We’ve got many news and upcoming events to share with you! Here is a quick rundown.

FBI-AT: the France-BioImaging Advanced Training is back!

The 2024 edition of our FBI Advanced Training is coming! This year, the event will take place at the Bordeaux Imaging Center, Bordeaux, France from November 4 to November 7, 2024.

Eager to learn about the topic? Well, the FBIAT 2024 will focus on “Light-Sheet Microscopy: Principle and Aplications to Neuroscience and 3D Cell Culture”.

Light sheet fluorescence microscopy is a rapidly expanding imaging technique that has been elected method of the year in 2014 by the Journal “Nature Methods”. Thanks to its abilities unique among fluorescence microscopy methods, LSFM is revolutionizing a large number of areas of research: biology of development, neuroscience, plant imaging, cell biology, oncology, virology, immunology….

This technology makes it possible to image three-dimensional samples on very vast scales ranging from the entire animal to the individual cell and the single molecule, and this, in a very minimally invasive way. Its very high imaging speed combined with excellent spatial resolution makes possible the rapid acquisition of large volumes with a high level of detail.

This advanced training aims to (1) present the theoretical bases, (2) clarify and synthesize the different existing approaches to both sample and instrumental preparation and (3) provide an overview of treatment and management solutions of acquired data. These objectives will be addressed through two biological fields of application: Neurosciences and 3D Cell Cultures.

The course will have plenary lectures given by experts in the microscopy development field,  and hands-on practicals every afternoon at the Bordeaux Imaging Center (BIC).

Save the date! Program and registration are coming soon.

Save the date: November 20-21, 2024 for the next FBI Annual Meeting

We are happy to finally announce the date of our next FBI Annual Meeting that will take place in Strasbourg.

Save the date! France-BioImaging will reunite together at the Alsace node on November 20 and 21, 2024!

This year’s edition will focus on “Live functional imaging: From chemical synthesis of the probes to instrumentation“.

Program and registration are coming soon.

CanSERV second open call fro Cancer Research is open

canSERV invites Cancer Researchers to Apply for Free State of the Art Research Services and Training in a Second Open Call for Service Provision 

The project promotes the development of concrete solutions for cancer by providing a comprehensive set of world-class oncology technologies and state of the art training to cancer scientists.

canSERV enables researchers to cover the entire range of the oncology developmental pipeline 

Continuing the success of the project’s first Open Call for Service Provision, canSERV once again invites applications covering the entire range of the oncology developmental pipeline; supporting discoveries in fundamental research to translational science and personalised oncology.

Researchers from academia, industry and SMEs may apply for several services including: i) disease models, ii) cutting-edge imaging and structural biology technologies, iii) biomarker research and development, iv) new therapeutic solutions, v) complex clinical trial design and support, vi) personalised oncology implementation pipelines and recommendations and vii) regulatory support and tools to analyse the socioeconomic dimension of research activities.   

Submission deadline: 21 May 2024, 2pm CEST.
https://www.canserv.eu/calls/open-call-for-transnational-service-provision/

A new intestinal cell junction has been discovered thanks to STED microscopy

Cellular junctions are essential to the integrity of epithelia, which cover most of our organs. In an article published in the journal PNAS, scientists, with among them members of our FBI Marseille node, reveal the existence of a new category of cell junctions. Using Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, they have put forward the need to reconsider the organization of intestinal cell junction described as such for more than 40 years.

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is a super-resolution technique that bypasses the diffraction limit of light microscopy to increase resolution.

In our case, scientists were able to resolve the organization of complexes located at cell junctions with a resolution of a few tens of nanometers thanks to STED. Moreover, STED tripled the spatial resolution in the junctional plane and, using cryosections, they achieved imaging with a seven times greater spatial resolution compared to approaches that would use confocal microscopy and thus, without physical sectioning.

What about the intestine? The intestine is covered with cells, most of which absorb the nutrients we ingest. These cells are joined together by three types of junctions which coexist and provide different functions, ranging from the selective filtration of certain ions to the mechanical maintenance of the epithelial layer. These junctions, the tight junction, the adherens junction was discovered in the 1960s and its constituent elements as well as its organization was proposed during the 1980s and 1990s.

The adherens junction in particular is established as being organized into a belt of adhesion proteins anchored to the membrane, the cadherins, and supported by filaments, the actin filaments. This junction has an important mechanical role in the cell, for example by impacting the shape of the cell.

By observing the adherens junction, scientists have made a very surprising discovery…

Read the full article on: https://france-bioimaging.org/announcement/publications/intestinal-cell-junction-sted-microscopy/

OSCARS launches its 1st Open Call for Open Science projects and services

On March 15th, the Science Clusters launched the first OSCARS cascading-grant call for Open Science projects & services. Over 300 attendees across and beyond Europe joined the online launch event and had the opportunity to interact with the panelists via an open Q&A session.

The aim of the Open Call is to support researchers in uptaking FAIR data services, and provide a series of valuable scientific demonstrators of the role of the Science Clusters as thematic Nodes for ‘Open Research’ in Europe, and of the scientific impact of the EOSC.

For Individual researchers, group of researchers, universities, research infrastructures, institutes, consortia.

Projects’ duration: 12 to 24 months
Budget: 100 k€ – 250 k€

Application deadline: May 15th, 2024

www.oscars-project.eu/news/oscars-launches-its-1st-open-call-open-science-projects-and-services

The Newsletter's writer waves goodbye to you

It is with a great sadness that I will no longer be your newsletter’s writer as I am leaving my job as the Communication Officer of France-BioImaging. 

Being part of the infrastructure was a true blessing and a real opportunity to start my career as a science communicator. I learnt a lot during this almost two years, from community management to event planning or even branding. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this wonderful professional experience!

PS: This is not an April Fool’s joke.

Best regards,
Alban Belloir

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