Open access to cutting-edge electron and light microscopy
We provide researchers from Europe and beyond with a synergistic portfolio of imaging services including cryo-EM, super-resolution and intravital microscopy to enable new ground-breaking research that crosses the scales of biology.
Constant improvement and development of new imaging and correlative technologies is an inherent part of the IC, following a long and successful tradition at EMBL.
To do that the IC service teams work closely with EMBL research groups, international external academic developers and industrial partners.
The development process usually begins with building a custom microscope or developing new sample preparation and correlative workflows within a research group, and is followed by a proof-of-concept demonstrated on a selected biological application. With increasing interest and demand the need for service provision to the wider research community might arise. If this is the case the IC team will take over that task optimising the design or workflow to ensure ease of use and broad applicability. Pilot experiments enable further refinement, ultimately leading to the provision of a reliablbe established service.
EMBL has a long successful history in technology development in collaboration with industrial partners. Technology development in context of the IC aims to drive industrial early-stage next generation technologies by biological applications based on the needs of the user community. This novel concept of collaboration between academia and industry is underpinned by longer term partnerships and agreements. In such an “open innovation” environment, technology development is done side by side with users testing new technologies for applicability in their research. Partner companies can thus feed these experiences directly back into their R&D, to make sure new products deliver what users need to accomplish their research goals. Inherent to this concept is a great opportunity to mobilise funding for such public-private partnerships.
The IC is grateful to call four leading companies in microscopy technology founding technology partners – Abberior Instruments, Leica Microsystems, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Zeiss Microscopy. Over the past years we have increased our collaborative network by CryoSol, Delmic and Tescan. We remain open to work with other companies in complementary technology areas. If you are interested in such collaboration please contact Stephanie Alexander.
Related public information
The IC is currently coordinating two large collaborative and externally funded projects in relation to the development of new imaging technology with a special focus on correlating technologies and making them service-ready.
New technologies to probe structure and function of biological specimens in their natural context
IMAGINE is large EU-wide consortium project funded by the European Union with the mission to develop the technologies needed to bridge the molecular scale of structure with the organismal scale of function and to bring those technologies not only to highly specialised central facilities and standard laboratory models, but also out in the field, at Europe’s coastline and on the ocean.
New correlative imaging approaches to improve our understanding of biological systems
Funding by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) enables two multidisciplinary projects across EMBL with the aims to (1) integrate 3D X-ray imaging of tissues with spatial transcriptomics, and (2) to develop cutting-edge cryo-electron microscopy techniques for multiscale imaging down to the level of macromolecular complexes inside cells.
Molecular System Biology Unit
The Mattei research team is affiliated with the Molecular Systems Biology Unit at EMBL Heidelberg. The team members develop methods and software supporting high-throughput and fully automated pipelines to tackle the current challenges in cryo-EM sample preparation and screening.
Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit
The Zimmermann research team is affiliated with the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit at EMBL Heidelberg. The team develops methods in the areas of super-resolution microscopy and cryo-fluorescence microscopy, and investigates photophysical properties of fluorescent dyes.
