FBI opens a call for the recruitment of its next Scientific Director

(2020-2025)

(Deadline is 1^st of May)

France BioImaging-FBI (laureate of the INBS program of the PIA in 2011) is the National Research Infrastructure in Biological Imaging.  FBI is built on five geographical Nodes identified on the basis of strong relationship between developers of new imaging approaches (R&D labs) and large imaging Core Facilities, answering the IBiSA criteria. Each Node shows a specialization of a local expertise in main biological topics. This crossover between imaging technologies and expertise in scientific topics is a characteristic of the complementarity between FBI Nodes. A 6^th Transversal Node gathers FBI strengths and resources in Image Analysis and DATA management. The Operating Coordination is insured by the UMS 3714.

Our motto is “Innovation-Training-Access”

(i) Disseminate and invent new imaging technologies
(ii) Expand the portfolio of training courses for users and staff in charge of these approaches
(iii) Make them accessible to as many people as possible.

 Role of the Scientific Director of FBI

-He/She is the Strategic Manager of the Infrastructure

–He/She leads the National Coordination (NC) in continuous interaction with the Executive Committee (EC). With the Help of its international Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), he/she reports the overall Infrastructure policy and strategy to the Institutional Committee (Steering Committee, SC) which is the “decision maker”

–He/She is responsible, for the arbitration of recruitment proposals (in interaction with the other governance bodies), equipment investments (PIA, TGIR, other National and International common actions…) and new service opening, in relation to the development objectives (R&D, service offers…) and the overall infrastructure strategy at national and international levels

–He/She is responsible, with the staff concerned (NC), for the inventory of the different activities/tasks of the infrastructure: links with Europe and International, work with the different committees, web site/communication, trainings, animation of the “FBI-community”, scientific and financial reports…

– He/She is responsible, in interaction with the EC, for managing interactions/collaborations (R&D, service providing, partnerships, technology watch…) with other PIA Research Infrastructures.
More details and information in the pdf below 

Entry into function is planned for the 1^st of January 2020,

If you are interested, please send a short CV and a motivation letter (2 pages) indicating your vision and strategy at FIVE years and beyond at  node-access@france-bioimaging.org
BEFORE the 1^st of May

In February 2019, France officially became a founding member of the “Euro-Bioimaging” research infrastructure (EuBI ERIC), and the national infrastructure France BioImaging (FBI) will host the EuBI French Node, open to all European scientists applying for access.

The EuBI ERIC (https://www.eurobioimaging-interim.eu) is the European Research Infrastructure for Imaging Technologies in Biological and Biomedical Sciences and provides open physical user access to a broad range of state-of-the-art technologies in biological and biomedical imaging for life scientists. In addition, EuBI will offer image data support and training for infrastructure users and providers.

As a former “Node Candidate” of the Euro BioImaging ESFRI project and leader of the EuBI Working Group dedicated to training during the preparatory phase II of the project (See WP7 deliverables), France Bioimaging is now the only French node validated as a single entity in this new European research infrastructure. FBI core facilities will thus be participating directly in the activities carried out by the EuBI ERIC, opening their premises to EuBI user access and training activities.

A cette occasion, les plateformes d’imagerie France BioImaging participantes organiseront des activités grand public lors d’une journée “portes ouvertes” le weekend du 25-26 Mai 2019.
Ces activités s’articuleront autour:
– de l’histoire de « l’Imagerie Biologique au CNRS », présentée conjointement par les différents sites de l’infrastructure FBI;
– de diverses animations avec l’objectif de montrer l’éventail impressionnant des outils de l’Imagerie Biologique aujourd’hui et leur fonctionnement,
– des découvertes/applications fantastiques que l’Imagerie Biologique peut apporter en Biologie.

Image processing and data analysis are crucial steps in biological research. Gathering usable data presents challenges; exploiting the data efficiently also has its own issues. While every lab has its way of dealing with that matter, it became clear over the last years that there is a lack of local and transversal expertise on the topic. As such, there is a growing need for reliable solutions for data analysis.

These observations call for the creation of integrated solutions in image data processing and analysis (pipeline, workflow, etc.), at the crossroads between innovation and end-user needs.

To this end, the France BioImaging Image Processing and Data Management team created a questionnaire which aims to gather information about your current practices and your needs. It takes less than 3 minutes to fill out. We will use the responses to elaborate new image analysis services catered to the requirements of the biological imaging community.

Thank you in advance for your contribution!

Researchers and imaging engineers know better than anyone that an image is always more than meets the eye. Let us honor the winning image of our 2017 Image Contest by delving a little deeper into what lies behind these Venice canals.

The image represents a large part of mice mammary gland. The canals spreading out like branches, are composed of two layers of cells: the epithelial epithelial cells – stained by anti-keratin 8 (in pink) – are surrounded by myoepithetial cells (in blue) stained by an anti-Smooth Muscle Actin. These cells, thanks to their contractile properties, participate in the? secretions from the gland. The yellow cells are modified cells, overexpressing tomato protein. The adipocytes of the mammary gland can be seen in the background.

The image was made by Marie Irondelle (PICT-IBiSA Biomaging Cell and Tissue Core Facility, Curie Institute), using a confocal microscope. It is a mosaic reconstruction – using the tile scan technique -from several depths of field with a range of 110 µm. The lighter areas are higher up in the sample, while the darker areas correspond to zones deeper in the tissue. The final projection measures 1.2 by 0.78 mm. The ducts shown in the picture have a diameter of 50 to 60 microns.

Carine Rossé and Emilie Lagoutte in the lab of Philippe Chavrier (membrane & Actin dynamics lab), from the Curie Institute, set out to study the behavior and movement of few cancerous cells inside the mammary gland. However, such a study required the development of alternative methods of observation, from the traditional methods of analysis, in order to observe the localization of the cells in the whole gland. The solution came from a 2016 Nature Methods paper entitled “Shrinkage-mediated imaging of entire organs and organisms using uDISCO”[1]. In this method, the researchers described the advantages of the uDISCO tissue-clearing protocol for the analysis of large samples, compared to other well-known methods. After adapting the protocol, Emilie Lagoutte was able to clear entire mice. She obtained and stained mammary glands that were shrunk by about 70% compared to their original size, cleared. The advantages of this technique are numerous; in particular, there is no more tissue loss due to slicing samples, the fluorescence can be maintained for a few weeks, and the reduced size of the sample allows to visualize the whole organ, leading to a higher chance to detect the zone of interest.

Imaging facilities and researchers have to work hand-in-hand to produce the best results possible. Marie Irondelle stressed the necessity for researchers to be educated about imaging technologies and their limitations; a state-of-the-art microscope will never be able to compensate for a low-quality sample. In the case of The Little Venice, the PICT-IBiSA Biomaging Cell and Tissue Core Facility collaboration with the Chavrier lab is undoubtedly a winning one.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/nmeth.3964