The Microscopists

#69 — In this special technology focus episode, Peter O'Toole is joined by experts in Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), including: • Thorsten Wohland , Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore. • Annette Bergter, Marketing Manager, Business Sector Life Sciences at ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions. • Chris MacDonald , Researcher and Se...

#68 — Beth Cimini is a Senior Group Leader at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard . In this episode of The Microscopists, Beth joins Peter O’Toole to discuss the challenges of developing popular software tools like CellProfiler in academia and why harsh peer review leads to user-friendly software. They also chat about why someone on Twitter got mad when Beth shared a picture of pasta. Discover...

#67 — In this special episode, Peter O'Toole is joined by Executive Board Members of BioImaging North America (BINA), including: • Alison North , Research Associate Professor and Senior Director at The Rockefeller University. • Claire Brown , Associate Professor & Director, Advanced BioImaging Facility at McGill University. • Nikki Bialy , BINA Program Coordinator at the Morgridge Institute fo...

#66 — In this special episode, Peter O'Toole is joined by researchers from the Latin American community, including: • Andres Kamaid , Researcher at the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo . • Leonel Malacrida , Associate Professor and Head of the Advanced Bioimaging Unit at the Universidad de la República & Institut Pasteur de Montevideo . • Mariana De Niz , Research Assistant Professor and Manager...

#65 — Ronald Germain , M.D. is a Distinguished Investigator and Lab Chief of the Lymphocyte Biology Section at the National Institutes of Health. In this episode of The Microscopists, Ron joins Peter O’Toole to discuss why you need to think like a surfer in science. They also chat about what he does to entertain himself when he gets bored in meetings and why he let go of being a control freak. Wat...

#64 — Jean-Yves Tinevez is a Research Engineer at Institut Pasteur. In this episode of The Microscopists , Jean-Yves joins Peter O’Toole to discuss why he finds supporting other researchers at a core imaging facility so rewarding. They also chat about storing his extensive collection of comic books in his Parisian apartment and some favorite countries to work in. Watch or listen to all episodes of...

#63 — Kedar Narayan ( Frederick National Laboratory and National Cancer Institute ) joins Peter O’Toole to discuss how he originally wanted to be a designer and never took high school biology because he thought it was icky. They also dive into why developing technologies is demanding and the potential downsides to AI in science. Watch or listen to all episodes of The Microscopists: themicroscopist...

#62 —  Lucy Collinson (The Francis Crick Institute) and Kirk Czymmek (The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center) join Peter O’Toole to discuss volume EM . Together they highlight what volume EM is, how it has been a quiet revolution, and share resources to help those wanting to get started using this powerful new technology. They discuss how amazingly friendly and engaged the volume EM community is...

#61 — Joachim Frank is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University and winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his involvement in the development of CryoEM. In this episode of The Microscopists, Joachim joins Peter O’Toole to discuss how his early interactions with an electron microscope shaped his career and how he considered moving into environmental research. They also cha...

#60 — In this episode of The Microscopists, Peter O'Toole is joined by three representatives of bioimaging networks in Africa: Caron Jacobs of the African BioImaging Consortium ( ABIC ), Ben Loos of the South African BioImaging Community ( SABI ) and Mahmoud Maina of the Biomedical Science Research and Training Centre ( BioRTC ) at Yobe State University. They discuss how their communities operate,...

#59 — Aydogan Ozcan is Chancellor’s Professor and HHMI Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering . Aydogan joins Peter to talk about how advances in imaging technology could make security screening less invasive, the importance of communicating science to the public, and why you need to take ownership of your research. Watch or Listen...

#58 — Laura Waller is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley . In this episode of The Microscopists, Laura joins Peter O'Toole to talk about how she got interested in optics and engineering and what it's like to run a lab. She also talks about her unusual extreme reading hobby, which has seen her read scientific papers atop mountains, on an eleph...

#57 — Michael Albiez is CEO of Carl Zeiss Research Microscopy Solutions . He chats to Peter O'Toole about how Zeiss Microscopy recently won the German Future Prize live on national TV, and he shares what it's like to connect with many different researchers who all use microscopy in their work. We also hear about his aspirations to become a teacher, and his musical experience playing in a jazz trio...

#56 — Stefan Hell is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen and at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. In this episode of The Microscopists, Stefan tells Peter O'Toole about his quest to overcome the diffraction barrier, why he doesn't think of himself as a microscopist, and staying motivated after winning a Nobel Prize . They also...

#55 — Emma Lundberg is Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford , Professor in Cell Biology Proteomics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology , and Head of the Subcellular Section of the Human Protein Atlas . Emma joins Peter O’Toole to talk about crowdsourcing image analysis for the Human Protein Atlas program within the EVE Online virtual game. We also hear how she manages research groups...

#54 — Florian Jug is Research Group Leader and Head of the Image Analysis Facility at Human Technopole , Milan. Florian joins Peter O'Toole to discuss his research using AI and machine learning to better analyze and quantify biological data. They chat about his early ambitions in computer science, and he tells us why he enjoys teaching various courses across the globe. We also hear about his hobbi...

#53 — Christian Eggeling is Head of the Department of Biophysical Imaging at the Institute of Photonic Technologies ( IPHT, Jena ). In this episode of The Microscopists, Christian joins Peter O'Toole to discuss his varied career to date, starting with a degree in physics, a short stint in a biotech company, followed by faculty positions in Oxford and then Jena. They discuss the importance of scien...

#52 — Wah Chiu is Wallenberg Bienenstock Professor, and Professor of Bioengineering, and Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University . In this episode of the Microscopists, Wah chats with Peter O' Toole about his pioneering cryoEM work and his research goals of understanding the structural biology of organelles. They also discuss careers in academia versus industry, the role of AI and alpha...

#51 — Antje Keppler is the Director of Euro-BioImaging Bio-Hub . In this episode of The Microscopists, Antje joins Peter O'Toole to discuss the recent explosion and expansion of techniques in microscopy and how Euro-BioImaging is helping researchers access these. They also chat about fishing in Scandinavia and her reaction after being told girls shouldn't learn chemistry! Watch or Listen to all ep...

#50 — Michael Sheetz is the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry at the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch ( UTMB ) at Galveston. In this episode of the Microscopists, Michael joins Peter O'Toole to tell us about his new exciting work on cell senescence, and his time living in Singapore—and he gives us some great scie...

#49 — In this episode, we talk to Elisabeth Bik , former microbiome researcher turned scientific integrity consultant. Elisabeth spends her time searching biomedical literature for inappropriately manipulated photographic images and plagiarized text, and often discusses these on Twitter at @MicrobiomDigest . Following her successful scientific career in the lab, a stolen sentence she authored led...

#48 — In this episode, we talk to David Piston , Professor and Head of Cell Biology and Physiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis . David's first love was physics—until he was made to take a quantum mechanics class in graduate school! He now has a super successful career in biology, using innovative imaging and biochemical methods to identify new therapeutic targets fo...

#47 — From an early start in the lab at just 14 years old, to running one of the largest neuroscience groups in the world, Ed Boyden is a Professor and group leader in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT , and an HHMI investigator.   In this episode, we hear all about how despite his recent awards and huge success, he initially struggled to get a permanent role in academia, and...

#46 — Stefan Terjung is operational manager at the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility in Heidelberg, one of the first microscopy core facilities established at the EMBL . We discuss new microscopy techniques, his favourite school subjects and guilty TV pleasures. We also chat about the excellent networking opportunities conferences can provide, fun nights out and dreams of retiring by the sea. Wat...

#45 — Eija Jokitalo is the Director of the Electron Microscopy Unit at the University of Helsinki , whose work focuses on understanding organelle structure during cell division. We chat about why she believes imaging is key to solving biological problems, alternative career pathways inside a core facility and her outreach work in schools. We also hear about how she juggled a career in science with...