Helen Zenner

FOCUS-3D sounds fantastic. I can't quite believe the incredible amount of training data (& I like the fact that they included such a range of data.) I also like that it is possible to have a quick try with the method using the website option. I'm looking forward to the future developments as well!

There's some really cool research in this list! This preprint from Suzi Kim, En Cai and team looking at T cell membrane organisation really stood out to me. Check out NanoMAP! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I interviewed Anjali @thekusumbelab.bsky.social for @jcellsci.bsky.social in 2023, & we discussed the challenges of imaging bone. It’s fantastic to see their progress since then in their latest preprint! #sampleprep www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Interview: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

ICYMI: Our preprint list covering the latest research in bioimage analysis is now up on FocalPlane. Let us know if you have any recommendations! focalplane.biologists.com/2026/07/24/m...

🌞🏃Early call for preprints as I've got the day off on Friday! Let us know what preprints we should be adding to the @focalplane.bsky.social preprint list. This week we're focussing on exciting research that uses microscopy to answer questions in biology. focalplane.biologists.com/tag/preprints/

I was so excited when @manuelthery.bsky.social agreed to write about this project for FocalPlane, but I didn't actually appreciate the scale it! The videos from the museum are incredible but the whole project is so much more. Check it out ⤵️

I know for a fact that this list is 100% human-generated! For that reason, there are almost certainly some excellent research that I've missed.... Drop me a message if you have any suggestions that I should add to the list.

The 1% from QED has made for an interesting debate here! My initial thoughts - Highlighting research esp preprints is a good thing - Lists are good, rankings maybe not so much - What does a ranking even mean? - Can the LLM read the figures? Isn’t looking at the data how we evaluate research!?

Come for the beautiful images and stay for technical tips! Thanks to Benita Wolf for writing this fantastic highlight for FocalPlane on one of my favourite papers from 2026.

10/10 no n̶o̶t̶e̶s̶ prompt

It's #preprint list time on @focalplane.bsky.social. This week it's all about #bioimageanalysis. Drop me a message if you have any suggestions of preprints uploaded in the last 6 week.

You can't beat a webinar that not only includes fantastic science but also sheep herding videos, Aardman characters and the tardis!

I'm really excited for the 2nd webinar in our new series & I recommend checking out the abstracts from Laura & Sven on FocalPlane! I may also be looking forward to hearing whether it will be @ajcellbio.bsky.social or @joemckenna.bsky.social that will take on the tricky pronunciation of Brillouin!

It was fantastic to chat with Aníbal about the @lisium-chile.bsky.social initiative and Aníbal’s journey to becoming a light-sheet specialist and project coordinator at Universidad Mayor, Chile.

The next deadline for @jcellsci.bsky.social FocalPlane Training Grants is 20 February. These grants are open to early-career researchers in cell biology that require funding to attend a microscopy or bioimage analysis training course. www.biologists.com/grants/jcs-f...

🚨 Job Alert! 🚨 We have an opening at our Microscopy Core Facility in Turku 🇫🇮. If you love imaging 🔬 and helping scientists succeed, we want you! 👇 abo.rekrytointi.com/paikat/index... #Microscopy #ScienceJobs #CoreFacility #Imaging @turkubioscience.bsky.social

The next stop on our ‘Imaging with…’ series is at Unidad de Microscopía Avanzada, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Meet the team (including the microscopes), discover how you can access the facility and learn their pet peeve! focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/15/i...

Fridays = preprints and #FluorescenceFriday. I'm looking forward to brightening up a cold, rainy day!

🔬🔦Imaging spotlight: Lock-in-SIM Our latest imaging spotlight focusses on structured illumination microscopy, as Wenjie Liu & team present Lock-in-SIM. Check out their post to discover how & why you should try it with your SIM workflow: focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/08/i...

Wow, what a fantastic line up of instructors! Don't miss this opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business ❤️🔬

The 2023 version of this meeting was fantastic and the 2026 programme promises to be just as brilliant! (I may also be thinking of chatting all thing microscopy in the Spanish sunshine while huddled inside in a cold and snowy Cambridge.) Sign up by Friday 16 Jan for the early-bird discount ⤵️

🔬 🖥️ Applications are open for the CSHL course Quantitative Imaging: From Acquisition to Analysis (April 6–21, 2026)! An intensive, hands-on course covering advanced fluorescence microscopy and quantitative image analysis using open-source tools. 🗓️ Apply online by Jan 30, 2026

Amazing research and such a fantastic scicomm video. I'd like to show it to my kids, but I'm afraid that it'll backfire and they'll use it to explain why all the clothes in their cupboards are unfolded despite the fact they were folded when they went in....

Thanks for catching that background slide, Chris! And thanks for the shout to @the-node.bsky.social, @prelights.bsky.social & @focalplane.bsky.social, Jez. I'm sad to miss the UK membrane trafficking meeting this year, but hope to see you both at @jcellsci.bsky.social imaging meeting next year!

Now that's image stitching! My fun discovery this Friday is this montage of 33 electron micrographs in published in @jcellsci.bsky.social in the 1960s. The original measured 3ft square!

Probably the coolest thing I learned at #ABRF was that there is a website called "core in a box" all about starting a core and management. Check it out! www.hopkinsmedicine.org/research/res...

#MicroscopyMonday! Join @bioimagingna.bsky.social for a conversation with @clairebrown514.bsky.social as part of our Career Speaker series! Learn More & Register here buff.ly/9nB1qnC

At the end of last year, I was lucky enough to chat with both Jennifer and Manu. Check out these interviews in @jcellsci.bsky.social to find out more about these extraordinary scientists!

We're turning 15 this year🥳The past and present Community Managers got together to chat about what it's like working at the Node, and what they've been doing since: @easternblot.bsky.social @catcvicente.bsky.social @aidanmaartens.bsky.social @helenzsci.bsky.social @joyceyu.bsky.social #biologists100

I always get a little nervous when attending conferences and knowing what to expect helps. We give a few insights into what to expect at #biologists100 & do reach out if you have any qs about the meeting. Also, there's a possibility that I once went to the wrong door at the ACC, so we explain all!!

It's almost impossible to choose! We're excited to get the images back from the printers, along with something for another little project that our community sites are working on with our conference reporters 😉 for #biologists100.

@the-node.bsky.social #biologists100 reporter @jens-cells.bsky.social is putting together a conference survival guide. What are your top tips for getting the most out of your conference experience.

Good choice! But if we are allowed to play favourites, I thought this one from Malina Iwanski, Lukas Kapitein and team was pretty cool. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

As part of @biologists.bsky.social 100-year anniversary, it has been fun to look at the older journal content. For this post, I went all the way back to 1853 to look at early efforts at segmentation, wise words on peer review and the benefits of sharing tips and tricks rather than whole stories.

There's still time to enter our image competition for your chance to win £250! All the shortlisted images will be displayed in our gallery at the Biologists @ 100 conference in Liverpool. Deadline: 24 February 2025 #Biologists100 focalplane.biologists.com/2025/02/05/t...

#FocalPlaneCorrespondent Greg Redpath shares the first post in his biosensor series. Greg discusses the key considerations in selecting & using signalling biosensors and highlights GFP, the original biosensor. focalplane.biologists.com/2025/01/16/h...

Read about the experiences of our 2024 correspondents, Daniel Doucet, @sdutta.bsky.social and Greg Redpath, in our end of year post: focalplane.biologists.com/2024/12/19/o...

We are looking for our next cohort of #FocalPlaneCorrespondents! If you are interested in getting some #scicomm experience alongside your research, check out our call and drop us an email if you have any questions. Deadline for applications: 20 January 2025

Our first preprint list for 2025 is focussed on research using microscopy tools to answer questions in biology. As always, please let us know if there are other preprints that you’d like to see on our list. focalplane.biologists.com/2025/01/10/m...

As 2024 comes to a close we caught up with our fabulous #FocalPlaneCorrespondents Daniel Doucet, @sdutta.bsky.social and Greg Redpath. In our interviews we chat about their research, their FocalPlane posts and their experiences as correspondents. focalplane.biologists.com/2024/12/19/o...

I'm so full of ginger cookies from the office Christmas pot luck lunch that it is hard to think. Apologies if anyone receives any nonsensical emails from me this afternoon! #ThreeBiscuitRule

And don't forget to tell all your friends that aren't on social media!

#FocalPlaneCorrespondent Daniel Doucet interviews Kedar Narayan, the 2025 recipient of the Alan Agar @royalmicrosoc.bsky.social Award for Electron Microscopy. We learn about #volumeEM, big data challenges and the vEM community. focalplane.biologists.com/2024/12/14/v...

This is such a fantastic post, both for those getting started in imaging or if you need an update on the amazing developments in fluorescent probe research. Thanks Lina! Also, look out for our short interview with Lina, which will be up on @focalplane.bsky.social soon.

This week's @focalplane.bsky.social preprint list will focus on new tools and techniques in microscopy, covering sample prep, probes, microscopy hardware and software. I'm just finalising the list now, so let me know if you have any recommendations from the last ~6 weeks!

Following workshops at @harvardmed.bsky.social and #I2K2024, Ranit Karmakar shares an intro (plus access to course material) into how to use Segment Anything Model (SAM) to segment your microscopy images. Check it our here: focalplane.biologists.com/2024/12/10/s...

Hey SkyWalkers, we've recently acquired a STED microscope and I was wondering what's your favorite structure to test/demo STED imaging (except for tubulin/actin)? Bonus points when: -can be done in HeLa cells -it's based on a genetically encoded part that is available from @addgene.bsky.social

Excited for #CellBio2024 (how is it only a few days away? 😱)! Looking forward to seeing old friends/colleagues and meeting new ones (…and hopefully seeing some ☀️). If you’d like to chat more about publishing in @jcellsci.bsky.social, drop me a message or find me at the @biologists.bsky.social stand!