Timo Zimmermann: 'Introducing the EMBL Imaging Centre'

Speaker: Timo Zimmermann, Team Leader, EMBL-Heidelberg

Abstract: Cutting-edge microscopy is a central technology requirement for life sciences. At present only a minority of scientists have access to the latest imaging technologies as the devices are not only expensive, but also complex in their set-up, maintenance and operation. To improve access an operational concept is needed that is going beyond current core facility operation models. The EMBL Imaging Centre represents a new service unit at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany which is aimed at service provision for external researchers. Located in a new state-of-the-art building that was finished in spring 2021 and starting operation later in 2021, the EMBL Imaging Centre will provide access to the highest resolution electron (EM) and light microscopy (LM) technologies, including methods that are not yet commercially available. The main mission of the EMBL Imaging Centre is to rapidly make the most advanced microscopy technologies available to the broad scientific international user community from both academia and industry. A powerful and synergistic portfolio of imaging technologies will be offered both as a stand-alone and in a combined (correlative) fashion, to enable new research that crosses the scales of biology. LM technologies will cover all scales from the latest (cryo-)super-resolution technologies to high-speed and high resolution live-cell, as well as intravital and deep tissue imaging, with a focus on non-commercial, academically developed technologies. EM technologies housed in the EMBL Imaging Centre will cover all scales from single-particle cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-tomography to (cryo-)CLEM and cellular/tissue volume electron microscopy. Upon full operation the EMBL Imaging Centre will provide access to external users from Europe and all over the world, support their projects from sample preparation to image analysis with expert staff, and will offer tailored training opportunities.