University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
Julio Garcia Diaz Center for Investigations in Biology
Biological Imaging Group (BIG)
PO Box 21809 UPR Station San Juan
Puerto Rico 00931-1809
Email: ed@hpcf.upr.edu

My research seeks to elucidate how neuronal precursors migrate to reach their final destination in the spinal cord to form somatic efferent motor neurons that conduct impulses from the spinal cord to skeletal muscles of the pelvis and perineum and to determine the role of retinoic acid as a determinate of somatic motor neuron phenotype, directional guidance cue, or motility regulator in migration of those precursors during vertebrate neuroembryogenesis.

To that end, my work focuses on elucidating 1.) the development, structure, shape, and positioning of dendritic fields and 2.) their spatial patterning in response to retinoic acid in order to determine target recognition and synaptogenesis of somatic efferent motor neurons.

Through the use of classical and modern experimental neuroembryological and neuroanatomical tract-tracing methods, selective neuronal and/or dendritic laser ablation, development, refinement, and use of new specimen preparation techniques, and correlative multi-functional probes, and nanoparticles for wide-field fluorescence microscopy, structured illumination microscopy (SIM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we are able to visualize, follow, and build neuroanatomically realistic three-dimensional (3-D) models of somatic efferent motor neurons in preserved and living intact embryos in two vertebrate model system, specifically, the sexually dimorphic teleost fish, Gambusia affinis affinis, the Western Mosquitofish which has a unique ano-urogenital region which contains skeletal muscles analogous to the skeletal muscles of pelvis and perineum and the non-sexually dimorphic teleost fish, Danio rerio, the Zebrafish.

Please visit our web site at: http://pisces.cnnet.clu.edu/erm-lab.

Biography:

• PhD - University Kaiserslautern, Germany (1992)
• Postdoctoral work at University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Lab Head at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK
• Team Leader at EMBL since 1998

Team Leader and Head of Dept.
Adv. Light Microscopy Core Facility
EMBL Heidelberg, Meyerhofstraße 1
69117 Heidelberg, Germany

Molecular biology is evolving at a dizzying pace. As this science shifts its emphasis to new biological problems, incorporating new investigative methods and techniques, instruments must keep up with the latest developments and biologists must have access to state-of-the-art equipment and high quality training in its use. These are the goals of the new Advanced Light Microscopy Facility at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's main facility in Heidelberg.

Please visit our web site at: http://www.embl.de/services/core_facilities/almf

Biography:

• PhD in Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen (1988)
• Postdoc with Amiram Grinvald and Torsten Wiesel, Rockefeller University, New York (1989/90)
• Research Assistant with Wolf Singer, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt (1991/1992)
• Independent Group Leader, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Martinsried (1993-1998)
• Director, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried (since 1998)

Director & Head of Department
Cellular and Systems Neurobiology
Max-Planck Institute of Neurobiology
Am Klopferspitz 18
82152 München-Martinsried
Germany

An orderly representation of the environment in the form of "cortical maps" is one of the fundamental principles of how information is represented in the brain. The interest of the group revolves around such cortical maps in the visual system. How are they structured, what is their functional relevance, how do they develop, and what is the role of visual experience during development?

Recently the two latter questions have been at the center of interest. They are addressed with both a "systems" and a "cellular" approach. In the former it is investigated how the visual system develops in a modified visual environment whereas in the latter it is investigated how such changes are achieved and which cellular and synaptic mechanisms are responsible for these changes.

Please visit our web site at: http://www.neuro.mpg.de/english/rd/csn/research

Department of Biological Science
National University of Singapore
14 Science Drive 4
Singapore 117543
Email: dbshead@nus.edu.sg

The Whitehead·MIT BioImaging Center brings together a diverse and distinguished group of faculty from the Whitehead Institute and MIT biology, chemistry, computer science, and bioengineering departments along with research scientists, graduate students, and post-docs, all with a common belief: that complex cellular processes can best be understood by seeing with sophisticated imaging techniques, and then understanding the images through powerful computational methods.

A nexus for technology development, the BioImaging Center seeks to expand the frontiers of molecular imaging by building and beta-testing new instruments, applying powerful computational models to acquired data, and advancing commercial and clinical applications. Collaborative, curious, and committed, the BioImaging Center is a valuable resource to the global research community.

Please visit our web site at: http://www.wi.mit.edu/research/faculty/matsudaira.html

Faculty Services Officer IV
Experimental Oncology
Department of Oncology
University of Alberta
Cross Cancer Institute
11560 University Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2
Email: xuejun.sun@albertahealthservices.ca

The Cell Imaging Facility at Cross Cancer Institute is a multi-user resource that enables researchers in the Institute and in the University of Alberta to implement imaging techniques in their research. The Facility focuses on applications of advanced, light microscopic imaging techniques (live cell imaging, FRAP, FLIM, FRET, Fluorescence Correlative Spectroscopy (FCS), etc.) in various aspects of Cancer/Cell biology research.

The Facility was established in 1998. Various light microscopic imaging instruments are available for local researchers (including confocal, multi-photon, deconvolution, Laser catapulting and high throughput FISH system, etc.). It is supported by CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research) and Alberta Cancer Board. Various research projects are currently conducted in the Facility. Briefly, main focuses of the department are: 1) Tumor biology; 2) DND damage and repair; 2) Cell cycle control and nucleus structure; 3) Role of transporter proteins in nucleoside biology and therapeutics.

Bitplane software has been a major imaging analysis tool for the Facility. Beside routine 3-D visualization with the software, Bitplane software enables us to conduct many complex image analyses which are impossible to do without it (e.g. 4-d tracking; co-localization analysis, quantifying DNA damage using image based analysis, etc.).

Please visit our web site at: http://www.oncology.med.ualberta.ca/AboutUs/FacultyMembers/Pages/ExperimentalOncology.aspx?P=7

Director
Biological Imaging Center
1200 E California Blvd.
Beckman Institute 139-74
Pasadena, CA 91125
E-mail: liebling@caltech.edu

The research at Scott Fraser's Biological Imaging Center explores the patterning of cell lineages, cell migrations and axonal connections during vertebrate embryogenesis. The goal is to develop new imaging techniques and experimental strategies that permit single-cell resolution studies of each of these key processes in intact developing embryos. Given that there is no single imaging technology or developmental model system that is ideal for all studies, we employ a parallel approach; we both consider various systems such as the frog, chicken or mouse and use techniques as diverse as video, laser scanning confocal, laser scanning two-photon, or magnetic resonance microscopy.

Please visit our web site at: http://bioimaging.caltech.edu/index_content.html

Biography:

Before joining UCSB in 2007, Michael studied Physics at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and received the MS in 2000, with a diploma thesis on computerized tomography reconstruction. He was granted the PhD degree from the same institution in 2004 for a dissertation on Digital Holography and Image Processing that he completed under the advisory of Prof. Michael Unser at the Biomedical Imaging Group, EPFL. From 2004 to 2007, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar in the lab of Prof. Scott E. Fraser at the Biological Imaging Center, Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology.

Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of California Santa Barbara
Mail Code 9560
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9560
Email: liebling@ece.ucsb.edu

Our research interests are biological image acquisition, reconstruction, processing, and analysis. More specifically, we focus on developing novel microscopy instrumentation combined with the computational tools to enable dynamic, multi-modal, and in vivo cellular imaging during embryonic heart morphogenesis.

Please visit our web site at: http://sybil.ece.ucsb.edu

Director of National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research
Department of Neurosciences
Basic Science Building, Room 1000
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0608 USA

The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) is a federally funded research facility dedicated to advancing three-dimensional microscopy and imaging of biological materials. Technology development at the NCMIR focuses on three core areas:

• Specimen development for IVEM and correlated light and electron microscopy, including cryomicroscopy


• Enhancement of the microscope, computer control, and automation


• Software development for computer-aided image processing and analysis

In addition to technology development, the NCMIR supports an active biological research program involving research staff, collaborators and outside researchers. The facilities are available to extramurally-funded researchers in the biological sciences interested in using these technologies to investigate the three-dimensional structure of tissues, cells and macromolecular complexes.

Please visit our web site at: http://ncmir.ucsd.edu

Prof. of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Dept. of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Harvard University
7 Divinity Ave, Room 155
Cambridge MA, 02138
E-mail: jlichtman@mcb.harvard.edu

Research at the Lichtman lab focuses on the mechanisms underlying synaptic competition between neurons that innervate the same target cell. Such competitive interactions are responsible for sharpening the patterns of neural connections during development and may also be important in learning and memory formation. We study synaptic competition by visualizing synaptic rearrangements directly in living animals using modern optical imaging techniques.

We have concentrated on neuromuscular junctions in a very accessible neck muscle in mice where new transgenic animals and other labeling strategies allow individual nerve terminals and postsynaptic specializations to be monitored over hours or months. In addition, we have developed several new methods to improve our ability to resolve synaptic structure, in both the peripheral and the central nervous system.

Please visit our web site at: http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/Faculty/faculty_profile.php?f=jeff-lichtman

Director
Friedrich Miescher Institute
for Biomedical Research
Maulbeerstrasse 66
CH-4058 Basel/Switzerland
Email: susan.gasser@fmi.ch

We are interested in how nuclear organization impinges on mechanisms of repair and replication fork stability and on epigenetic inheritance of cell fate decisions. We combine genome-wide mapping, synthetic lethal screens, quantitative live fluorescence imaging, biochemical reconstitution and standard yeast molecular genetics to address these questions at the molecular and cellular levels. In questions of stem cell determination and epigenetic inheritance, we work with C. elegans to study the effects of nuclear organization on gene expression during well-characterized cell differentiation events.

Having developed the means to study the position of genes in living, differentiating cells of C. elegans, we showed that tissue-specific genes shift from an inactive position at the nuclear lamin to a lumenal position during differentiation. In contrast to differentiation-specific genes, heat-shock promoters shift to the nuclear periphery when active. Introducing into C. elegans a mutant lamin that causes muscular dystrophy in humans, we demonstrated that a muscle-specific promoter does not shift inwards in muscle. This impairs its tissue-specific activation and muscle function.

Please visit our web site at: http://www.fmi.ch/research/groupleader/?group=42

Building LHRRB, 3rd floor
Department of Cell Biology
Harvard Medical School
240 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

We study how mechanical and chemical signals integrate in space and time to control cytoskeleton dynamics and membrane trafficking. We develop a minimally-perturbing experimental approach that exploits the intrinsic heterogeneity of cell dynamic states to probe the hierarchy and kinetics of mechanochemical signaling cascades.

The methodical goal overarching our work is to study cell function by minimally-invasive experiments. Many of the current cell biological models seem significantly limited because they have been derived from “clear-cut” phenotypes, produced by massive cell stimulation and molecular perturbation of cellular pathways. We believe that cell functions can be understood from the coupling of parameters describing the variable cell behaviors in an intrinsically heterogeneous wildtype population. Using time-resolved parameter measurements the intrinsic heterogeneity of wildtype behavior also contains information about the causality among cell behaviors. To implement this approach, our lab is engaged in developing quantitative and multi-dimensional live cell imaging and statistical models that will allow us to identify in situ the spatial and temporal relationships between cellular outputs and underlying molecular activities.

Specifically, we investigate:

• The actin cytoskeleton as a multi-functional, complex molecular system and how its dynamics mediate processes such as cell migration, morphogenesis, phagocytosis, endocytosis, virus infection, and intra-cellular transport. Our ultimate goal is to establish an integrated quantitative model for how regulatory molecules change the biochemical and mechanical properties of the actin cytoskeleton at the ultra-structural level in order to support these diverse functions, and to test the model in living cells using quantitative Fluorescent Speckle Microscopy.
  
  
• How microtubule dynamics mediate chromosome segregation during mitosis. We are developing super-resolution microscopy and structural models of the mitotic spindle apparatus in yeast to exploit the power of yeast genetics in performing functional screens for regulatory proteins of microtubule dynamics and force generation. In parallel, we work on extending Fluorescent Speckle Microscopy to 3D with the aim to study these processes in higher organisms.

Head of Montpellier RIO Imaging
CRBM / FRE 2593
1919, Route de Mande
34293 Montpellier Cedex 5
pierre.travo@crbm.cnrs.fr

Montpellier RIO Imaging (MRI) is a large-scale composite group involving 5 of the 8 Federative Research Institutes (IFR) in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, and 3 of its 5 universities. In 2003 it benefited from the creation of two tenured technical posts (1 IE CNRS, 1 IE INSERM) and one long-term contract post (CDD- IR INSERM). In 2004, MRI also employed, from its own ressources, an auxilliary technician (IE) and was granted an additional tenured technical post (IR CNRS) that will come into effect at the start of 2005.

MRI is a facilty providing the environment, the equipment and the expertise necessary for the methodological and technical support of any scientific project within the life sciences that necessitates the use of imaging technology in its diverse forms (optical, electronic, computer procesing). MRI has no specific scientific project of its own.

Please visit our web site at: http://www.mri.cnrs.fr

Associate Professor
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
Nursing & Health Services

Ian Harper is the director of Monash Micro Imaging (MMI), a microscopy and imaging research support facility located at Monash University. MMI gives researchers access to the latest microscopes, as well as the expert instruction to tap into their full potential. MMI offers training, research support and project development in the areas of:

• Optical and fluorescence microscopy
• Confocal microscopy
• Live cell imaging
• Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Cryo methods for tissue preparation
• Digital imaging and image analysis

http://microimaging.monash.org/index.html

Associate Professor
Bellini Building
Room 167
Email: anne.mckinney@mcgill.ca

Biography:

• Ph.D - University of Ulster, 1992
• BSc.(Hons) - Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster

Anne spent 5 years in the Department of Neurophysiology at the Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Profs S.M. Thompson and B.H Gähwiler. In 1998 she obtained her own group at the Brain Research Institute University of Zurich. She has recently joined the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Dr. McKinney's principle research interest is the mechanisms involved in development and maintenance of excitatory synapses in the CNS, during physiological and pathological conditions, such as epilepsy and mental retardation. The synaptogenesis and maintenance of synaptic structures, key issues in neuroscience, are still poorly understood despite intensive research efforts. Her group’s studies are concentrated on the hippocampus a brain region thought to be involved in learning and memory. The McKinney lab is using a combination of techniques including, 4-dimensional confocal laser scanning microscopy, analysis of receptor subtype localization using serial electron microscopy, transgenic animals and advanced electrophysiological techniques to investigate the structure and function of dendritic spines and their synapses. These methods allows them assess the structural basis of synaptic function using multiple approaches.

http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/pharma/displaypharma.asp?Pharma_ID=155

Head of Department
Neurochemistry
Tokyo University

Our department’s primary goal is to elucidate the basic signal transduction mechanisms which mediate key processes underlying various brain functions, such as learning, memory or emotion. A fundamental question is how an ensemble behavior of 10~100 billion neurons can possibly give rise to a coherent and integrated “brain” that controls the whole human organism for a period of more than 80 years.

What are the precise nature and the whole spectrum of the molecular changes in the neurons that undergo heavy or patterned electrical activity? What are the molecular rules that govern these local and global changes, both electrical and chemical? How are these events, in turn, converted into more profound modifications of the synaptic wiring mechanisms? And finally do these alterations genuinely underlie certain kinds of information processing and storage?

To address these issues, this Department currently focuses its resources into two basic aims:

1) Molecular investigation (including identification, characterization and real-time visualization) of signaling molecules involved in calcium-dependent synaptic modification, especially during signaling from synapse-to-nucleus, and back from nucleus-to-synapses.
2) Understanding molecular mechanisms controlling cytoskeletal dynamics and remodeling on both sides of the synapses, in the dendritic spines and in axon terminals.

ETH Zurich
Institut f. Theoretische Informatik
CAB E 64.1
Universitätstrasse 6
8092 Zürich
Email: sbalzarini@inf.ethz.ch

Biography:

• Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, ETH, 2002
• PhD in Computer Science, ETH, 2006

His research focuses on developing, applying, and teaching methods from computational science for complex real-world systems. This includes work on hybrid particle-mesh methods for multi-scale simulations, parallel high-performance computing, bio-inspired optimization, and bio-medical image processing. Current applications include non-equilibrium biomatter, lipid membranes, biopolymers and proteins, and morphogenesis. Ivo is the head of the MOSAIC group.

The MOSAIC Group does research in the methodology and applications of Computational Science and aims at addressing significant scientific or engineering challenges using novel computational methods and algorithms, without which the problem could not be solved.

The MOSAIC Group is an example of interdisciplinary creativity, combining expertise from Computer Science, mathematics, engineering, physics, and biology. This enables broader coverage of the literature and allows innovative solutions that involve expertise from more than one discipline. The group has a triple affiliation with the ETH Departments of Computer Science , Biology, and Mechanical and Process Engineering. In addition, MOSAIC is a member of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), of the Zurich Center for Imaging Science and Technology (CIMST), of the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS), and itparticipates in the curriculum in Computational Science and Engineering (RW/CSE) hosted by the ETH Departments of Mathematics and Physics.

http://www.mosaic.ethz.ch/people/ivos

UCL Neuroscience
Physiology & Pharmacology
University College London

Dr Frances Edwards graduated in Pharmacology at the University of Sydney, Australia and received her PhD in 1990 whilst working at the Max-Planck Institute in Germany under the Nobel prize winner, Prof. Bert Sakmann. In 1996 she joined the Department of Physiology at UCL as a Senior Lecturer and was promoted in 1999 to Reader in Neurophysiology.

Processing of Memory: Plasticity and Homeostasis in the Hippocampus

Memory must involve activity-dependent changes in the network of communication between brain cells. The hippocampus has long been known to be involved in the laying down of memory and much work on this field has concentrated on this area of the brain. Moreover this is one of the first areas to show changes in Alzheimer’s disease. Cellular phenomena have been described by which the communication at individual synapses, (the connections between individual neurones), can be strengthened, ('long-term potentiation', LTP) or weakened ('long-term depression', LTD). But should the changes in the hippocampus really last indefinitely?

If strengthening or weakening of synapses in a particular pathway are uncontrolled this could result in unbalance of the overall output of the neurone so that it fires too fast or insufficiently to maintain healthy function and processing. Such imbalances can be very damaging, not only undermining the intended function of the circuit and so impairing learning but also resulting in conditions such as epilepsy. As change in synaptic strength is integral to the very function of the hippocampus, this region will be particular vulnerable to such problems.

In order to avoid such imbalance, the neurones are known to have strong balancing (homeostatic) mechanisms. A lot of past work has focused on such homeostasis but generally by studying the effects of weakening or strengthening all the synapses of the neurones measured, using pharmacological means. Instead we use methods we have recently developed (De Simoni et al., 2006) as well as other recently introduced techniques such as microelectrode arrays which allow us to stimulate individual pathways impinging on the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell. We can thus strengthen or weaken the synapses within one pathway and study what happens to them and their neighbours over time.

Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences
Ecole Polytechnique
Palaiseau, France
Email: willy.supatto@polytechnique.edu

Biography:

• MSc. in General Engineering, ESPCI Paris (2002)
• MSc. in Biophysics, Paris VII University (2002)
• Ph.D. in Biophysics, Institut Curie (2005)

http://willy.supatto.perso.sfr.fr/