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From right to left: Julien Colombelli (IRB Barcelona), Rafael Yuste (Columbia University) and Timo Zimmermann (CRG) during the press conference at ELMI
 21.05.2015

Microscopy moves towards ‘nanoscopy’ and transforms the life sciences

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), located at PCB, and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) gather 420 experts in the 15th ELMI Meeting, an annual European microscopy congress held this year in Sitges from 19 till 22 May. This annual congress is the most long-awaited event for those managing microscopy platforms across leading centres in Europe and industry. The development of the 3D microscopy, super-resolution microscopy, and light sheet microscopy (a kind of microscope that illuminates the sample with a sheet of light) pushes biology towards new horizons.

Observing the movement of cells inside an organism, following the development of an embryo in vivo over two days, or seeing how synapses form between neurons are the challenges faced by  microscopy and life sciences today. The technological developments in microscopy have become more sophisticated and such advancements bring with them greater opportunity to tackle questions, particularly in the life sciences, specifically in cellular biology.

“What commonly happens is that scientists design projects around the tools available. But while this is true, by addressing questions they also further the development of new technology,” explained Julien Colombelli and Timo Zimmermann. These two scientists head the advanced microscopy platforms at the IRB Barcelona and the CRG, respectively 

This annual congress is the most long-awaited event for those managing microscopy platforms across leading centres in Europe, for industry—more than 35 companies developing this technology are participating, among them Nikon, Leica, Carl Zeiss and Olympus—and for scientists. This event has brought together 420 participants, of which 290 are researchers.

For further information: IRB Barcelona website [+]