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Fluorescence imaging beyond intensity – Course and Conference Office

EMBL Course

Fluorescence imaging beyond intensity

Overview

This course is organised in cooperation with Leica Microsystems.

Course overview

As fluorescence lifetime-based readouts become more accessible, this course aims to provide a broad understanding of how the lifetime-based information can be leveraged to solve biological questions. This application-centred course will provide insights into how this additional dimension of fluorescence information can help unveil functional and mechanistic information.

Audience

This course is aimed at PhD students and Post Docs with experience in fluorescence microscopy. It will enable them to better apply confocal fluorescence microscopy and in particular lifetime-based readouts to their cutting-edge research, disseminate their gained expertise to colleagues at their home institution and, eventually, to develop imaging methods beyond the state-of-the-art.

Modules/resources

  • Measuring protein-protein interactions
  • Environmental sensing with FRET-based and non-FRET-based biosensors
  • Using fluorescence lifetime for multiplexing
  • Increasing the resolution with tauSTED
  • Endogenous fluorescence – harnessing additional information and removing unwanted fluorescence like autofluorescence and background fluorescence
  • Sessions at the microscopes to practice using lifetime imaging in exemplary workflows
  • Analysis of the lifetime-based information and applicative conclusions

Learning outcomes

  • Understand the basics of fluorescence lifetime
  • Identify which types of research questions and approaches can benefit from lifetime-related measurements and how to design such experiments
  • Learn to use common biosensors, probes and fluorophores and understand the additional information and contrast provided by fluorescence lifetime
  • Understand the basis of endogenous fluorescence (in particular in tissue and animal models) and how fluorescence lifetime can help to exploit or cope with their signals
  • Acquire and analyze lifetime-related information in different experimental setups

Please see EMBL’s COVID-19 safety policy for testing and other requirements to attend this on-site course.

Speakers

Speakers, trainers, and staff

Dorus Gadella

Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences

The Netherlands

Kees Jalink

The Netherlands Cancer Institute

The Netherlands

Kai Johnsson

Max Planck Institute for Medical Research

Germany

Birgit Koch

Max Planck Institute for Medical Research 

Germany

Scientific organisers

Birgit Koch

Max Planck Institute for Medical Research

Germany

Course organisers

Chris Stocks

Chris Stocks

Course and Conference Team Lead

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Programme

Got something to say? Tweet it! #EMBLFluorescenceLifetime 

  • Some pre-course work (such as watching pre-recordings, protocol reading and computational exercises) with estimated time 0-10 hours will be required and will be shared in advance of the course.
  • Some speakers may need to join virtually to give their lecture or Q&A, and the programme is subject to change.
  • All participants will attend all practicals in turns.
Day 1 – Monday 10 July 2023
Time SpeakerLocation
08:40Bus from ISG hotel to EMBLISG hotel bus stop
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome & registrationEMBL Imaging Centre
09:15 – 09:45Icebreaking activityEMBL Imaging Centre
09:45 – 10:45 Lecture: Introduction to fluorescence lifetime-based readouts
Kees Jalink /Dorus Gadella
EMBL Imaging Centre
10:45 – 11:00Coffee BreakEMBL Imaging Centre
11:00 – 12:00Lecture: Visualization and analysis of lifetime-based information
Giulia Ossato – Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Germany
EMBL Imaging Centre
12:00 – 13:00LunchEMBL Canteen
13:00 – 14:00Lecture: The application of FRET-FLIM to study protein-protein interactions and spatial organization of proteins in the cells,
Marie Erard – Université Paris-Saclay, France
EMBL Imaging Centre
14:00 – 16:00Practical sessions 1+2EMBL Imaging Centre
16:00 – 16:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
16:15 – 17:45Practical sessions 1+2EMBL Imaging Centre
17:45 – 18:00Wrap up sessionEMBL Imaging Centre
18:00 – 19:00DinnerEMBL canteen
19:45 Bus from EMBL to ISG HotelEMBL bus stop
Day 2 – Tuesday 11 July 2023
TimeSpeakerLocation
08:40Bus from ISG hotel to EMBLISG hotel bus stop
09:00 – 11:00 Participants flash talksEMBL Imaging Centre
11:00 – 11:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
11:15 – 12:15 Lecture: Time-Domain Fluorescence lifetime Imaging of cAMP Levels with EPAC-Based FRET Sensors
Kees Jalink – The Netherlands Cancer Institute, The Netherlands
EMBL Imaging Centre
12:15 – 13:15 LunchEMBL Canteen
13:15 – 14:00 Lecture: Fluorescence lifetime-based biosensors
Dorus Gadella – Swammerdam Institute for
Life Sciences, The Netherlands
EMBL Imaging Centre
14:00 – 16:00Practical sessions 1+2EMBL Imaging Centre
16:00 – 16:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
16:15 – 17:45Practical sessions 1+2EMBL Imaging Centre
17:45 – 18:00Wrap up sessionEMBL Imaging Centre
18:00 – 19:30Tips & Tricks with concurrent Pizza dinnerEMBL Imaging Centre
19:45Bus from EMBL to ISG HotelEMBL bus stop
Day 3 – Wednesday 12 July 2023
TimeSpeakerLocation
08:40Bus from ISG hotel to EMBLISG hotel bus stop
09:00 – 10:00 Lecture: Introduction to STED microscopy and tauSTED
Ulf Schwarz – Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Germany
EMBL Imaging Centre
10:00 – 11:00 Lecture: STED microscopy with a single depletion laser using five fluorochromes and fluorescence lifetime phasor separation
Mariano Gonzalez Pisfil – Biomedical Center
Munich, Germany
EMBL Imaging Centre
11:00 – 11:15 Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
11:15 – 12:00 Lecture: Label-free imaging and endogenous fluorescence
Giulia Ossato – Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Germany
EMBL Imaging Centre
12:00 – 12:15Group photoEMBL Imaging Centre
12:15 – 13:15LunchEMBL canteen
13:15 – 15:45 Practical sessions 3-6EMBL Imaging Centre
15:45 – 16:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
16:15 – 18:45Practical sessions 3-6EMBL Imaging Centre
18:45 – 19:00Wrap up sessionEMBL Imaging Centre
19:00 – 20:30Dinner & discussionsEMBL canteen
20:35Bus from EMBL to ISG HotelEMBL bus stop
Day 4 – Thursday 13 July 2023
TimeSpeakerLocation
08:40Bus from ISG hotel to EMBLISG hotel bus stop
09:00 – 10:00 Lecture: TauSense Tools making lifetime-based readouts easily accessible
Julia Roberti – Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Germany
EMBL Imaging Centre
10:00 – 11:00Lecture: Synthetic fluorescent probes for live-cell imaging
Kai Jonsson – Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Germany
EMBL Imaging Centre
11:00 – 11:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
11:15 – 12:15Lecture: FP-based Multicolour experiments with FLIM
Sergi Padilla-Parra – King’s College, UK
EMBL Imaging Centre
12:15 – 13:15LunchEMBL Imaging Centre
13:15 – 15:45Practical sessions 3-6EMBL Imaging Centre
15:45 – 16:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
16:15 – 18:45Practical sessions 3-6EMBL Imaging Centre
18:45 – 19:15Wrap up sessionEMBL Imaging Centre
19:45Bus to Heidelberg downtownEMBL bus stop
20:00 – 22:00Course dinner downtown
Day 5 – Friday 14 July 2023
TimeSpeakerLocation
08:40Bus from ISG hotel to EMBLISG hotel bus stop
09:00 – 10:00 Lecture: The phasor approach to fluorescence lifetime analysis of biosensor Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)
Elisabeth Hinde – University of Melbourne, Australia
EMBL Imaging Centre
10:00 – 11:00Lecture: Open discussionEMBL Imaging Centre
11;00 – 11:15Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
11:15 – 12:15Practical session: Lifetime based readout analysis and interpretationEMBL Imaging Centre
12:15 – 13:15Lunch EMBL Imaging Centre
13:15 – 15:15Practical session: Lifetime based readout analysis and interpretationEMBL Imaging Centre
15:15 – 15:30Coffee breakEMBL Imaging Centre
15:30 – 16:15Round Table: The future of lifetime-based read outs
16:15 – 16:30Feedback round and Wrap-up
16:30Bus to Heidelberg train station and city centerEMBL bus stop

Practical information

Registration fees and motivation letter

The course is limited to 20 participants. For selection purposes, please note that your application will not be considered without a letter of motivation.

Registration

Registration fees include admission, course materials, COVID-19 safety measures, meals and coffee breaks. Participants are expected to book and pay their own accommodation and travel expenses. 

Academia€500
PhD Student€500
Industry€1000

NO visa support letters will be issued until payment of the registration fee is confirmed.

Confirmation and payment

The registration fee should be paid only after acceptance to the course. The results will be announced approximately 2-3 weeks after the application deadline.

Motivation letter submission

After you have logged in and successfully registered, you will receive an email asking you to submit your motivation letter. Click on the link provided and enter your motivation letter in the text box provided. Alternatively you can submit your motivation letter by clicking on the link on the confirmation page directly after registering.

Instructions

  1. Include your relevant skills, experience and qualifications showing why you would be suitable for the course.
  2. Explain why you would like to attend, including what you can contribute and how you think you will benefit from the course.

Please note:

  • The limit of 2000 characters refers to manually typed text and excludes spaces. If an error occurs try using a different web browser (preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox).
  • If you copy-paste the text into the form, hidden formatting might still be included which may cause the text to exceed the 2,000 character limit resulting in an error message. We recommend you clear all formatting before pasting in the text.
  • If you have special symbols in your text, make sure you are using Unicode characters, otherwise these will not be recognised.

For detailed instructions, please watch our video on how to submit a course motivation letter.

Further details

For further information about registration and motivation letter submission please refer to the FAQ page.

Financial assistance

Financial assistance

Limited financial assistance is provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO in the form of both registration fee waivers and travel grants. Availability is limited to participants attending on-site EMBL Courses and virtual or on-site EMBO Practical Courses in Heidelberg, and will be indicated during the motivation letter submission process.

Your place in the course is only confirmed by paying the registration fee, which is mandatory even when receiving a fee waiver.

Registration fee waiver

The fee waiver will cover the registration sum that you have paid to attend the course.

Travel grant

The travel grant will cover the cost of travel (airfare, train, bus, taxi, accommodation, visa, and/or registration fees*) and is provided up to specified caps which are normally as follows:

– up to €400 for participants travelling to an EMBL Course within Europe.

– up to €1000 for participants travelling to an EMBL Course from outside Europe.

– up to €500 for any participant travelling to an EMBO Practical Course.

– up to €1000 for any participant working in Chile, India, Singapore or Taiwan travelling to an EMBO Practical Course.

– up to €700 for any participant working in Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey travelling to an EMBO Practical Course.

*Registration fees are only covered for EMBO Practical Courses

The organisers may reduce the grant cap to accommodate more participants. Recipients will be notified of their travel cap amount when they are informed of the outcome of their application. Original receipts must be provided with your signature for all costs incurred within two months of completion of travel. Scanned copies cannot be accepted.

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds travel grant

Applies to selected courses only. Availability will be indicated during the motivation letter submission process.

This grant covers costs related to your attendance at the course (registration, travel and accommodation costs). The grant is restricted to PhD students and postdocs who conduct basic biomedical research.

Whether you are eligible to apply for a travel grant, depends on when you received your university entrance qualification (e.g. Abitur, A-Levels, High School Diploma, Final State Examination):

– for PhD and MD students, as well as graduates, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 11 years ago at the time of the envisaged course

– for postdocs, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 13 years ago at the time of the envisaged course

Application

You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your motivation letter for courses. In your application, you will be asked to answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.

For the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grant, there is a pre-application question during the motivation letter submission process, and if selected you will be requested to complete a standard form and documentation consisting of your travel expense estimation.

Selection

The scientific organisers will select the recipients of all financial assistance during the motivation letter selection process. Results will be announced approximately 6-8 weeks before the event start date, however for some events this may be delayed. Selection results do not impact your admission to the course. Selection is based on scientific merit, your current work or study location, the reasons for needing financial support, and the impact this event will have on your career.

Reimbursement

Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts (from travel costs) have been received.

Further details

See our list of external funding opportunities and for further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.

Accommodation and shuttles

Hotel

Single rooms have been reserved for 6 nights (Sunday 9 July to Saturday 15 July 2023) at the ISG Hotel. After the selection process, selected participants should contact the hotel directly to make a booking (booking code MIC23-03). We recommend that all course participants stay at the ISG Hotel which is the dedicated hotel for the course.

Local transport

Shuttle buses will go from the ISG Hotel to EMBL and back, mornings and evenings. A bus schedule and location of the bus stops will be made available prior to the meeting.

Further details

Address: EMBL Heidelberg, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

For further information on getting to EMBL Heidelberg visit our Travel Information page.

For enquiries about accommodation and local transportation please refer to the FAQ page.

Technical requirements and event software

Technical requirements

Below you will find the software and technical requirements for this course.

  • Participants need to bring their own laptops, which will be used to remotely access EMBL virtual machines with pre-installed software.
  • You will need admin rights to install the software required to access the virtual machines. If you do not have admin rights, please contact your technical support team in advance to make sure the software can be installed.
  • If you have a non-standard HDMI port (other than type A), you need to bring an adaptor.
  • Keyboard and PC mouse are available for use with a standard USB port. If you have a different port type, such as USB-C, you will need to bring your own.

Event software

The EMBL eCampus learning platform will be used to collaborate, communicate and network with all of the course participants. All participants will receive information on how to join shortly before the course. We recommend using Chrome, Safari or Mozilla Firefox browsers for eCampus. 

Additional information

Please find additional information including FAQs, terms and conditions, COVID-19 safety policy and travelling to EMBL on our Information for Participants page.

COVID-19 related questions

COVID-19 information for on-site events at EMBL Heidelberg can be found in our COVID-19 FAQs.

Sponsors

Co-organisers:

Sponsorship opportunities

We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other events, or contact sponsorship@embl.de for further information.

If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.

Warning

EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.

Please also note that:

  • EMBL never provides attendee lists for purchase. Any offers of such are fraudulent.
  • EMBL will never call or email you to ask for your credit card details or to request a payment.
  • All payments are on invoice.

Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsorship@embl.de.

Media kit

Want to let others know you’re attending this event? Take a look at our shareable media and feel free to use them in your social media channels or presentations.

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Date: 10 - 14 Jul 2023

Location: EMBL Heidelberg

Venue: EMBL Advanced Training Centre


Deadline(s):

Application: Closed


Organisers:

  • Luis Alvarez
    Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Germany
    • Manuel Gunkel
      EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
      • Birgit Koch
        Max Planck Institute for Medical Research , Germany
        • Andrea Mülter
          Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Germany

        Contact: Chris Stocks


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