Short Courses
Complementing the scientific program, several short courses are offered that will provide training in advanced methods in microscopy. These courses consist of theoretical lectures and/or instrument demonstrations. They are designed to meet the needs of students, principal investigators and technical personnel. For some courses, participants are encouraged to bring their own specimens.
Additional fees apply for these courses. Full registration for the meeting is required to register for the short courses. The number of participants for some of the courses is limited - “first come first served” will be applied. The preliminary list of short courses includes the following topics:
Short courses may be canceled due to lack of registration
Workshop 1: Desktop Inline Holography Microscopy
Friday, June 8, 8:30 - 12:00
Resolution Optics, 2011 Microscopy Today Innovation Award winner, will be hosting a half day demo of their desktop digital inline holographic microscope. The DIHM technology provides a superior depth of field for 3D and 4D analysis of micro-organism and micro-particle suspensions. No staining or preparation is necessary allowing for non destructive studies of biological samples. Interested parties are encouraged to bring samples for ROI to image. Please check their website for more information on their products and, technology (http://www.resolutionoptics.com).
Instructor:
Stefan Jericho, Chief Technology Officer, Resolution Optics Inc.
Course Limit: 20
Workshop 2: In Vivo 3D Light Microscopy
Friday, June 8, 8:30 - 17:00
This workshop will provide an overview of the various technologies that are available for 3D live cell and live organism imaging. Lectures will be given on sample preparation, how to keep samples or organisms alive on the microscope during imaging and how to optimize instrumentation for resolution and/or speed. Platforms such as widefield deconvolution, spinning disk, light sheet illumination, swept field, laser scanning confocal and multi-photon microscopes will be covered. The session will end with a Q&A session with the experts and a live demonstration of in vivo zebra fish imaging.
The following topics will be covered:
- Fluorescence Microscopy Light Sources (Regan Baird - Lumencor Inc.)
- Practical Approaches to Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy (Judith Lacoste - MIA Cellavie)
- Live Cell Imaging (Claire Brown - McGill University)
- Wide Field Deconvolution (Ian Bates - Carl Zeiss Canada)
- Laser Scanning Confocal - Resonant Scanning – Nanoscopy (Lianne Dale - Leica Microsystems Inc.)
- Light Sheet Microscopy (Ali Erturk - Genentech)
- Spinning Disk Confocal Microscopy (Joanne Wang - Intelligent Imaging Innovations)
- Multi-photon Microscopy (Eric Level - Olympus Canada)
- 3D Imaging Processing and Analysis (Wendy Allan - Bitplane Inc, Andor Technologies)
The roundtable discussion will be held with the participation of the following members:
- Ian Bates (Carl Zeiss Canada)
- Lianne Dale (Leica Microsystems Inc.)
- Graham Dellaire (Dalhousie University)
- Ali Erturk (Genentech)
- Judith Lacoste (MIA Cellavie)
- Eric Lebel (Olympus Canada)
- Joanne Wang (Intelligent Imaging Innovations)
The following equipment will be demonstrated:
- In Vivo Spinning Disk Imaging
- LED Light Sources
You can download:
Organizers:
Claire M. Brown, Imaging Facility Director and Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, McGill University
Graham Dellaire, Cameron Research Scientist in Cancer Biology, Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University
Course Limit: 40
Workshop 3: Ion Milling of Geological Materials for SEM
Friday, June 8, 8:30 - 12:00
Sample preparation of geological materials in the oil & gas industries presents a series of challenges for the scanning electron microscopist. Because of the scale and inhomogenity of a given microstructure, a relatively large area must be planarized before representative imaging or chemical mapping can take place. Protocols have been developed to this end, using a novel broad beam Ar ion source. Ion milling of shales and subsequent imaging in a SEM will be demonstrated, including retention of organic phases and porosity.
Instructor:
Rocco R. Cerchiara, Applications Scientist, E. A. Fischione Instruments, Inc.
Course Limit: 10
Workshop 4: Introduction to image analysis
Friday, June 8, 8:30 - 17:00
The field of microscopy has evolved dramatically in the past decades. Optical microscope can now easily go up to 1000x magnification. The confocal microscope can reach over 2500x. The newer SEMs go up to 500kx magnification and the TEMs reach one order of magnitude higher. Even though technology gives us the ability to resolve nanometer-scale features, microstructural imaging still only gives researcher qualitative information. Microstructure comparison between different materials is still dependent on subjective evaluation by the operator. Furthermore, as the magnification goes higher, the overall surface observed becomes quite small making observations less and less statistically representative.
Image analysis allows for quantitative and objective evaluation of microstructures. Coupled with automated image acquisition tools, it can easily analyze multiple images greatly increasing result reliability. Overall, image analysis brings added value to any microscopy characterization work.
The workshop will give some overview of the basic image analysis operations during the morning session. The instructor will also share some of his “tips and tricks” and work methodology to help the student avoid common pitfalls. Some basic examples will be covered along with more sophisticated work to show the overall possibilities of image analysis.
Practical exercises will be given during the afternoon session. Participants will need to bring their own laptop. The image analysis software needed to do the exercises will be given to the participant at the session. The software will work on Windows, Mac or Linux. The participants are also invited to bring their own images to further the discussion.
Instructor:
Marin Lagacé, Hydro-Québec Research Institute.
Course limit: 15