{"id":17325,"date":"2019-10-03T09:43:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=17325"},"modified":"2024-04-22T15:46:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T13:46:01","slug":"embl-and-tara-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"EMBL and Tara: Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As part of Mission Microplastics<\/a>, the schooner Tara<\/em> will dock within view of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park<\/a> (PRBB) from 4\u20139 October. The PRBB is home to EMBL Barcelona and five other leading biomedical research centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tara<\/em>\u2019s visit coincides with the PRBB\u2019s annual open day<\/a> on 5 October, which sees laboratory doors thrown open to the public. Visitors can learn about the research going on in the PRBB\u2019s six institutions by participating in guided tours, talks by local researchers, and a variety of more hands-on activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, EMBL Barcelona\u2019s contribution will feature a Tara<\/em>-themed twist. \u201cFor the open day last year, we had a virtual reality experience that allowed visitors to explore 3D samples from the lab at different stages of their biological development,\u201d says EMBL Barcelona\u2019s Liaison Officer, Carla Manzanas. \u201cThis year, to integrate with Tara<\/em>\u2019s visit, we\u2019ve also included samples of aquatic organisms imaged at EMBL\u2019s Mesoscopic Imaging Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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What is mesoscopic imaging?<\/h2>\n

Mesoscopic imaging involves looking at details of biological systems in the context of an organ, body part, or organism. It\u2019s an approach that recognises that a heart, an arm, or a fish is more than just a set of cells. In any tissue, organ, or body part, cells are packed tightly together or arranged in relation to each other. They respond to each other, and in some cases even move together. Mesoscopic imaging allows scientists to record, track, and study how they do so.<\/p>\n

Mesoscopic imaging requires specially designed technology, since most microscopes are developed for looking at single cells, or small groups of cells. And technologies like CT scans \u2013 developed to look at a body part or even an organism as a whole \u2013 don\u2019t provide the necessary detail. To fill this gap, scientists have designed techniques like selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) and optical projection tomography (OPT), which combine the ability to capture fine details with the capacity to study relatively large samples for extended periods of time.<\/p>\n

These and other mesoscopic imaging techniques can reveal critical information for scientists studying developmental biology and the pathologies that arise when normal development is disrupted. The fate of a given cell depends not only on its initial state but also on signals it receives from its 3D environment \u2013 the organ in which it develops. For example, individual neurons can easily be studied using traditional microscopy techniques, but critical information is lost about how the cells interact with the complex environment of the brain during development. Mesoscopic imaging offers the organ-wide context that will enable researchers to get the whole picture.<\/p>\n

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For the facility\u2019s Imaging Specialist, Montserrat Coll Llad\u00f3, this is not the first time she\u2019s worked with Tara<\/em>. \u201cI spent a month on board Tara<\/em> during the Tara Oceans Expedition (2009\u20132013)<\/a>,\u201d she says. \u201cI was in charge of sampling for bacteria as we sailed across the Pacific Ocean from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to Ecuador. We started out in one of the most remote places on Earth and we didn\u2019t see another boat for the whole month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tara<\/em> is not a typical oceanographic research vessel. The 36-metre schooner offers a unique research experience. \u201cDuring an expedition on a smaller vessel like Tara<\/em>, you participate in both the scientific tasks and the day-to-day tasks of running a sailboat,\u201d says Montserrat. \u201cYou set the table for dinner, you take night shifts on watch, and you clean the bathrooms!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re hoping to understand and raise awareness of how humans impact marine organisms<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although EMBL and Tara<\/em> work in different areas, both strive to bring together people with diverse skill sets and have them learn from one another. Researchers at EMBL Barcelona focus on tissue biology and disease modelling, combining diverse expertise in synthetic and computational biology. EMBL Barcelona\u2019s five research groups study diseases and drug development, as well as how tissues develop and respond to damage or disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montserrat believes that the technologies she and her colleagues develop at the Mesoscopic Imaging Facility could benefit a wide range of other fields. \u201cWe have the technology to look at organs and tissues in 3D, but SPIM and OPT technologies are quite expensive,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to work with colleagues in the city to make them cheaper. I think this technology could be very useful for other areas such as marine science, or for clinicians, who would be able to look at patient samples in 3D, rather than in 2D slices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many, Mission Microplastics is seen as an important successor to Tara<\/em>\u2019s previous expeditions. \u201cWe know a lot about the human body and its many hundreds of cell types, but there are still many new species in the ocean that we know nothing about,\u201d says Montserrat. \u201cThat was one of the goals of the Tara Oceans Expedition, to find out more about the organisms we share the Earth with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, with Mission Microplastics and the growing interest in ecosystem research,\u201d adds Carla, \u201cwe might be able to understand and raise awareness of how humans impact these marine organisms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n