Bio-protocol is organizing a webinar focused on live-cell imaging on October 15, 2025.
On this occasion, Magali Bénard and Christophe Chamot from the PRIMACEN imaging platform (Normandie node) will present an optimized protocol for maintaining cell viability during live-cell imaging.
When? October 15, 2025 – 11:00 AM
How to join? https://bio-protocol.org/webinar/detail?number=577683940903485442
MIDOG is a challenge organized on the occasion of the MICCAI conference, dedicated to medical image computing and computer-assisted intervention. This bioinformatics competition focused on mitotic figures, which are a key biomarker in tumor grading. The variability of clinical samples makes the detection and classification of mitotic figures difficult for current AI models. The aim of MIDOG 2025 was to address this problem by testing algorithms in atypical conditions.
With their solutions, Thomas Walter’s team won:
You can read the preprint of their solutions here:
The Rhône-Alpes node, co-led by Xavier Jaurand and Olivier Destaing, unites the imaging communities of Lyon and Grenoble. With platforms such as ISDV and LyMIC, and several R&D teams, the node covers a broad range of applications from metabolic imaging to spatial transcriptomics. Recent years have seen major scientific publications and significant technical upgrades. Looking ahead, the node aims to expand training, foster joint technology developments, and will proudly host the infrastructure Annual Meeting in 2027, while deepening collaborations within Euro-BioImaging.
The Rhône-Alpes node brings together the large imaging communities of Lyon and Grenoble. I’m Xavier Jaurand and I’m co-leading the node with Olivier Destaing. This way of co-sharing responsibility is at the heart of our project in order to have synergy of both science-technology and Grenoble-Lyon communities. This organization has been transposed at the different levels of our node, through duo of peoples from Lyon and Grenoble invested in the multiple working group of FBI.
[Xavier Jaurand]: I’m the technical director of the “Centre Technologique des Microstructures (CTµ)”, a microscopy core facility of University Claude Bernard Lyon1, where I have been working for 20 years now, mainly in the field of electron microscopy (SEM and TEM).
[Olivier Destaing]: I am DR2-CNRS and co-leader of a research team on the cell biology of invasion processes and their associated signaling regulations. Implicated in imaging development and optogenetics since many years, I am also the co-scientific leader of the imaging platform MicroCell of the Institute for advanced Biosciences (IAB).
Having organization with shared responsibilities is always a challenge and take time, but present the advantages of being potentially highly robust and well accepted by large communities.
There are 2 main platforms on the nodes (ISDV and LyMIC):
There are both biology and Physics R&D teams:
Over the past two years, our node’s scientific impact is reflected by the co-authorship of our core facility staff in several high-profile publications, covering topics from immunology to molecular imaging and dermatology:
On the technical side, our node has recently strengthened its infrastructure and expertise through major investments and upgrades, ranging from state-of-the-art microscopy systems to reinforced image analysis capacities and dedicated staffing:
Following our integration into France-BioImaging, we aim to foster stronger connections between AURA’s users (academic users and private companies) and the opportunities offered by the infrastructure. We also seek to highlight and transfer original technologies (Brillouin imaging and quantitative RICM), improve access to advanced data management and image analysis to our user, and democrate these cultures to the numerous biology laboratories of Rhône-Alpes. We also plan to contribute to Euro-BioImaging initiatives, all while enhancing our international visibility.
To achieve these goals, our node is committed to participating in expert working groups (RTmfm network and FBI), deploying nationally shared training modules and engaging in joint technology developments in 3D tissue imaging, sample clearing, and multimodal microscopy. We will also continue to strengthen data and AI workflows, and we are proud to be preparing the organization of the France-BioImaging Annual Meeting in 2027.
As part of a Euro-BioImaging fellowship, the MicroCell platform at IAB Grenoble hosted Sarah Vorsselmans and Susana Rocha (KU Leuven, Belgium). Together, we worked on the development of innovative FRET-based multiplexing molecular tension sensors, strengthening transnational expertise in molecular imaging
In April 2025, the LYMIC platform welcomed a job shadowing candidate from Germany for ten days. This exchange provided an opportunity to share practices on biological sample preparation for electron microscopy, as well as image analysis, data storage, and quality management.
The Plant Imaging Expert Group of Euro-BioImaging is organizing a new webinar to introduce the DREAM project, Wednesday, September 24, at 13:00!
DREAM stands for “Dynamic Regulation of Photosynthesis in Light-Acclimated Organisms”. This research initiative aims to develop a new generation of instrumentation and data acquisition protocols to better evaluate the dynamics of photosynthesis. A better understanding of this mechanism in plants could open promising pathways toward sustainable agriculture that meets global challenges.
Members of France-BioImaging and DREAM, Ludovic Jullien, Ian Coghill – from the Chemistry Department of ENS (Sorbonne University/CNRS) – and Aliénor Lahlou (Chemistry Department ex-member, now PhD research at Sony CSL) will present the overall objectives of the project as well as its latest outcomes.
Meeting link here.
The France-BioImaging Preclinical Microscopy working group is organizing its next webinar on Thursday, September 25th from 14:00 to 16:00.
This session, open to all, will focus on advanced imaging solution with two keynotes:
This webinar will conclude with an open discussion!
To join us, click here!
Meeting ID: 339 429 931 973 3
Passcode: PY6E2v4A
The 2nd edition of the Single Cell Conference of Nantes focused on “Deciphering single cell interactions in health and disease” will take place on October 7 and 8, 2025.
This event aims to highlight the use of single cell analysis technologies applied to the study of cellular mechanisms. Many international and local speakers will present the latest methods and applications in single-cell analysis.
In addition, participants will have the opportunity to present their research project after the submission and selection of an abstract.
A bioinformatics workshop dedicated to spatial data analysis will also be held on the afternoon of the second day (14:00-17:00).
The participant have until September 19, 2025 at 17:00 to submit their abstract and/or apply for the bioinformatics workshop.
The registration is free for standard academic registration.
A fee of 50€ is asked for Senior Academic Registration (CR, DR, MCU, PU, Lecturer, goup leader…) and of 100€ for Industry Registration.
Find the program and the registration link here: https://nantescell.sciencesconf.org/
This autumn, two France-BioImaging microscopy platforms are inviting the public to dive into the fascinating world of microscopy! Discover their upcoming events.
The Montpellier Ressources Imagerie platform will present a photography exhibition of their microscopy images, “Life is Beautiful”, showcased at several events. This project was awarded the Euro-BioImaging EVOLVE call.
IMAG’IC, the Institut Cochin imaging platform, will take part in the CNRS “Visites Insolites”, giving the public a rare chance to explore usually inaccessible scientific spaces and experience science in unexpected ways!
These events offer the public a chance to discover the fascinating world of science, and microscopy in particular, through accessible and engaging formats, from art to playful experiences.
This image contest is open to all within the imaging community: core facility staff and users, R&D labs teams and co-workers, students… Submit your best microscopy images for a chance to showcase your skills, research and creativity to the French bioimaging community and beyond, allowing people to see the visual appeal of the life sciences. Images from the contest will be featured on France-BioImaging communication tools, online and in print.
France-BioImaging and all the French community aims to develop and promote innovative imaging technologies and methods. But microscopy images can also take an artistic, creative look and make the invisible world beautiful.
We are all eager to see your work !
Important: Only French or foreign participants affiliated to a French institution can enter the contest. Foreign participants non-affiliated to a French institution can submit images and will be featured in the gallery, but will not be evaluated as part of the contest.
Submission deadline: Friday, November 14th, 2025, 23h59 UTC+2.
Click here to consult the terms and conditions of the contest. When you are ready, submit your entry by filling the form below. You can check out last edition’s entries for inspiration. One participant can submit several entries (up to 3).
(If you have any issues when submitting your image, please contact communication@france-bioimaging.org)
Discover last year’s submitted images on this following link: https://france-bioimaging.org/fbi-special-events/france-bioimaging-image-contest-2024/
A research project* at the IBDM (Marseille Developmental Biology Institute, CNRS – AMU), led by Clément Rodier, has recently challenged long-standing scientific hypotheses about how muscles elongate during development, thanks to advanced microscopy. Let’s take a closer look!
Striated muscles are made up of muscle fibers, themselves composed of myofibrils, chains of thousands of contractile “bricks” called sarcomeres. In mammals, a sarcomere measures between 2 and 3 micrometers.
As an organism grows, its muscles must expand to keep pace with skeletal development. Yet sarcomeres maintain roughly the same size. For decades, the prevailing hypothesis held that new bricks, sarcomeres, were added exclusively at the ends of myofibril chains. However, it had never been directly observed. Clément Rodier’s goal was to visualize, using both light and electron microscopy**, how new sarcomeres are inserted during muscle growth, with the fly Drosophila as a model system.
The research team analyzed Drosophila flight muscles between 32 and 40 hours after puparium formation, the developmental stage following the larval phase. This model has a key advantage: its growth is extremely fast (around 100 new sarcomeres are added in just 4 hours!) making the mechanism easier to capture.
Contrary to the initial hypothesis, microscopy images showed that sarcomere insertion was not restricted to the ends of the myofibrillar chain. Each brick is capped by terminal structures called Z-discs, which should have shown changes if new sarcomeres were only added there.
(B) Schematic of a Drosophila hemithorax at pupal stages with the six dorsal longitudinal flight muscles (DLMs) in magenta and the tendon cell epithelium in green. DLM4 is highlighted and was used for quantifications in (E). The stable connection of the flight muscles to the tendon cell extensions (green lines) during the growth phase from 32 to 40 hours after puparium formation (APF). h, hours. (C and D) Confocal images of pupae of the indicated stages displaying the six flight muscles stained for actin (phalloidin in red) and Shot (anti-Shortstop in gray, also labeling the tendon extensions) in (C). High magnifications displaying the myofibrils stained for actin (red) and myosin [anti–Mhc (myosin heavy chain) in blue] in (D). Scale bars, 100 μm in (C) and 5 μm in (D). Note the marked muscle length increases after 32 hours APF.
(B and C) About 34 hours APF, a pupa expressing Sls-GFP with a focus on the anterior flight muscle end. Stills from movie S1 are shown (B), and a kymograph of a selected region is shown (C). The myofibril ends, marked with yellow arrowheads, move to the left, while muscle fiber length increases and thus moves away from the reference point marked with the orange arrowhead. No obvious sarcomere addition is seen at the ends.
To probe this mechanism further, the team developed a computational tool capable of analyzing the length of thousands of sarcomeres and identifying those with abnormal size.
Using this tool combined with high-resolution microscopy techniques (sush as in vivo bi-photon imaging), the researchers observed that some sarcomeres gradually elongated and then split into two daughter sarcomeres of normal length. The essential proteins needed for proper sarcomere function were also restored.
Unlike the long-accepted end hypothesis, this division mechanism allows new sarcomeres to be inserted at multiple points along the myofibril.
Fig. 7. Sarcomere division model. Working model of the tension-induced sarcomere division in Drosophila flight muscle sarcomeres. The growth of the skeleton, marked by integrin-based attachments, induces high tension, which triggers the division of the highlighted middle sarcomere. Thus, the sarcomere number increases from three to four. For details, see Discussion.
The researchers next turned to 3D electron microscopy and FRAP to test whether this mechanism also applied to other muscle types, namely Drosophila larval muscles, which are similar to mammalian skeletal muscles.
These imaging techniques revealed a zipper-like division process of sarcomeres during larval development. Further analyses confirmed the recruitment of new proteins that reestablish proper function in the daughter sarcomeres.
Thanks to the combination of light and electron microscopy, both realized on France-BioImaging’s core facilities*, the team was able to put a long-standing hypothesis to the test… and overturn it! This work sheds new light on developmental mechanisms in insects, and possibly in mammals, including humans. Better understanding how muscles grow at the microscopic level could one day pave the way for novel therapies to fight muscle degenerative diseases.
* Clement Rodier et al., Muscle growth by sarcomere divisions. Sci. Adv.11, eadw9445 (2025). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adw9445
** Electronic microscopy (3D EM) was performed on a PICsL core facility and advanced photonic microscopy (FRAP imaging, in vivo bi-photon imaging) on IBDM core facility.
As summer approaches, France-BioImaging highlights two ongoing funding opportunities from the European Union and Global-BioImaging that could support your imaging projects. Whether you’re looking to develop new skills, access cutting-edge technologies, or launch interdisciplinary research, now is the time to apply!
Researchers and imaging facility staff from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are invited to apply for funded access to advanced biological and biomedical imaging technologies. This program, supported by the Wellcome Trust and coordinated by Global-BioImaging, offers an exceptional opportunity to:
Deadline to apply: 15 August 2025
To begin the process, send an email to i4a_support@embl.de
More information: https://globalbioimaging.org/i4a
AgroSERV is a transdisciplinary project funded under the Horizon Europe programme, supporting research for sustainable and resilient agri-food systems. This call funds interdisciplinary projects in agroecology, with a focus on:
Please note: only core facilities from our Ile-de-France Sud node are available through this call.
Application steps:
• Step 1: Pre-proposals (expression of interest): Deadline 31 July 2025
• Step 2: Full proposals: Deadline 15 October 2025
More information: https://www.eurobioimaging.eu/news/agroservs-4th-call-for-access-is-open/
This June, the Normandie and Ile-de-France Sud nodes of France-BioImaging hosted their respective Annual Meetings, bringing together research teams and imaging platforms for a day of scientific discussions and collaborative exchange.
On June 12, the MIMA2 platform (Microscopy and Imaging of Microorganisms, Animals, and Food) organized the 2024 edition of the Ile-de-France Sud node’s Annual Meeting. The day featured dynamic discussions on light and electron microscopy, as well as flow cytometry, all applied to a wide range of biological models including animal cells, microorganisms, and plants.
On June 18, the PRIMACEN platform hosted the very first Annual Meeting of the Normandie node. The event gathered member research teams to showcase and discuss the node’s diverse areas of expertise:
A great opportunity to strengthen collaborations, share knowledge, and celebrate the imaging community of France-BioImaging!
Discover Hamed Abbasi’s story, a researcher at the Center for Optical Diagnostics and Therapy at Erasmus Medical Center, who benefited from the “FBI Access Fund” in 2024. Thanks to this program, Hamed was able to visit PRIMACEN, a cell imaging platform that is part of the Normandie Node. This collaboration enabled him to gather robust data and secure a grant to develop an advanced fluorescence lifetime system for intraoperative use, supporting surgeons with real-time visual guidance to identify and delineate tumors.
As far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by optics. My late father was an optician, and as a teenager, I spent my summers working with him. That’s where I first learned the fundamentals of optics, which later inspired me to pursue the subject academically. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics with a minor in Lasers and Optics, followed by a Master’s in Photonics, where I developed a laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy system for non-destructive quality assessment of agricultural products as part of my thesis.
After graduation, I spent several years in industry as an Optical System Designer and Developer, working on spectrometers, hyperspectral imaging systems, colorimeters, and tunable lasers. During that time, I also worked part-time as a lecturer at an opticianry school, training industry professionals looking to deepen their understanding of optics.
Eventually, I decided to pursue a PhD and was admitted to the Biomedical Engineering program at the University of Basel in Switzerland. My doctoral research focused on developing a closed-loop optical feedback system to monitor a laser osteotomy setup using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). I graduated magna cum laude in 2020.
Shortly after, I joined the Center for Optical Diagnostics and Therapy at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the largest hospital in the Netherlands, where I still work in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Within our department, I have developed several innovative photonics-based technologies to address unmet clinical needs in oncological surgery, including approaches based on Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence molecular imaging.
The central theme of my current research is photonics-guided surgery. Among the many optical techniques available, we focus primarily on fluorescence molecular imaging. This intraoperative imaging method provides surgeons with real-time visual guidance to identify and delineate tumors.
Within our fluorescence-guided surgery group, we have conducted multiple clinical trials using this innovative approach, applying various tumor-targeted fluorescent tracers. In these procedures, patients receive a tracer before surgery, and during the operation, dedicated imaging systems are used to visualize the tumor in real time.
We are continually working to improve both the sensitivity and specificity of our systems, which remains a significant challenge, as enhancing one often compromises the other.
Before learning about France-BioImaging specifically, I was already familiar with Euro-BioImaging, since our internal imaging center (Erasmus Optical Imaging Centre Core Facility in Rotterdam) is one of its nodes. Our microscopy center is also part of NL-BioImaging, the national imaging infrastructure in the Netherlands. I was aware that similar national infrastructures exist across Europe, but I didn’t know much about France-BioImaging until it announced a call for external users.
I came across the announcement on LinkedIn, and it immediately caught my attention. I visited the France-BioImaging website and began exploring the various facilities. After reaching out to a few of them, I eventually found the center that had the specific microscope I needed: the PRIMACEN/Cell Imaging platform in Normandy.
I contacted the PRIMACEN facility by email, and we quickly arranged an online meeting. That’s when I had the opportunity to speak with Ludovic Galas and Damien Schapman. During the meeting, I explained what I was looking for, and they confirmed that they had exactly the instrument I needed: a fluorescence lifetime microscope with sensitivity in the near-infrared range. It was perfect for my project.
Right after our meeting, I prepared a proposal and submitted it to the France-BioImaging user access call. Once my proposal was accepted, I reconnected with Ludovic and Damien to organize two one-week visits.
I visited the facility twice and had an excellent experience. The team at PRIMACEN was incredibly welcoming and supportive. It was not only a great opportunity to access cutting-edge infrastructure but also to meet and work with wonderful people.
Performing fluorescence lifetime imaging in the near-infrared (NIR) region is quite challenging for several reasons. First, detector sensitivity in the NIR range is generally lower than in the visible spectrum. Similarly, NIR fluorophores might have lower brightness compared to many visible ones. And finally, fluorescence lifetimes in the NIR are significantly shorter than those in the visible range. All of this makes it difficult to obtain robust and reliable data.
Despite these challenges, I was able to collect strong proof-of-principle results that supported my hypothesis. I remember leaving Normandy with a big smile on my face, almost certain that this data would help me secure a grant to develop an advanced NIR fluorescence lifetime imager for clinical use, and Bingo, it did! Just a few months later, together with our external industry partner and my colleagues at Erasmus Medical Center, Dominic Robinson and Stijn Keereweer, we were awarded a grant from Health~Holland.
Fluorescence lifetime imaging adds an additional layer of information to conventional intensity-based fluorescence imaging by measuring the temporal decay dynamics of the emitted fluorescence signal.
The project focuses on developing an advanced fluorescence lifetime system for intraoperative use, in close collaboration with our consortium partner Single Quantum, a Delft-based company known for developing the world’s fastest and most sensitive light sensors, with unmatched precision.
Without the microscopy data from PRIMACEN, it would have been much more difficult to convince the grant committee. That proof-of-principle experiment made all the difference.
Absolutely. I would strongly encourage any researcher in need of advanced microscopy to consider using France-BioImaging’s platforms. The infrastructure is state-of-the-art, and the people are incredibly helpful and welcoming.
And don’t worry, if you receive an email from them and see “FBI”, it’s not the Federal Bureau of Investigation! It’s just the friendly acronym for France-BioImaging. My experience was both scientifically rewarding and personally enjoyable, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others.