The two-day course consists of lectures and hands-on sessions which will demonstrate basic mechanical testing methods such as atomic force microscopy, indentation test or uniaxial and biaxial tensile test. The tests will be introduced in practical sessions together with their biological and methodological relevance. To relate the mechanical tests to the most significant biomechanical structures such as collagen fibers, elastic fibers or fat, the participants will be taught how to link these mechanical properties and microscopy images. Due to the minimum sample alternations, the images are acquired using label-free techniques, for instance, pSHG, THG or CARS.
Practical hands-on training on 3D correlative light and electron microscopy combining confocal fluorescence imaging and electron microscopy imaging contain focused ion beam milling (FIB-SEM) and electron tomography (ET).
Light, particulary fluorescence, microscopy offers live-cell compatibility and flexibility in labelling by specific molecular probes. In this way, insight into the function of cells at their native state can be obtained. Electron microscopy, on the hand, provides unmatched spatial resolution. Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) combines the unique information from both techniques in a single image.
During the course you will try hands-on a complete CLEM workflow from sample preparation to image processing. The hands-on sessions will be conducted using the state-of-the-art equipment available at IMCF, including high end fluorescence confocal microscopes, scanning electron microscope (SEM) focused ion beam (FIB) milling and transmission electron microscope (TEM).
The course “Transmission Electron Microscopy in Life Sciences” is aimed at beginners and intermediate users of transmission electron microscopes in biomedicine. It will devote about equal time to the theory and to practical use of microscopes. The course is limited to 15 participants and during practical sessions the participants will be divided into three groups. The techniques discussed at theoretical sessions will be demonstrated on three transmission electron microscopes of varying complexity – the simplest Morgagni, more complex Philips CM 100 and the most powerful Tecnai T20.
After the course, the participants should understand the principles of construction and function of transmission electron microscopes, should be able to align the microscope for optimal performance, to identify and eliminate most common aberrations and alignment artifacts, to understand the principles of image generation in transmission electron microscopy, and to identify optimal ways of image acquisition.
The participants will be also given up-to-date information about best ways of sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy, and about recent transmission electron microscopy trends in biomedicine. Participants are encouraged to bring their own samples on 3.05 mm TEM grids. There will be ample opportunity for the participants to discuss their specific problems with the faculty.
The course will be taught in English.
The course is focused mainly on master‘s and doctor‘s degree students in the field of human brain mapping (or neuroimaging and MRI in general) regardless of primary background. Attendants obtain theoretical and practical skills in several neuroimaging techniques. The course covers mainly: Principles of MRI; Principles of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); Processing of fMRI data; Practical hints for preparation of fMRI experiments and measurements; Functional and effective brain connectivity with fMRI; Morphometric methods; Diffusion imaging; Processing and analysis of EEG data; Simultaneous measurement of physiological signals (EEG, ECG, breathing, …) and fMRI; Specifics of animal MRI studies. Two practical sessions are included: measurement in CF MAFIL labs, and fMRI data analysis with SPM software.
This course is intended for students/researchers who would like to learn more about advanced imaging methods used in life sciences. Course is focused on microscopy techniques achieving resolution beyond the Abbe diffraction limit and lightsheet microscopy. Students will learn about the theory and will have the possibility to try different imaging techniques during practical course.
Highly dedicated practical course for intravital imaging and cranial window surgery of living mice. 2 participants will learn how to perform craniotomy and to make functional cranial window for two-photon imaging and they will try in-vivo imaging of neural activity using GCaMP in behaving mice, that will be prepared for them in advance.
The course will extend already existing courses about image processing. Here we will focus on automatization, high thruput and programming. Course participants will learn how to create and edit macros in ImageJ, how to program more sophisticated scrips for batch processing and they will learn basic of image processing with Matlab. Acces both onsite and online.
digital holographic, interference, fluorescence and confocal microscopy and its use in modern medicine, deployment of live cells, operating the Q-Phase microscope
