple manual

controlled through Evident cellSens Dimension,

control, while several models offer TTL for high-

Nikon NIS Elements, µManager and more.

speed live cell imaging.

Combining sophisticated control with powerful

www.coolled.com/support/imaging-

illumination, the new pE-400 Series is ideal for cost-

software

the

eight-channel

effective fluorescence microscopy, from routine to

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Control is where CoolLED LED Illumination

ISSUE 71 SEPTEMBER 2023

Combining Expertise for Next Generation TEM Imaging Technology Japan Electron Optics Laboratory Co., Ltd (“JEOL”),

first anticipated.”

a leading manufacturer of semiconductor, industrial, scientific, metrology, and medical equipment, came to Scintacor Ltd with hopes of finding the ideal phosphor screen to detect electrons with high spatial accuracy to support products within their TEM segment. JEOL has always been at the forefront of SEM/TEM development, bringing the highest performance and quality products to the market. It was essential to partner with a true expert in phosphor coating in order to achieve the performance levels expected on the JEOL CMOS camera.

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a biological specimen or sample to produce a high-resolution, magnified image. These extremely powerful microscopes allow for visualizing material structures and properties at resolutions better than 1 nanometre.

Used in a variety of fields, such as life sciences, nanotechnology, biological and material research, forensic analysis, and gemology and metallurgy, TEMs provide topographical, morphological, compositional, and crystalline information about the sample. Scintacor’s TEM screens convert the electron energy to detectable light for image sensing.

With a high level of collaboration between the company’s development teams, the project resulted in the launch of SightSKY1 - a high sensitivity, low noise, fiber coupling CMOS camera used with Transmission Electron Microscopes (“TEM”). With Scintacor’s phosphor coating, we were able to optimise both the sensitivity and the resolution of the camera whilst keep a low noise level, allowing SightSKY to bring a new level of performance to the TEM camera market.

“Scintacor’s knowledge and development capabilities were exactly what we needed to make this project a success,” said Dr Yuji Konyuba, a member of JEOL’s EM R&D Department. “The phosphor screen for electron detection, that was developed, exceeded our initial project expectations, bringing the camera even greater sensitivity than what was

Andrew Lee, CTO at Scintacor remarks, “It has been a great opportunity to work with JEOL on this particular development project. In close collaboration between Scintacor and JEOL, engineers tested several potential technical options and together we determined the best process and phosphor required for JEOL’s demanding and innovative design.” www.scintacor.com https://www.jeol.com/products/ scientific/tem/SightSKY_Camera.php

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NEW PRODUCTS

HORIBA debuts new Raman microscope for semiconductor analyses

HORIBA, leader in Raman microscopy, announces

The LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor system

the new LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor system,

includes a 300 mm × 300 mm automated sample

a Raman/Photoluminescence microscope based

stage and an automated objective turret, enabling

on the best-selling high resolution LabRAM

the acquisition of maps of full wafers of diameter

HR Evolution confocal Raman microscope and

up of 300mm. In addition, the DuoScan imaging

equipped with a sample mounting stage to handle

function permits both variable size laser macrospot

the common wafer size of 300mm.

for full wafer maps and high spatial submicron step

As compound semiconductors are becoming more complex with a higher number of elements, uniformity assessment on blanket wafers is essential for high quality devices and high yield. The LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor system will help process engineers qualify the different process steps in a

scanning for small area maps. The range of available excitation lasers, combined with a wide range of spectral detection, from deep UV to near IR, makes the LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor system a two-in-one Raman and Photoluminescence spectroscopy tool. The “Tilt at midway” autofocus function overcomes possible sample/holder tilt and ensures reliability in uniformity response.

As Raman and Photoluminescence characterisation is moving from the lab to the fab for the emerging 2D materials-based devices, the LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor system is the perfect tool for metrology technical managers.

Dr Adam Holland, Senior Raman and micro PhotoLuminescence Product Manager, HORIBA UK said: “The LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor is an ideal tool for compound semiconductor photoluminescence and Raman characterisation,

timely manner and with a high level of confidence.

With a high spatial resolution mode, the LabRAM Odyssey Semiconductor offers the capability to detect and identify defects and submicron inhomogeneities to understand and give insights about their origin.

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providing both full wafer mapping for uniformity testing and micron level spatial resolution data for device development and failure analysis on the same tool. It is a game changer for both R&D and low volume production QC.” https://horiba.link/labram-odysseysemiconductor

Digital Surf unveils Mountains® 10, the most comprehensive version to date Digital Surf announced the release of the tenth major version of the company’s renowned Mountains® software analysis platform for surface metrology & microscopy, trusted by 50+ leading instrument manufacturers and 22,000+ users.

Version 10 highlights include: A new product family for users of light microscopes, MountainsImage®, providing a complete toolkit for pre-processing and analysing image data. The new line includes tools for enhancement, measurement, luminance histograms, colour inversion, conversion to monochrome, particle analysis including colour segmentation, fibre analysis and image contour analysis.

A new job-specific Lens Analysis module for the study of aspheric optical surfaces and profiles in applications from many industries including imaging systems, sensors and lasers.

The improvement of features for Automation, key in today’s fast-paced industrial and research environments. In particular a new Automation tab now groups together Mountains® productivity functions such as document templates for processing of large batches of measured data, userdefined analysis recipes (known as Minidocs) and customisation options allowing customers to work faster.

CAD compare on Shell data (freeform surfaces): users can now compare measured Shell data with CAD models and access full surface texture analysis on this kind of dataset.

New product for spectral analysis MountainsSpectral® Analyze for users working with spectra only, including automatic peak detection and fitting and parameter map generation.

The recently-released Fiber analysis tool has been extended to all product families including those designed for topography analysis.

“In the ever-evolving surface metrology and microscopy industries, Digital Surf remains dedicated to building the best and most up-to-date surface imaging and analysis software” said Christophe Mignot, Digital Surf CEO. “Version 10 is our most comprehensive product release yet, bridging all the remaining gaps between the various datatypes and instrument technologies we cater for: topography analysis, image analysis and spectroscopy analysis.

We are very excited to deliver Mountains® 10 to our users and receive their feedback.” www.digitalsurf.com/news/pressrelease-digital-surf-unveils-mountains10-the-most-comprehensive-versionto-date/

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NEW PRODUCTS

Vision Engineering launches new version of its bestselling Mantis optical stereo microscope Vision Engineering, the world-leading provider of innovative inspection, metrology, and digital 3D visualisation solutions, today announced the launch of Mantis 3rd Gen, the latest addition to its bestselling and award-winning range of ergonomic optical stereo microscopes.

Mantis is in use in tens of thousands of R&D, manufacturing and analytical sites around the world. Mantis 3rd Gen incorporates the latest developments in optics, digital cameras and fully adjustable LED lighting, to keep Mantis at the forefront of stereo imaging.

Mantis is designed for precision engineering, electronic engineering, medical device manufacture, and a wide range of other applications that require high-quality images and superior ergonomics. It features a unique, patented, eyepiece-less design that delivers a large, high-quality optical stereo image directly into the user’s eyes, making it more comfortable and easier to view than traditional microscopes.

Manipulative, rework and restoration tasks need stereo images, to allow easy hand to eye coordination and depth perception. Mantis 3rd Gen combines stereo optical images, with high resolution camera options for manipulation and recording.

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Mantis 3rd Gen features long working distance and excellent depth perception, now with a choice of 3 magnifications, making it ideal for a wide range of applications. It also now comes as standard with five different ways to illuminate your subject, giving you the flexibility to adjust the lighting to get the perfect image for your needs.

In addition to its outstanding image quality and ergonomics, Mantis also features a powerful digital imaging system that allows you to capture, review, and share high-resolution images.This makes it easy to share your work with colleagues, document your findings, and train new employees. Substantial R&D has resulted in a new range of stand options, to allow flexibility, stability and reduced footprint.

“As our customers have told us for the last 28 years, Mantis is an ideal solution for anyone who needs to perform precise work with small objects,” said Mark Curtis, Managing Director at VisionEngineering. “We invest substantial R&D time and effort in exploiting the opportunities that fast moving optic, digital and lighting technologies offer our dedicated customer base. Mantis 3rd Gen offers the best of both worlds: superior ergonomics and optical image quality, combined with the latest digital imaging technology.” www.visioneng.com/mantis

Oxford Instruments launches Unity – the world’s first commercial detector for instant chemical imaging Oxford Instruments today launches the world’s

sample analysis simpler and faster than ever before.

first imaging detector to combine Backscattered

The Oxford Instruments team has spent six years developing the Unity detector, revolutionising the workflow for sample analysis. The unprecedented speed of the Unity detector provides accurate, high-resolution chemical mapping of whole samples in just minutes, allowing users to quickly identify features and regions that warrant further investigation. By having this valuable cartographic data at their disposal before detailed examination, users can swiftly transition from initial instincts to scientific insights, opening inspiring new research directions.

Electron and X-ray imaging in a single technique – BEX. Unity enables researchers, scientists, and students to achieve instant visual and compositional sample analysis simultaneously in the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

Traditionally, determining the elemental makeup and composition of materials in the SEM has been a repetitive, laborious process. This involves acquiring black-and-white electron images based on the secondary electron and backscattered electron signals. X-ray signals are then used to determine chemical composition. This is time-consuming, especially because users must replicate this process repeatedly until anomalies or areas of interest are located. However, with Oxford Instruments’ Unity detector and innovative BEX technique, BSE and X-ray signals are captured simultaneously, allowing users to instantly observe the microstructure and chemistry of samples in full-colour, high-resolution images.

The game-changing Unity detector combines the topographic, crystallographic, atomic number and elemental information i​ n an immediate highresolution visual output. Users can effortlessly navigate around the sample, making sophisticated

Dr Haithem Mansour, product manager at Oxford Instruments, said: “Our Unity detector and BEX technique are truly ground-breaking. We’re not only making complex sample analysis quicker and easier, but we’re also helping ensure the process is more robust and accurate, and giving users more time to focus on specific areas of their sample that demand their attention. Unparalleled in the market today, the powerful combination of hardware and software within the Unity detector brings new levels of certainty, reliability, and pace to the scientific community, accelerating the journey to scientific discovery.” nano.oxinst.com

If you would like your new product information to appear on these pages, contact infocus Magazine at advertising@infocus.org.uk The announcements in this Section are compiled by the manufacturers. They in no way represent a recommendation by the Royal Microscopical Society for any particular instrument or equipment. The Royal Microscopical Society does not endorse, support, recommend or verify the information provided on these pages.

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R E P O RT

CYTO2023 “Engaging Globally”

Montreal, Canada, 20 -24 May 2023

I

SAC, the International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry, held its most recent annual Congress at the Palais de Congress in Montreal, Canada.

The meeting attracted around 2,000 delegates including students, academics and exhibitors. As usual this was the time to hear about the latest developments in flow cytometric hardware, software, and applications. And, as at all previous congresses, the quality of talks and posters was extremely high. ISAC has several development programmes – Scholars, Shared Resource Laboratory Emerging Leaders and Innovators, and it was great to see those who had been on the schemes for a while returning to CYTO to present their work.

The first day included 15 tutorials on such diverse

initiatives – CYTO Youth, Instruments for Science and Live Education. This meant that all attendees at the conference were able to mingle with the ISAC councillors and members of various committees within the society. First-time attendees also had their own session where more experienced attendees could offer advice on how to get the most out of what is a large and vibrant meeting.

Another key aspect of this meeting is the exhibition space and 77 companies were represented showcasing their new wares. Companies also gave commercial tutorials over lunches enabling them to describe their new equipment, reagents or software.

Time in the exhibition hall is always worthwhile, even for those who have no financial authority.

Cytometry is a very welcoming and altruistic field and people can’t wait to tell you about their latest discovery or newest piece of kit!

subjects as career development, training, data

The prestigious Hooke lecture was given by

analysis, cell sorting, and setting up your own start-

Anthony Hyman from the Max Planck Institute of

up company. A new introduction this year was

Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden.

an open-ticketed Presidents reception where all

He spoke on the fascinating subject of biomolecular

Palais de Congress, Montreal.

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Networking with Cytometry Colleagues at the Becton Dickinson FACSDiscover S8 launch event.

condensates. Other plenary sessions featured

presentations event – ISAC rewards its members

views on the state of the art in cytometry. The two

with several long-service recognition awards as

that stood out for me were given by the RMS’s

well as awards for Best Posters and Outstanding

own Peter O’Toole (University of York, UK), who

Students – and a closing ceremony.

spoke on extracting data from label-free images, and Ryan Brinkman (Vancouver, Canada), who described a crowd-sourced gaming approach to data analysis. Some of the recent developments including full spectrum cytometry, microfluidic sorting devices, standardisation, clinical biomarkers, and extracellular vesicles were well represented in the parallel sessions which ran every day.

For the past few Congresses, ISAC has run CYTO Youth – this is an outreach programme aimed at teachers and students of all ages and is designed

CYTO would not be the same without the extensive social activities. Montreal is a very vibrant city and many groups got together in the evenings to visit restaurants and bars, renew acquaintances and make new friendships. In particular there was excitement over the venue for next year’s Congress which will be in Edinburgh in early May 2024.

Derek Davies, The Francis Crick Institute, London Rachael Walker, Babraham Institute,

to highlight that a career in STEM is an attractive

Cambridge

option. As CYTO is held at different venues every

Both authors had presentations and posters at this

year, this enables that message to be spread globally

meeting and we gratefully acknowledge the RMS for its

and many of the attendees at the Congress itself

support in making it possible to attend the Congress.

contribute to this day of learning.

A street scene near the conference centre.

What were the other highlights? CYTO Innovation is a relatively new part of the meeting with the aim of showcasing start-up companies in the field.These companies can pitch their ideas as well as receive feedback. It is a competitive process and the winner this year was Spectradyne who have developed a technology to accurately measure nanoparticles.

The posters always provide a good means of interacting with other delegates and seeing new approaches, and two live sessions were held where authors had the opportunity to describe their work in more detail.The meeting was rounded off with the

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Submission Guidelines

infocus is the Royal Microscopical Society’s (RMS) vibrant and striking quarterly magazine for members. It provides a common forum for scientists & technologists who use any form of microscope, including all branches of microscopy. Published four times a year, infocus is free to members of the RMS. infocus features articles on microscopy related topics, techniques and developments, an events calendar, news, event reports, book reviews, new product information, and much more. infocus welcomes submissions of: Articles - Full articles or reviews of general interest to microscopists, of approximately 30004000 words (excluding references), with images/ figures (as many as appropriate, 4-8 as a guide).

Longer articles can also be considered.

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Book Reviews – if you are a member of the RMS and are interested in writing book reviews for infocus, please contact Owen Morton owen@rms.org.uk.

Please see recent issues of infocus for examples of articles and reviews. To request a sample copy of infocus contact owen@rms.org.uk If you are interested in submitting to infocus, contact: editor@infocus.org.ukj

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• Total number of images/figures/tables should not exceed 15 including tables.

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Prior to publication, authors will be sent a PDF of the article by email for approval.

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Approval for reproduction/modification of any material (including figures and tables) published elsewhere should be obtained by the authors before submission of the manuscript and the source of the material should be properly acknowledged. Authors are responsible for any copyright fee involved.

Authors are requested to complete and submit a signed copy of our copyright sign-off form. This is available on the RMS website (www.infocus.org.uk).

Two column/full page width, 135mm

Figure 2. Width of figure or table spanning full width of page.

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