France-BioImaging Annual Meeting 2026 – Event Recap
The France-BioImaging Annual Meeting 2026 came to a close after two days held on March 12-13 in Rouen. This year’s edition, centered on the theme “Multimodalities for organ and organism imaging”, brought together the community for rich scientific discussions and new perspectives for collaboration.
Through a series of insightful presentations, the event showcased the wide spectrum of imaging approaches developed within France-BioImaging, highlighting both their potential and the challenges ahead. This edition also marked the first participation of industry sponsors (F-DGSi, Inscoper, Leica Microsystems, Nikon, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Zeiss) whom we warmly thank for their valuable support.
Day 1 – Infrastructure, collaboration and emerging synergies
The meeting opened with parallel activities, offering participants the opportunity to either visit the PRIMACEN facility or attend a live demonstration by F-DGSi, presenting an innovative on-site liquid nitrogen production technology.
During the facility tour, visitors discovered PRIMACEN’s advanced imaging equipment, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), widefield and confocal microscopy systems. These technologies enable cutting-edge workflows such as correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM), as well as live imaging approaches.
The morning continued with key updates from France-BioImaging, followed by an overview of the Normandie Node. Several strategic topics were then addressed, reflecting the infrastructure’s core priorities:
- strengthening collaborations between academia and industry, notably through partnership models such as the collaboration between PRIMACEN and the start-up Alga Biologics cSMARt project,
- reinforcing education and training, from master’s programs to career development initiatives supported by Euro-BioImaging,
- advancing data management and sharing, with significant progress highlighted within the FBI.data initiative and the BioImage Cloud.
Other key infrastructure initiatives were also presented, including OpenCID, F-BIAS, and the Challenges programme.
The day concluded with the first scientific session dedicated to plant and invertebrate imaging. Presentations illustrated advanced 3D analysis approaches and electron microscopy applications, followed by a keynote lecture from Marie Walde (EMBRC infrastructure), who shared recent advances and challenges in imaging marine organisms.
Day 2 – Multimodal imaging across biological systems
The second day focused on scientific applications, beginning with a session dedicated to brain imaging. Presentations highlighted cutting-edge approaches such as volume electron microscopy, multiscale STED imaging, optical clearing of whole mouse brains, and multimodal correlative imaging of post-stroke microvascular environments.
A keynote lecture by Maxime Gauberti (FLI infrastructure) introduced innovative developments in immuno-MRI, further illustrating the power of multimodal strategies in neuroscience.
The programme then featured an industry-focused session, where partners including Inscoper, Leica Microsystems, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Zeiss presented advanced imaging solutions and discussed current challenges in multimodal bioimaging .
In the afternoon, scientific sessions explored imaging applications across multiple organ systems. Topics included:
- muscle and cardiovascular imaging, with a focus on pathological conditions,
- lung intravital microscopy revealing immune cell dynamics,
- advanced methodologies for gastrointestinal and liver imaging, including studies on hepatic diseases and infection models.
A dynamic and collaborative community
Over the course of these two days, the Annual Meeting highlighted the diversity and excellence of imaging technologies within the France-BioImaging network, as well as the strong expertise of its platforms and R&D teams.
The event also reinforced the importance of collaboration between nodes, disciplines and industry partners, to address current and future challenges in bioimaging.
A replay of the Annual Meeting will be available soon for those who wish to revisit the sessions.
We would like to warmly thank the local organizing team for their outstanding work, as well as all our sponsors for their support in making this event a success.
