Demoing the SoRa super-resolution spinning-disk microscope

For the last two weeks, we got to play with Nikon Instruments latest super-resolution spinning disk microscope that incorporates a Yokogawa SoRa head. It was installed in the INP NeuroCellular Imaging Service (NCIS) imaging facility.

The Nikon SoRa setup

We could make 3D-stacks and live-cell imaging movies of cells and neurons benefiting form the ~120 nm lateral resolution. See the how this compares to diffraction-limited imaging with this example from our samples:

Comparison between raw spinning disk, raw SoRa, and deconvolved SoRa images of a COS cell labeled for actin, microtubules, clathrin and DNA.

First edition of the INP day

Now that the Institute of Neurophysiopathology is settled as a whole on the Timone Campus of the AMU School of Medicine, we organized the first INP day at the Black Rock pub in Marseille. It was a big success with lots of fun and games! There were more scientific parts such as the 3-minute presentation by a PhD student of each team – Dominic did great for NeuroCyto.

The team leaders also recorded short “elevator pitches” that will be used to advertise to work of the INP teams – here’s a short behind-the-scenes video with Christophe explaining what we do:

video courtesy of Nicolas Fichera on LinkedIn

Visit to Cambridge

Christophe was invited to Cambridge by Kristian Franze and gave a seminar as part of the Adrian Seminar Series of the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. Thanks Kristian for the invitation and the glimpse to the splendid Cantabrigian life!

Saint John’s College in the morning

The next day, Christophe gave a seminar at the Chemical Engineering department, invited by Clemens Kaminski from the Laser Analytics Group. This was followed by a lively discussion with the group’s PhD students.

10-year anniversary of the ATIP-AVENIR program

On November 4th, a one-day symposium was organized at the College de France in Paris to celebrate the 10 years of the ATIP-AVENIR program, which funded and helped the creation of the NeuroCyto lab in 2017. We could hear about the history and evolution of the program from its creators and directors, as well as science stories from past awardees. Check more photos of the event here.

Christophe tries to hang a poster summarizing what the lab is about…
Success for the images-as-business cards part of the poster!

FENS CAJAL course: Advanced Techniques for Synapse Biology

Christophe spent 10 days in Bordeaux as an instructor for the FENS CAJAL Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme Course called “Advanced Techniques for Synapse Biology“. Every morning were talks from keynote speakers and instructors, while the afternoon were devoted to working on a project with two students. We heavily used the microscopes from the Bordeaux Imaging Center (thanks Magali!) including spinning disk for live-cell imaging and STORM super-resolution microscopy. The hard work of students Pushpa Khanal and Alexandra Reichova led to beautiful images of axonal trafficking and structure!

The STORM micrsocope in action
An image from the final presentation of Pushpa and Alexandra
The course students and instructors

Welcome to Florian!

After doing his Master 2 with us, Florian Wernert got a PhD fellowship from École Doctorale and just started as our newest PhD student. In the next three years, Florian will use his skills in neuroscience and data analysis to dissect the organization of axonal actin structures. Welcome to the NeuroCyto team!

Visit to Japan: Kusumi lab and Biophysical Society of Japan meeting

Together with Tijana Jovanovic-Talisman (City of Hope) and Paul Maddox (UNC), Christophe was invited by Aki Kusumi and Taka-aki Tsunoyama at the Okinawa Institute of Technology (OIST) for a seminar on new microscopy techniques. Aki and Taka were wonderful hosts and the OIST is a stunning place to do science!

A 180° view of the OIST entry gate
Group pic in front of the Kusumi lab (beautiful platinum-replica EM from Morone et al. JCB 2006)
Christophe’s talk at OIST – pic courtesy of @paul_s_maddox

Taka and Aki then brought us on the island of Kyushu, the southern island of the main Japanese archipelago. We went to the city of Miyazaki to participate to the 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society of Japan. Our symposium was entitled “Biophysical Physiology and Pathology by the Application of Superresolution Microscopy” – featuring interesting talks with beautiful images from Takahiro Fujiwara (Kyoto University) and Makio Tokunaga (Tokyo Insitute of Technology).