Microscopy & Imaging


The latest Business updates from the science industry


by Heather Hobbs Crick Scientists Receive Flagship Prize for EM Developments


who leads the Electron Microscopy Science Technology Platform (STP) at the Crick. “We have had great support from the translation team in educating and supporting us through the open innovation pathway and it is fantastic to work in an institute that supports and recognises cutting-edge technology development in the STP setting.”


Announcing the award, Sir David Cooksey, former chairman of the Crick, said: “This year’s well-deserved winners of the translation prize are an interdisciplinary team, with skills covering biology, microscopy, physics and software engineering. They have learnt to speak each other’s languages to develop new solutions that will help to advance biomedical research at the Crick and beyond.”


Crick scientists Lizzy Brama, Martin Jones and Lucy Collinson receive the Sir David Cooksey Prize in Translation


The fi rst Sir David Cooksey Prize in Translation awarded by the Francis Crick Institute, has been presented to Lucy Collinson, Martin Jones, Lizzy Brama and Chris Peddie, for their pioneering work in Electron Microscopy at the Crick, which is enabling translation of fundamental research into tangible health and economic benefi t. The team were chosen for their new research-enabling tool which combines electron microscopy with fl uorescence microscopy and their approach to ensure wide dissemination and adoption of the technology developed at the Crick.


The winners received £10,000 for their ongoing research in addition to a £2,000 cash prize.


“It is an honour to receive this award, particularly considering the great innovations coming from the other nominees,” said Lucy Collinson,


technology available to the wider microscopy community through open access publications and training. They have also worked with innovative microscopy companies to commercialise the systems for sites that do not have the interdisciplinary skills to build their own.


“Their work demonstrates that the Crick is an extraordinary place for innovation, in the science technology platforms as well as the research labs, enabling its scientists to achieve the Crick’s aims,” added Sir David.


There were six nominations for this year’s prize, which can broadly be classifi ed under three categories - early validation of therapeutic targets, potential therapeutics or diagnostics and technology platforms. Together, the nominations represent the breadth of translation taking place at the Crick.


“Choosing a winner was incredibly diffi cult because all of the projects were so strong,” said Veronique Birault, who heads the Crick Translation team.


The prize committee was made up of Veronique Birault (Crick Head of Translation), Kate Bingham (VC partner at SVLS and Crick board member), Barbara Domayne-Hayman (entrepreneur and consultant at the Crick), Peter Parker (Crick Group Leader) and Roberto Solari (Crick Translation Advisory Group Member and Visiting Professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute and chairman of 3 SMEs).


(from left): Sir David Cooksey, Lizzy Brama, Martin Jones, Lucy Collinson, Veronique Birault and Paul Nurse.


The team has worked with the Crick’s in-house translation team to make the designs and knowledge of how to build their new


The committee was chaired by David Roblin, who is the Chair of Scientifi c Translation at the Crick and President of R&D at Summit Therapeutics.


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Super-Microscopes to Play Vital Role in Integrating European Science


(RTD) at the European Commission and Giorgio Rossi, Chair of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), the League of European


Accelerator-based Photon Sources,


(LEAPS) aims to develop a common sustainable strategy with all stakeholders, including national policy makers, user communities and the European Commission.


The light sources that form LEAPS are all accelerators-based, producing exceptionally intense beams of X-rays, ultra-violet and infrared light and involve the participation of 24,000 direct user scientists and an extended network of 35,000 researchers, including fi ve Nobel Prizes.


LEAPS launch in Brussels. Credit Diamond Light Source


Representatives of organisations from 19 light source facilities across Europe gathered in Brussels during November for the launch of LEAPS, an initiative aiming to offer a step change in European cooperation, through a common vision of enabling scientifi c excellence to help solve global challenges, while boosting European competitiveness and integration.


Signing an agreement to strengthen their collaboration, witnessed by Robert-Jan Smits, Director General for Research and Innovation


These ‘super-microscopes’ enable research on samples in the tiniest detail, helping make invisible information strikingly visible. Used for both basic and applied research, virtually all fi elds of science can be covered ranging from chemistry, biology and physics, to energy, medicine, cultural heritage and engineering.


Professor Helmut Dosch, Chair of LEAPS and Director of DESY, Hamburg in Germany said: “National facilities have so far mostly been developed and operated independently of each other, yet they have much in common, because most of their scientifi c objectives are very similar. Ensuring that this exceptional science network and infrastructure is used effectively is core to the work of LEAPS,


which is bringing together 16 organisations representing 19 facilities across Europe. This offi cial new collaboration will become a catalyst for impact on these global challenges, a key driver for competiveness and a compelling force for closer integration and peace through scientifi c collaboration.”


Professor Andrew Harrison, CEO of Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national Synchrotron said: “Diamond Light Source is delighted to be part of this major new initiative to strengthen the role of light sources in science across Europe. Diamond is one of the most advanced scientifi c facilities in the world and its pioneering capabilities are helping to keep the UK at the forefront of scientifi c research and now our work will have even wider reach as part of LEAPS.”


Professor Harrison concluded: “This major collaboration comes at a time when we have also just committed to the ‘Together Science Can’ declaration - a global campaign to unite researchers and institutes around the world to protect vital international scientifi c collaboration. For Diamond, LEAPS is a tangible way of contributing to that aspiration.”


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