Research & Education
Currently, biomedical imaging is an actively developing and productive branch of science and technologies, e.g. the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 was awarded to Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.
Imaging facility staff are keen to participate in projects with sufficient imaging part and to collaborate with the groups of KIR.
In addition to scientific work we are developing an imaging and microscopy education programme.
The courses are specially designed for postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and postgraduate students with a biological or medical background. For this reason we try to use a minimum amount of maths and rely on phenomenological explanations, hand-made models, and clear demonstrations. Special attention is given to the development of essential skills, so young scientists can run independent cell-biological lab and manage equipment.
Very often, you work with a microscope and require a good quality picture for your research and publications. In order to operate the instrument efficiently, you need to know the theory behind it and obtain good training.
KNOWLEDGE: In this course, starting from basic laws of optics, viz.: reflection and refraction, we will cover the following topics: Image formation by Magnifying Glass and Human Eye, Simple Microscope, Infinity-corrected Microscope, Köhler Illumination; Phase-Contrast Microscopy, Dierential Interference Contrast Microscopy, and Fluorescent Microscopy.
SKILLS: You will know how to align a microscope for good transparent imaging and how to select the correct fluorescent filter and dichroic mirror.
The main goal of the current course is to equip a researcher with a whole tool-box of modern cell microscopy. As previously, we will try to use a minimum amount of math and rely on phenomenological explanations, hand-made models, and clear demonstrations.
KNOWLEDGE: We will cover the following topics: Imaging formation, limit of resolution, and aberrations; High resolution microscopy: Restoration Microscopy, TIRF, FRAP, and Confocal Microscopy; Jablonski diagram, fluorophores: organic, inorganic, fluorescent proteins, and their applications; Single Molecule Microscopy, FRET, FCS, and FLIM; Super-resolution Microscopy: PALM, STED, SIM.
SKILLS: By attending the course, you will acquire the following skills: how to operate DelataVision and Confocal Microscope; how to oftain PSF of your microscope by means of gold beads; how to perform simple FRAP experiment.
KNOWLEDGE: In this integrated course, we talk about Visual Information; Human Vision; Image Capture, Processing, and Presentation; Quantitative Co-localization; Publishing and Image Integrity.
SKILLS: You will learn how to calibrate your monitor, how to prepare your image for publication, how transform your image in different colour spaces. You will be trained in quantitative co-localization using Pearson Correlation Coefficient.