Key Milestone Reached for Diamond’s Ptychography Branchline
after data acquisition. We are now looking forward to welcoming further users. However, we are all on a steep learning curve, and it will take us another two years to optimise the instrument including cryogenic cooling of samples and tomography.”
During the experiment, Maud Dumoux from The Franklin aimed at imaging and analysing the iron distribution in Chlamydiae infected cells, a cause of acquired blindness worldwide and the leading cause of female sterility in developed countries. Chlamydiae are also a burden for farming and animals as it is responsible for abortion for livestock and is a major factor in the declining numbers of Koalas in Australia. It is known that Chlamydiae are sensitive to iron levels. Thus the interest in analysing the iron distribution on nanoscopic scales.
Maud Damoux (Credit Diamond Light Source)
The UK’s national synchrotron Diamond Light Source has celebrated a milestone success at its new soft X-ray spectro- and tomo- ptychography branchline (J08).
A fi rst user team from the Rosalind Franklin Institute (The Franklin) has been able to successfully acquire ptychographic reconstructions on challenging biological samples, using the new soft X-ray spectro- and tomo-ptychography branchline (J08) at the UK’s Diamond Light Source.
Principal Beamline Scientist Burkhard Kaulich, who led the project to design, construct and commission the new instrument commented ; “On behalf of all contributors to the J08 project, we are very excited to announce that we have reached the landmark of our fi rst user event with Maud Dumoux from The Franklin. We acquired more than 200 ptychographic reconstructions in just two days on Chlamydiae infected cells, most of them with the online processing chain of visualising preliminary reconstructions only a few minutes
“We are so pleased to be the fi rst users of this beamline, and we are really excited by the results we have obtained so far. J08 is a unique and promising beamline that will increase our understanding of host-pathogen interactions using probe free imaging approaches, and we look forward to combining the knowledge from these experiments with other techniques to obtain a full picture of this important pathogen, ” Maud Dumoux said.
The team plans to open a commissioning call for potential users of this new facility by late November, where room-temperature ptychographic 2D imaging and spectro-ptychography will be offered.
“I would like to extend my congratulations to the team and all people involved with the project. This is a very important milestone for both science and Diamond, and it is an impressive achievement given the diffi culties caused by the pandemic,” concluded Director of Physical Sciences at Diamond, Laurent Chapon.
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mmc2021 to be held as a Virtual Event
“The Royal Microscopical Society took the decision at the end of last year to host all of its meetings, courses and conferences virtually until the Spring of 2021. That decision was made to ensure that Society activities could still go forward without risk to attendees. By making this decision suffi ciently in advance, we wanted to ensure that there was ample time to plan excellent virtual events.” explained Allison Winton, RMS Chief Executive.
“We had been hoping that the Microscience Microscopy Congress (mmc2021) incorporating EMAG 2021 would be able to take place in person at Manchester Central, but given the ever-changing COVID-19 situation (even with the positive news of vaccines on the horizon), the uncertainty means that we are unable to make defi nite plans for the mmc2021 event to proceed in person. We do not know to what extent social distancing measures will still be required and also if travel restrictions will have been lifted suffi ciently to enable our usual international attendance.
“Thus, in the interests of safety and concern for all our mmc2021 participants, attendees and exhibitors, we have concluded that it is necessary to change our originally planned ‘in person’ mmc2021 Congress at Manchester Central in July 2021 to a virtual Microscience Microscopy Congress 2021 incorporating EMAG 2021. Further details will be available in the New Year, but we wanted to inform you of this decision as soon as possible to end any uncertainty.
“As many of you may know, the RMS Staff have in recent months gained a huge amount of experience in organising and running virtual meetings and courses. These have received positive feedback and in many cases a signifi cantly higher than anticipated attendance. Therefore, the Virtual Microscience Microscopy Congress (mmc2021) incorporating EMAG 2021 will take place on 5 – 9 July 2021.
“We are confi dent that we can deliver an exciting virtual mmc experience for everyone and look forward to ‘seeing’ you there.”
Lives Around Microscopy – (not all about the work)
Bringing microscopy to life, The Microscopists Podcast - a new series of insights that aim to be fun, engaging and inspiring – sees Peter O’Toole (University of York) hosting personal chats with world leading scientists who are all connected by their use and development of microscopes and microscope techniques. Looking at how they started out, what shaped their careers, what they fi nd diffi cult and fun, the guests also reveal snapshots of their activities outside of work and the balancing act needed around their home lives. The content can be very diverse and jumps about a little to engage the audience at different levels. You do not have to be a microscopist to enjoy the content however; indeed very little is about their actual science.
Capturing the true nature and character of some of the great scientists of our time, the podcasts show that (most) are not all work, work, work, but that fun and enthusiasm for varied interests outside of work also feature strongly on the agenda - great for all to hear and which may be especially appreciated by early career and younger scientists. So read on and you will discover the underlying message in each; Follow your strengths and balance work with at least some fun and passion outside of work.
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Featuring in some of the podcasts; Hari Shroff (NIH–NIBIB) - Young, successful & disarming. Scott Fraser @USC – Is he a Chemist? Is he a Physicist? Is he a Biologist? Alison North (Rockefeller – but from the UK) and Kurt Anderson (Crick – but from the USA!) Jason Swedlow (The University of Dundee), Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz (The Howard Hughes Medical Institute - Janelia Research Campus) and Tony Wilson (University of Oxford).
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The RMS 2021 Calendar is now available for download as either a monthly update or a yearly poster. Revealing some stunning images submitted by microscopists for the Royal Microscpocical Society’s annual calendar competition, the selection for January (pictured) is:
Sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) collected in Aegean sea near Athens, by Max Patzchke, Bruker Nano Analytics, The sockets on the right are where the urchins long spines are attached.
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Scanner takes OCT systems to new Capbilities
Scientists at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam developing a real- time scanner that will create a full image of a moving eye without any blurring, have teamed up with photonics hub ACTPHAST 4R for help progressing their scanner concept to a demonstrator stage to acquire data faster than existing optical imaging technologies.
The lead researcher on this breakthrough development, Assistant Professor Imran Avci from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at VU Amsterdam, said: “Diagnoses of eye diseases that could lead to blindness require good quality images at an early stage. Eye abnormalities can be so very subtle in the early phase that standard OCT can miss these tiny changes. Because our eyes are constantly moving to refresh the visual input, even at a microscopic level, it makes eye imaging very diffi cult without having blurred images. Our scanner is different: with the data acquired fast enough, the overall goal is to have a real-time imaging system. The rapid switch will enable us to perform real-time high quality moving footage, or a ‘video’ of your eye.”
The scanner works by acquiring data from the light signal at rapid speeds by ‘bundling’ groups of information together. “Our new scanner will acquire the light signal data at least hundred times quicker than OCT systems that exist today.
Taking 100 to 120 reference points, our scanner ‘bundles’ them together, acquiring 20 arms at a time. However, it is our patented ‘switch’ that moves from bundle to bundle in nanoseconds that gives us the ability to quickly acquire the images in real-time,” said Dr Avci.
Dr Avci’s team were able to access technical and business coaching to advance the scanner concept towards an actual product by working with ACTPHAST 4R - an EU innovation hub providing researchers throughout Europe access to expertise and technologies in photonics to produce demonstrators for their scientifi c breakthroughs, similar to the separate ACTPHAST 4.0 innovation hub for European companies, especially SMEs.
ACTPHAST 4R Coordinator, Professor Hugo Thienpont of the Brussels Photonics Team (B-PHOT) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) said: “Researchers like Dr Avci do not have easy access to the relevant cutting-edge photonics expertise and technologies within their own universities or even their own regions. The ACTPHAST 4R support is crucial to bridging the gap between concept and demonstrator. At this early stage for researchers, it means turning their scientifi c concepts into practical demonstrators which are cutting-edge and industrially relevant. If the demonstrator is successful, then they can look at commercialisation options such as licensing or a spin-out company from the university, and taking it to the next stage of a working prototype.”
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