Microscopy & Microtechniques
Electron Microscopy; A Platform Advancing Science at the Crick
Lucy Collinson,
Lucy.Collinson@
crick.ac.uk
The long awaited opening of the new Francis Crick Institute, an iconic building close to St Pancras Station in London, fi nally arrived in August, with the fi rst of its 1250 researchers currently being brought together from a range of disciplines to discover the basic biology underlying human health. One of the world’s largest dedicated biomedical research centres, it is a landmark partnership between the UK’s three largest funders of biomedical research, the Medical Research Council’s National Institute for Medical Research, Cancer UK’s London Research Institute (Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Clare Hall) and The Wellcome Trust, along with the three founding Universities, University College London (UCL) Imperial College London (ICL) and Kings College London.
Credit: Welcome images
A Multi and Interdisciplinary Approach
The integration of the three university founders, UCL, Imperial and King’s has brought to the Crick a huge volume and range of expertise and facilities, in particular from the physical, engineering and clinical sciences and it is increased interaction between biological and physical sciences that will pay dividends to both sides, introducing new data, methodologies, concepts and perspectives and stimulating the development of novel approaches to problems.
Credit: Welcome images
The internal structure at the Crick is therefore arranged to encourage the bottom-up development of ‘interest groups’ that bring together researchers from across the organisation to share insights and plan activities in areas of common scientifi c interest. With the whole building designed to encourage mixing, scientists will be drawn together at interaction and collaboration facilities located at the centre of each fl oor and at the institute-wide facilities on the ground fl oor. The laboratories, arranged in quadrants on four of the fl oors have
also been constructed for high visibility, adding to opportunities for interaction and knowledge sharing.
The support offered to research groups, either in-house or external to the Crick is through the advanced technology and expertise of the Science Technology Platforms, including advanced DNA sequencing; the latest mass spectrometry equipment enabling gene expression, proteins and metabolic pathway characterisation; bioinformatics support for studies involving very large datasets and the high-throughput screening facility. Electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance suites allow biological structures to be studied in fantastic detail.
The Electron Microscopy (EM) STP
Because every imaging experiment is different, the EM team, made up of experienced post doctoral electron microscopists and scientists with image analysis and laser physics expertise, collaborates with the research scientists to design workflows unique to each research project, covering sample preparation protocols, microscope type, imaging strategy and data analysis.
The electron microscopy STP houses a range of high-end electron microscopes enabling imaging of samples across scales, from individual protein molecules to whole organisms such as fruit flies and zebrafish. Different light, electron and X-ray microscopes are often combined to image different information from the same sample - a process called correlative microscopy, one of the specialities of the lab.
“We work with about two-thirds of the labs at the Crick, across disciplines as diverse as structural biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, infection, immunity, cancer biology and more. The priority of the electron microscopy team is to collaborate with these Crick research groups to produce images that help them to understand their scientific questions,” explained Lucy Collinson, who heads the electron microscopy suite.
Where established techniques and technology cannot answer the scientific question, the EM STP works with research scientists to design and develop new methods; these are then communicated on to the wider microscopy community through publications, workshops and conferences.
Advice in big data handling and analysis, from alignment and reconstruction to 3D model generation and display is also offered. The group have ongoing collaborations with Computer Vision scientists to develop algorithms for automatic segmentation of electron microscopy images and correlation of data from different imaging modalities.
“In addition, the STP environment provides a hotbed for imaging research and innovation, which in recent years has delivered automated 3D EM of cells and tissues, maintenance of fluorophores in EM samples for simultaneous functional and structural imaging in integrated super-resolution light and electron microscopes; the implementation of super-quick protocols that take us from live samples to imaging in the electron microscope in just one day,” Lucy added.
Lucy Collinson, Head of Electron Microscopy Building from the base up
Just a few weeks after moving into the Crick, Lucy also talked to ILM about some of the planning and vision behind the EM STP and how its strong capability can help researchers with various projects at the Crick and also through collaboration with UK and international partners.
“The design process for the Electron Microscopy suite at the Francis Crick Institute started almost ten years ago. Working with the architects and engineers, the vibration and electro- magnetic fi eld profi les of the site were mapped, to understand how the tube lines and trains at St. Pancras would affect the microscopes. A ‘sweet spot’ was identifi ed at the south west corner of the site, which was least affected. The eight electron microscope rooms were then designed and built with advanced protective systems to shield them
LAB ASIA - NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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