The latest Business updates from the science industry


by Heather Hobbs Virtual Raman Imaging Poster Summit 2020 Successfully Concludes


WITec Marketing Director Harald Fischer (L) and Product Manager Thomas Dieing (R) during the on-demand welcome session.


WITec GmbH, the driver of innovation in Raman and correlative microscopy, has completed hosting its fi rst entirely online scientifi c conference.


The Virtual Raman Imaging Poster Summit 2020 was organised as a substitute for the renowned Confocal Raman Imaging Symposium. WITec wanted to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the exciting chemical characterisation research that continues to advance while the scientifi c community is distributed. It was a response to the uncertainty and travel restrictions imposed by the ongoing pandemic, and it was a resounding success.


Over 250 people took part and 55 scientifi c posters were submitted in four different categories. The range of applications included the analysis of active ingredient and excipient distribution in pharmaceutical tablets, characterisation of battery materials, detection of microplastic particles, cancer diagnosis, chemical analyses


of organoids and polymer fi bres in 3D, bacterial


Dr Nathalie Jung – Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany – Winner of the Best Poster Award. (© Nathalie Jung)


signalling investigation, analysis of microinclusions in arctic ice, extremely high-pressure Raman measurements, strain analyses in semiconductors, and many more.


“We were cautiously optimistic that the community would embrace the online conference format to share their recent work, and then the reaction far exceeded our expectations,” described WITec Marketing Director Harald Fischer. “The diversity, both scientifi cally and geographically, of the posters submitted really refl ected the widespread adoption of Raman imaging.”


Discussions were carried out on the platform’s chat function and participants cast their votes for the Best Poster Award, which was won by Dr Nathalie Jung (Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) for her presentation titled, “Chemically-selective visualisation of organoids and their interaction with hydrogel matrices.”


The Virtual Raman Imaging Poster Summit and the thoroughly international engagement it produced has encouraged WITec to continue developing online event formats while the company looks forward to bringing the Raman imaging community back together in person. The Confocal Raman Imaging Symposium will return for its 17th occasion from 27th to 29th September 2021 in Ulm, Germany.


Visit the Virtual Raman Imaging Poster Summit 2020 review page: ilmt.co/PL/l2vo


More information online: ilmt.co/PL/Gpq0 53387pr@reply-direct.com


RMS Outreach Award presented to Dr Siân Culley


The RMS has proudly announce Dr Siân Culley as the fi rst recipient of the ‘Chris Hawes Outreach and Education Award’ in recognition for substantial contributions either to the fi eld of education or to outreach and public engagement over the course of their career.


It was created last year in honour of the late Professor Chris Hawes, former President of the RMS, for his contributions to the Society and his particular work within Outreach and Education.


Alongside her research activities at University College London, Dr Culley has made many contributions of national and international signifi cance in the education of optical microscopy and outreach, particularly with under-represented and minority groups. Most notably has been her conception and realisation of an international database of female researchers, to showcase and highlight female microscopists around the world and the specifi c areas of microscopy in which they specialise.


Supported by the RMS, this resource gives the details of more than 360 female researchers and has rapidly become the go-to resource for microscopy conference organisers worldwide for selection of excellent speakers for events while maintaining a positive gender balance.


Viewed over 10,000 times, it has been used to great effect in identifying speakers for the RMS Frontiers in Bioimaging conference and annual ELMI workshops.


Dr Cullley’sengagement in local and national outreach includes her role as an Ambassador for the ‘In2Science’ charity, which provides research opportunities to A-level students from disadvantaged backgrounds.


She has supported several students participating in this programme, hosting microscopy-based projects at UCL, and has been directly


involved in fundraising for the charity to widen access.


She has also given career talks at local schools to GCSE and A-level students, and has volunteered at activities including The Big Bang Fair at the Birmingham NEC in 2019 and at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology. Despite the relatively short time since her PhD award in 2015, Dr Culley has made a disproportionately large contribution to outreach and education in microscopy that benefi ts the whole community.


From inspiring the next generation of microscopists, through to providing resources for established academics, companies and learned societies, she helps to promote a positive and inclusive learning environment, including the provision of open learning material via Figshare, where she has uploaded more than 100 slides that can be freely used for educational purposes.


Dr Culley has also been involved in the supervision of fi ve PhD students, and has been invited to teach at several practical courses in optical microscopy. Such experience is not common in early career researchers and it is testament to Dr Culley’s commitment to education and training that she is engaging in these activities at the earliest opportunity.


RMS President Professor Grace Burke said: “Dr Culley has made a tremendous impact within the microscopy and wider science community, and her wide-ranging contributions in promoting inclusivity through outreach and education have made a real difference to microscopists at all career stages. It is a real privilege to announce her as the fi rst recipient of this important RMS award.”


53471pr@reply-direct.com Dr Siân Culley


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