Two projects recently received funding from the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), in which France-BioImaging members take part actively: COMULIS and NEUBIAS. Two community building activities breaking up frontiers to gather scientists around one goal: developing biological imaging.

COMULIS

COMULIS received a 2-year funding from CZI to expand their network both globally and sustainably. Being designed to harness the power of multimodal imaging (MMI) across scales, from basic to clinical diagnostics, this European initiative aims at facilitating access and training a new generation of scientists for whom multimodal imaging will be the new norm. Thanks to this grant, the project will be consolidated and it will help extend the collaborative and innovative network to establish a global multimodal imaging association (COMULISglobe) and ensure long term sustainability.

MMI integrates the best features of combined techniques and overcomes limitations faced when applying single modalities independently. MMI relies on the joint expertise from biologists, physicists, chemists, clinicians, and computer scientists, and depends on coordinated activities and knowledge transfer between technology developers and users. To achieve this inherently interdisciplinary goal, the ultimate goal is toestablish a network of scientists across continents and disciplines, from academia to industry, including transnational research facilities (e.g. synchrotrons, Euro-BioImaging ERIC), to foster and market MMI as a versatile tool in biomedical research and diagnostics.

COMULISglobe will help bridge the gap between biological and clinical imaging, identify, fund, and showcase novel multimodal pipelines, and develop, evaluate, and publish correlation software through dedicated networking activities, including conferences, training schools, open databases, and fellowships for lab exchanges, access to research infrastructures, and conference attendance. And, of course, all outputs of the project will be open access!

Please do not hesitate to join the community and help organize activities or publications – and please share the news, mobility and access grants available at: https://www.comulis.eu/comulisglobe-czi

Thanks to Perrine Paul-Gilloteaux, Bretagne-Loire node of France-BioImaging, for taking part of this amazing project!

NEUBIAS

The international Network of European BioImage Analysts (NEUBIAS), hosted by German BioImaging has also received a 2-year funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) as part of their Advancing Imaging through Collaborative Projects program. This grant will secure the sustainability of NEUBIAS, establish strong connections to similar initiatives, and share knowledge about state-of-the-art bioimage analysis tools and methods globally.

Spreading the profession of bioimage analysts and bioimage analysis knowledge internationally are the major aims of NEUBIAS. Modern life-sciences are unthinkable without advanced microscopy imaging techniques and quantitative bioimage analysis. This grant will help ensure novices and experts can access cutting edge techniques, reduce duplications of effort, and support everyone who is working to making new discoveries possible.

NEUBIAS had a tremendous impact on the community by training a powerful generation of bioimage analysts across Europe and beyond. The next step of this project will expand the network internationally and connect to related imaging and image analysis societies around the globe. With that in mind, the project includes travel grant opportunities for early-career bioimage analysts who seek to join NEUBIAS activities, explicitly including scientists outside central Europe. Besides, a dedicated team will work on collecting bioimage analysis teaching materials and make them accessible to the global imaging and life science community.

Great news for both projects that – we hope – will continue to write the great story of bioimaging!

Thanks to Florian Levet, Bordeaux node of France-BioImaging, for being a member of this fantastic project!

Brettanomyces bruxellensis is one of the most damaging spoilage yeasts in the wine industry because of its impact on the beverage’s flavor. Lysiane Brocard, research engineer specialised in plant biology at the Bordeaux Imaging Center (FBI Bordeaux node), recently co-published an article on this yeast cell surface and bioadhesion properties.  

Fruits are transformed into beverages through fermentation processes carried out by microorganisms naturally present in the environment. In wine, yeasts and bacteria play this role and contribute to the development of volatile compounds. Scientists targeted Brettanomyces bruxellensis in this study, a yeast famous for the production of volatile phenols, characterized by horse sweat odors which is – usually – not very enjoyable for the consumer. 

A yeast characterized by bioadhesion abilities

This specific odor comes from volatile compounds, the 4-ethylgaïacol (4EG) and 4-ethylphenol (4 EP), that winemakers try to avoid. Beside adding an unpleasable flavor to the beverage, the issue is that the spoilage yeast is persistent in cellars over several years, resulting in recurrent wine contamination. This suggests a bioadhesion process that helps the microorganism to survive in its environment. To put it simply, bioadhesion is the ability of an organism to adhere on a surface to, then, participate in the formation of a biofilm (which is defined as “a structured community of microorganisms adhered to a surface and producing an extracellular matrix”). 

Here, 54 strains of B. bruxellensis were characterized for their cell surface physico-chemical and bioadhesion properties. And all of them have shown bioadhesion abilities (after only three hours on stainless steel) both on synthetic medium and wine. Enough to highlight the persistence of our favorite horse sweat flavored yeast. 

How did bioimaging help in this project?

Among all the analytical methods used in this study, microscopy helped identify the structure of the biofilms formed with B. bruxellensis. Two imaging techniques were used: confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The first one offers the advantage of realizing live imaging without being too time-consuming. With fluorescent dyes, the status of cells can be easily determined at the same time as the cell repartitions and concentrations.

Moreover, comparisons have been made thanks to confocal microscopy to determine if some strains of B. bruxellensis could form biofilm with only one cell layer or if they proliferate in three dimensions. To complete these observations, scanning electron microscopy was performed at the Bordeaux Imaging Center (FBI Bordeaux node) with the help of Isabelle Svahn, expert of this type of microscopy. It was a great addition to this study as these observations validated the morphological variability among Brettanomyces strains.

Bioimaging helped a broader project about Brettanomyces led by Isabelle Masneuf-Pomarède who works in the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin of Bordeaux. Isabelle studies the persistence and proliferation of Brettanomyces over the years. Isabelle’s PhD student, Paul Le Montagner, carried out most of the experiments published in this paper. Thanks to them for this amazing paper!

Confocal microscopy observations after 3h of bioadhesion of cells on stainless steel
SEM observation of 3h-aged cells adhered on stainless steel

Original article: Paul Le Montagner, Morgan Guilbaud, Cécile Miot-Sertier, Lysiane Brocard, Warren Albertin, Patricia Ballestra, Marguerite Dols-Lafargue, Vincent Renouf, Virginie Moine, Marie-Noëlle Bellon-Fontaine, Isabelle Masneuf-Pomarède, High intraspecific variation of the cell surface physico-chemical and bioadhesion properties in Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Food Microbiology, Volume 112, 2023, 104217, ISSN 0740-0020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2023.104217

You are interested in our bioimaging services, including technologies and expertise?

Please contact us at: contact@france-bioimaging.org

An innovative technology to look at thick samples at high resolution? Marc Tramier, a group leader at the Institute of Genetics & Development of the University of Rennes/INSERM/CNRS, and scientific director of MRic (Microscopy Rennes Imaging Centre), is currently working with his team on Random Illumination Microscopy (RIM), a fast and easy to use microscopy technique with low phototoxicity. His facility, which is part of the Bretagne-Loire Node of France-BioImaging, offers RIM as a Euro-BioImaging Proof-of-Concept study, and is now accepting applications for projects. He explains the ideas behind RIM in the article below.

The idea of Random Illumination Microscopy is to use the speckle of the illumination laser in wide field to create a structured illumination pattern at the diffraction limit. By varying the pattern from image to image using a diffracting element (in our case a SLM), scientists are able to acquire a stack of images (around 100 images) on a camera which corresponds to a cumulative homogeneous illumination. By resolving the inverse problem, a super-resolved image is, then, reconstructed, at the focal plane with unprecedented optical sectioning. In comparison to conventional SIM, RIM is able to work in depth inside diffusive samples as the speckle is insensitive to diffusion. 

A transfer full of advantages

The method was first implemented by Thomas Mangeat – that we are happy to welcome in our new Toulouse node! – and collaborators in Toulouse (Mangeat et al., 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2021.100009). In the MRic, after the transfer of the prototype, the facility was able to image microvilli of intestine in c-elegans (depth > 50µm) having a spatial resolution of around 100 nm. This structure is impossible to be revealed by conventional confocal microscopy. Before the use of RIM, only the airyscan approach allowed us to resolve the microvilli but with higher illumination power (photobleaching of the sample) and longer acquisition time (around 10 times more). Now with RIM, we are able to follow microvilli in the living C–elegans at the second time-scale during several minutes.

RIM is one of the powerful methods to achieve super-resolved images in depth at high speed with very low phototoxicity. This makes a very nice compromise of z-sectioning and super-resolution with wide field illumination particularly adapted to thick live samples. Beside reconstruction and data analysis, MRic is offering a user-friendly system, with a complete set of microscopy methods for live sample investigation, from wide-field to light sheet including spinning disk, confocal and airyscan. And of course, this technology is available in open access through France-BioImaging and Euro-BioImaging!

How to apply to use RIM:

Random Illumination Microscopy is part of the Euro-BioImaging Proof-of-Concept study, in collaboration with our Nodes. The Proof-of-Concept study makes it possible to introduce exciting, new imaging technologies to our portfolio that were previously unavailable via our network. We are currently accepting applications to use these technologies as part of the Proof-of-Concept study. Be part of this study – and contribute to community-wide continuous technological innovation!

All scientists, regardless of their affiliation, area of expertise or field of activity can benefit from Euro-BioImaging’s pan-European open access services. Potential users of these new technologies are encouraged to submit project proposals via our website. To do so, you can Login to access our application platform, choose the technology you want to use and the facility you wish to visit, then submit your proposal. All applications will be processed by the Euro-BioImaging Hub. As usual, users will benefit from advice and guidance by technical experts working at the Nodes, training opportunities, and data management services. 

For more information:  info@eurobioimaging.eu 

Thank you Marc Tramier and Marianna Childress, communication officer of Euro-BioImaging, for the original article.

Researchers from the Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences (LOB, CNRS / École Polytechnique / INSERM), a member of the Ile-de-France Sud node of France-BioImaging, and from the Developmental Biology and Stem Cells Department (UMR3738, CNRS / Institut Pasteur), developed a new form of multiphoton microscopy providing label-free imaging of red blood cells and oxygenation. This technique is called color third-order sum-frequency generation microscopy, and is described in an article recently published in Light: Science & Applications.

Keeping resolution, saving time

Current methods used to map microcirculation and blood oxygenation at high resolution typically require the injection of fluorescent or phosphorescent markers. In addition, they usually require relatively long pixel times and thus are limited in spatio-temporal resolution. The novel approach is based on label-free third-order sum-frequency generation (TSFG) and third-harmonic generation (THG) contrasts. In practice, this microscopy is based on the illumination of samples by two pulsed infrared lasers and the simultaneous detection of several TSFG and THG signals emitted at different colors. This method has the advantage of providing simultaneous measurements at several wavelengths spanning the hemoglobin absorption spectrum. This simultaneity makes TSFG microscopy appropriate for studying dynamic samples…

To better understand brain and tissue physiology

…such as biological tissues! Biological tissues are supplied with oxygen by red blood cells, responsible for circulating hemoglobin through the body. Scientists have shown that the intensity of the different signals detected by TSFG microscopy depends on their spectral proximity to the absorption wavelength of hemoglobin. As the color of hemoglobin depends on its oxygenation state, the TSFG makes it possible to image red blood cells circulating in live zebrafish larvae – and even to probe their oxygenation state. Researchers also demonstrated that this contrast modality is also compatible with deep-tissue microscopy and can be used to observe the brain of a live adult zebrafish. An example that confirms the broad range of application of this novel imaging technique.

(a) TSFG color microscopy principles ; (b) Imaging of isolated red blood cells ;
(c) Imaging of a zebrafish embryo ; (d) 3D in vivo imaging in an adult zebrafish brain.
© Laboratoire d’optique et biosciences (LOB, CNRS / École Polytechnique / INSERM)

Source: https://www.inp.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/imager-haute-resolution-les-globules-rouges-et-loxygenation-dans-les-tissus-biologiques

Reference: Ferrer Ortas, J., Mahou, P., Escot, S. et al. Label-free imaging of red blood cells and oxygenation with color third-order sum-frequency generation microscopy. Light Sci Appl 12, 29 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-01064-4

Following the final decision of France-BioImaging Institutional Committee on February 21th, 2023, we are delighted to announce that two new nodes are joining France-BioImaging: the Alsace Node and the Toulouse Node.

The new Alsace Node is composed of six imaging facilities: QuEST, the Cell Imaging Facility from IBMP, PIV, PI2, PIC-STRA and PMC. The node has also six highly visible R&D teams (from IRIMAS, LBP, ICube, IGBMC and IPHC) expert in microscopy techniques and tools.

Located in Strasbourg, Illkirch and Mulhouse, the Alsace node is offering high level technical and innovative methodological expertise in multi-scale imaging at the interface between biology, chemistry, optics and physics, from the atom to the small animal/plant.

The Alsace Node has a strong expertise in probes with the development of highly innovative fluorescent probes and luminescent nanoparticles.

The node provides cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, with among others:

  • Tomographic diffractive microscopy, for 3D label-free imaging at cellular level, with an improved resolution compared to conventional microscopes, and, not being limited by possibly weak fluorescence, potentially at high speed (several 3D images/s)
  • Single particle tracking and time-resolved luminescence microscopy, to image upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs). Due to their anti-Stokes emission, UCNPs allow imaging applications with exceptional signal to noise ratio.
  • Single-shot full-field optical coherence tomography, extracts an FF-OCT image from a single interference acquisition, enabling single-shot high-resolution imaging within turbid media such as biomedical samples.
  • SharpViSu & ClusterViSu, development of an integrated software for image reconstruction, correction, co-localization, resolution estimation, segmentation and clustering of labelled complexes
  • A large range of molecular and nanoparticle probes for SR and advanced microscopy techniques as well as molecular and supramolecular complexes for anti-Stokes imaging at the molecular level have been developed.

The new Toulouse node is composed of a large nationally recognized multi-site core facility: Toulouse Reseau Imagerie. Distributed on Toulouse greater area, the facility is divided between medical science, fondamental science, cancer and rejuvenation, and agro-bio science. Moreover, eight R&D teams complete the node and supports the facility (from LAAS, CBI, IPBS, IRSD and IMT).

The Toulouse node aims to maintain the level of scientific excellence in response to the needs of users and the concerns of host laboratories. Four scientific axes are conducted: mechano-biology, molecules and single cells, whole organisms, image processing and quantitative data analysis.

The mission of the node is also to develop original devices to explore biophysical properties in living samples, to work at the interface between machine and sample and to develop artificial intelligence applied to bioimaging.

The node provides cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, with among others:

  • Random illumination microscopy, a super-resolution microscopy technique, interesting for its robustness
  • Protrusion force microscopy, combination of micro-fabrication, imaging approaches, including Atomic Force Microscopy, dSTORM coupled to supercritical angle fluorescence, and random illumination
  • Cryomethods for electron microscopy, includes sample preparation of frozen samples for cryo-microscopy, in view of bridging structural biology and cell biology.
  • ANchOR technology, a labeling system based on ParR/ParB labeling system from bacteria, which allowed the strong fluorescent labeling of genomic site with small DNA insert.
  • Microfabrication for organoids, 3D bioprinted scaffolds have been adapted to permit 3D characterization at the organoid and tissue scale

Welcome to the FBI Alsace Node and the FBI Toulouse Node!

From February 6th to February 10th, France-BioImaging organised a group meeting on the project “FBI.data” in Bordeaux. For a week, participants focused on the architecture and the implementation of image data management tools. A user-friendly response to the challenges of never-ending data production. 

New imaging technologies are very greedy in terms of image processing and data management. Beside the image itself, biological imaging generates a huge amount of metadata. The FBI.data project, one of the key missions of France-BioImaging, addresses the questions related to the computational analysis and handling of image data. 

Speeding up the implementation of tools across the infrastructure

Although the distributed FBI.data team meets once per week, the FBI.data Sprint aims at only focusing on data management scenarii and accelerating the project. Two essential aspects have been discussed:

  • First of all, the data management system architecture must be simple for them to be implemented across France-BioImaging nodes. It also has to be compatible with long-term data storage and of course, to be user-friendly – we want to keep it easy for our users! 
  • The second point is all about anticipating as many data management cases as possible. Running through all the needs of bioimaging experts and users, the team lists the specific features of each case and considers the perfect solutions for all of them.

Working for the FAIRisation of data

The FAIRisation of data for Open Science is an initiative fully endorsed by France-BioImaging. Meaning that data are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, the benefits for the bioimaging community are numerous. It improves transparency and reproducibility, enhances quality of results, accelerates scientific progress and method development and finally boosts collaboration within the scientific community. 

OMERO, developed by the University of Dundee & Open Microscopy Environment teams, on which the FBI.data group is working, is one of the software making user data FAIR. Being a microscopy image data management decentralised platform, it helps organise, access and archive data. Besides, it combines image and metadata storage, a viewer and data analysis resources. Furthermore, OMERO is linked to the most valuable tools for bioimaging experts (ImageJ, Napari, QPath, etc.). And users can access their data from anywhere and keep them safe.

But much more has to be set up to have functional solutions: to ease user authentication and management, manage big data transfer, and have an adequate metadata scheme. Accompanying users is one of the mission of the FBI.data team, and the FBI.data Sprint is also the occasion to join efforts from the training working group led by the training mission officer Fabrice Cordelières (Bordeaux Imaging Center) to produce adequate training material on data management.

Sharing efforts and helping the community

The FBI.data working group is composed of:

By joining their skills and experience, they are working together on setting up tools and good practices for the management and FAIRisation of data inside France-BioImaging nodes but also for the entire bioimaging community. With this in mind, the project has collaboration with, among others, the Institut Français de Bioinformatique (IFB) and the Centre National de Ressources Biologiques Marines (EMBRC), and other infrastructure through the MUDIS4LS Equipex+ project. Moreover, the FBI.data project has an open GitLab, providing image data management codes in open source, and a blog with tutorials, recommendations and so much more!

Check the France-BioImaging OMERO web portal: https://omero-fbi.fr/

And its gitlab FBI data · GitLab (in2p3.fr)

Learn more about our missions and working packages: https://france-bioimaging.org/about/work-packages/

Being designed in response to imaging challenges, the Roboscope is the product of a collaboration between Marc Tramier’s team (FBI Bretagne-Loire node) with Julia Bonnet-Gélébart, research engineer, Jacques Pécréaux’s team of the Institut Génétique & Développement de Rennes (IGDR), and the Inscoper company, spin-off of the lab. This technology could become a great timesaver for fluorescence microscopy.

Allowing the automation of fluorescence microscope acquisitions, the Roboscope is an embedded technology based on a deep learning algorithm. To be precise, it is a predesigned event-driven acquisition (PEDA) based on a learning automatization of any cellular changes tracked by fluorescence. Catching rare and fast cellular events then becomes possible!

The use of the Roboscope would also save precious time of research, providing users with results without the need to stand by the microscope during acquisition. This technology goes beyond as they will be able to recover the data already classified and with only the specific points of illumination that they have previously triggered. 

A broad range of applications

The teams have almost finished to develop an entire algorithm monitoring the cell cycle progression in mitosis. These events specific to the cellular division correspond to major challenges in the control and treatment of cancer progression (Kops, 2005). As the cell cycle study is needed to understand several biological processes helping the development of targeted drugs, the technology aims to monitor efficiently and automatically simple cell models through their division cycle. 

And this is not its only benefit: this automatized fluorescence microscopy acquisition can be adapted in very diverse fields. From a cell cycle progression analysis to specific analysis, organelles, proteins and biological events can be tracked or activated within cells. A noteworthy advantage of the integrated device that – we hope – will be deployed widely in the future. 

Workflow of a Roboscope experiment. 1. The user annotate a bench of images with different class of interest to be detected. 2. The pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network is adjusted for the experiment by fine tuning and/or transfer learning. 3. The algorithm is transfered on embedded systems to perform real-time image analysis during microscopy acquisition. 4. The biological application with event-driven acquisition is defined and started by the user in order to start, interrupt and parametrize different acquisition sequence following real-time image analysis and event classification.
  • Deadline: February 28th, 2023
  • For users from a unit attached to the INSB who do not usually use Research Infrastructures’ services for their projects
  • For access to technologies and related expertise
  • For access to expertise in data analysis
  • The scientific project must be a project in the process of being finalized

The field of Life Sciences has undergone major developments over the past two decades. The change of scales, both in spatial and temporal resolution, and the integration of data from a wide variety of sources, as induced by the development of technologies, have revolutionized the exploration of life. These technologies call for expensive investments and specific knowhow, carried out by highly qualified personnel, having led to the creation of common infrastructures such as research infrastructures (IRs) open to the entire scientific community.

The Institut des Sciences Biologiques (INSB) from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is launching the second edition of a call for projects to fund full access to the national infrastructures in health and biology “INBS Access to national research infrastructures”. This call aims to encourage teams to get a first access to the services offered by Research Infrastructures to help their research project. The objective is to demonstrate the significant impact of these services to improve the quality of their results (resolution, reproducibility, change of scale, etc.) or to help remove technological barriers. We also aim to augment the awareness of our teams to the cutting-edge technologies, methods and expertise offered by these national infrastructures.

Program description

Access to Research Infrastructures is open to the entire French and international scientific community, with contribution to the running costs of equipment being charged to the users on quote, after project feasibility confirmation by the infrastructure. The purpose of this program is to facilitate and finance access to these infrastructures. Target audience are INSB teams new to a technology or method offered by these infrastructures, seeking to validate the contribution that the infrastructures could make to their research topic by removing barriers that impair the completion or finalization of an ongoing project of the team. A new project is not eligible to this call. The list of eligible Research Infrastructures, to which the research team could apply, is available here: https://www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/infrastructures-nationales. Other infrastructures may be considered depending on the proven needs of the project. Several types of access can be supported by this call for projects:

  • Access to technologies and related expertise, upon quote from the infrastructures and confirmation of feasibility in 2023
  • Access to expertise in data analysis, upon quote from the infrastructures and confirmation of feasibility in 2023

In addition to the costs of access to infrastructure, upon a quote emitted by the infrastructure at the second stage of the call, travel/mission costs, as well as consumables that are not covered by the costs of access to infrastructure, may be covered. The funding for each project will be in the range of 10 to 30 K€.

Instructions for submission

This is two-stage submission.

The first stage consists of a letter of intent, prepared by the scientific leader of the project, outlining the project in finalization in which the application fits and highlighting the barriers that could be removed by access to IRs. The novelty for the team of the usage of the technology and methods to which this application would give access has to be underlined. This letter of intent must also be signed by the director of the applicant’s unit. The identification of the infrastructures to access is possible at this stage but not mandatory and the application can focus on the technology and methods needed. An estimated timeline is however welcome.

The letter of intent (maximum of three pages including figures and references, in French or English), signed by the unit director, accompanied by a CV of the project leader (maximum of two pages) must be sent before Tuesday 28th of February 2023 to the following address: insb.ain@cnrs.fr. These proposals will be screened for eligibility criteria and selected projects will go to the second phase on 8th of March: The second phase consists of a consultation between the INSB and the national Research Infrastructures. This will lead to putting the applicant in contact with the infrastructures that are able to meet the expressed needs, in order to evaluate the feasibility and to establish a quote from their official invoicing cost models.

This stage will lead to the final submission of the project, including the requested budget, signed by the heads of the involved IR(s), no later than Wednesday 22th of march 2023. Funding decision will be sent to the scientific leader beginning of April.

Project eligibility and selection criteria

Access to the infrastructure must be fully implemented before 31/12/2023 (deadline for the engagements of funds by the teams). A scientific and financial report will be asked to the granted team in June 2024.

The scientific project must be a project in the process of being finalized. Access to infrastructure must unlock or accelerate the project. The start of a scientific project is not eligible for this call.

The access to the infrastructure technology or expertise required should be new to the scientific leader.

A project can call to different infrastructures.

In the first stage, budget is not expected, but the project should demonstrate its feasibility from the team side before the end of 2023 if access to the required technologies or expertise is granted (for example identified human resource from the team to undertake the project) and by providing an estimated timeline. The infrastructure(s) will confirm it in the second stage.

Project will be screened for scientific quality of the scientific leader and of the project in finalization, the interest of the targeted method and technology to finalize the project, the novelty of access to the infrastructure. In the second stage, the quote produced by the infrastructure will assess the feasibility and adequacy to the budget.

Eligible expenses are:

  • Billing from the infrastructure based on quote presented at the second stage
  • Mission fees to access the infrastructures
  • Consumables needed to prepare samples for access if not provided by the infrastructures
Questions about how France-BioImaging can host your project? Contact us!

MicroPICell core facility offers access and services to a broad range of bioimaging technology and expertise, specialized in cell and tissue imaging. Based in Nantes, the core facility is now certified ISO 9001 and NFX 50-900, demonstrating their investment in providing quality services to its users.

The ISO 9001 :2015 and NFX 50-900 :2016 standards ensures good practices in terms of organization and management of a life science core facility. These standards are focusing, among other criteria, on the ability to fulfill its scientific and technological research missions, to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and legal requirements and finally, aims to increase the satisfaction of its customers through the effective application of its management system.

A supported process

To implement the first standard, experts from MicroPICell core facility have been trained in the management of the required quality system. The core facility staff have then been supported, in close collaboration with the GIS Biogenouest, by the head of the IBISA quality mission in order to build and implement the quality system according to both standards. This “Groupement d’intérêt scientifique” also has a quality network, Iquare, to which the core facility participates in, to exchange, share and be advised in the implementation of the quality system. The NFX 50-900 :2016 standard has been applied on R&D projects such as the establishment of a digital histology center delivering deep learning data processing, smart microdissection or the imaging of thick samples in collaboration with the company Kaer Labs.

Guaranteeing quality to users

This double certification is a recognition of the core facility’s quality approach, and allows MicroPICell to guarantee to their industrial and academic users that the implemented tools and procedures meet the requirements of the standards. This quality approach facilitates day-to-day management and internal communication at the platform and with the various parties concerned. Above all, it is a way of continuously improving bioimaging core facilities and ensuring that the missions are carried out efficiently.

In coordination with the African BioImaging Consortium and Imaging Africa, two recently created initiatives, France-BioImaging wishes to extend its partnership with colleagues in Africa that have interest in using advanced microscopy approaches for their own research programs and projects. With this in mind and in the framework of the Horizon Europe Programme, France-BioImaging designed two calls to strengthen collaboration between African and French researchers in biology.

The call description and eligibility criteria are available here.

 

  •  Call 1: External Access 

The application form to be completed by the applicant is available here and must be submitted through the submission form below.

  •  Call 2: Twinning program African BioImaging-France-BioImaging communities 

The application form to be completed by the applicant is available here and must be submitted through the submission form below. 

Deadline for submission of proposals:   May 31st at 23h59 CET. 

En coordination avec l’African BioImaging Consortium et Imaging Africa, deux initiatives récemment créées, France-BioImaging (FBI) souhaite étendre son partenariat avec des collègues en Afrique qui ont un intérêt à utiliser des approches avancées de microscopie pour leurs propres programmes et projets de recherche. Dans cette optique et dans le cadre du programme Horizon Europe, France-BioImaging a conçu deux appels pour renforcer la collaboration entre les chercheurs africains et français en biologie.

La description des appels et les critères d’éligibilité sont disponibles ici.

 

  •  Appel à projet 1 : Accès externe 

Le formulaire à remplir est disponible ici et doit être soumis via le formulaire ci-dessous.

  •  Appel à projet 2 : Programme de jumelage/échanges des Communautés en BioImagerie Africaines et Françaises 

Le formulaire à remplir est disponible ici et doit être soumis via le formulaire ci-dessous.

Date limite de soumission des projets:   31 mai à 23h59 CET. 

Proposal submission

 Call 1: External Access/Accès externe 

This form is currently closed for submissions.

 Call 2: Twinning program African BioImaging-France-BioImaging communities/Programme de jumelage/échanges des Communautés en BioImagerie Africaines et Françaises 

This form is currently closed for submissions.