The three day meeting will feature symposia and a poster session as well as demonstrations of a wide variety of instrumentation and techniques. The conference will be complemented by a number of short courses (subject to additional fees).

Applications in the biological disciplines include confocal laser scanning microscopy, fluorescent protein label, novel fluorochromes, life cell imaging, fluorescence recovery after photo-bleaching, environmental scanning electron microscopy, and cryo-fixation. Applications will range from medical research, microbiology, to animal, plant and fungal biology. This year, particular emphasis will be on superresolution microscopy.

In the physical sciences, the topics include scanning electron microscopy, x-ray microanalysis, holography, 3-dimensional imaging and reconstruction, focused ion beam, transmission electron microscopy, aberration correction, electron energy loss spectroscopy and other techniques related to the characterization of the microstructure of materials.

To emphasize the increasing degree of interdisciplinarity between the biological and physical fields, two joint symposiums (plenary sessions) will be organized, covering 3D imaging methods (first plenary) as well as technologies and instrumentation (second plenary) relevant to both biological and materials applications.

The technical program will kick off and conclude with joint biological and materials plenary sessions on Wednesday morning, June 6, and Thursday afternoon, June 7. The plenary topic will be Imaging and Structural Reconstruction and New Developements in Microscopy and Imaging. Sandwiched in between are two days of scintillating parallel sessions on a variety of leading edge topics in microscopy.

Oral presentations will be given by invited guest speakers (see Invited Speakers) and by attendees selected from submitted abstracts (see Abstracts Submitted).

A poster session, accompanied by beverages and snacks, will be held on Wednesday, June 6. To encourage student participation at the meeting, the MSC offers awards for the best posters, one in biology and one in materials science. To be eligible for an award, posters must be installed on Wednesday, June 6. Program committee to determine Simon Award criteria (poster/oral).

Complementing the scientific program, several short courses are offered that will provide training in advanced methods in microscopy (Friday, June 8). 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. The number of participants for some of the courses is limited - “first come first served” will be applied.

The preliminary list of short courses is available here.

For more information: See Submission of Papers

All papers must be submitted electronically by email to papers@msc-smc.org by March 16, 2012.