It has been lovely being back in Glasgow this week, giving a keynote talk at the Glasgow Computational Biology conference & an invited seminar at @uofgsii.bsky.social in the Hogwarts building 🏰(thank you @liam-rooney.bsky.social) -both such vibrant research communities & highly enjoyable discussions

🆕 | @uofgsii.bsky.social's Dr @liam-rooney.bsky.social recently co-organised the UK’s largest and most comprehensive light microscopy training programme, SOMC 2025, bringing together experts and students from around the world for an advanced upskilling course. 👉 More: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infe...

Great first week at #SOMC25, learning microscopy basics through lectures and practicals. We spent today collecting samples on the Isle of Cumbrae ready for week 2!

After 10 packed days of optical microscopy theory & practicals, #SOMC25 is over! 🌍 24 students from around the world 🧑‍🏫 19 internationally renowned lecturers 🧑‍🔧 16 supportive sponsors 🔬 14 hands-on advanced practical sessions 🏆 4 poster & image prizes 🪼 1 field trip to collect marine specimens

Grateful for the chance to speak on computational microscopy and ML/AI in imaging. Thanks for having me! #SOMC25 #Microscopy #AI

Our final session at #SOMC25 was a practical workshop on 3D printed lenses - learning how to rapidly fabricate small lenses and spin coat large lenses for optical instrumentation.

Our final lecture on Day 10 of #SOMC25 is on computational microscopy and ML/AI imaging/analysis approaches, delivered by @giudica.bsky.social (@strathbiomedeng.bsky.social).

Our penultimate lecture on the final day of #SOMC25 is on developments and applications of Mesoscale Imaging from @gailmcconnell.bsky.social (@sipbs.bsky.social @unistrathclyde.bsky.social).

Our morning lecture at Day 9 of #SOMC25 is a double act on Raman imaging delivered by @karenfaulds.bsky.social and Will Tipping from @unistrathclyde.bsky.social.

Our second lecture on Day 8 of #SOMC25 was given by Joëlle Goulding (@uniofnottingham.bsky.social) on the theory and practicalities of Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy.

Our first lecture of Day 8 at #SOMC25 is on FLIM and FRET imaging, from uses in basic science through to clinical diagnostics, delivered by Simon Poland (@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social).

Day 7 Lecture 2 at #SOMC25 on Expansion Microscopy delivered by @shannanfoylan.bsky.social (@unistrathclyde.bsky.social), featuring some of her own @sulsa.bsky.social funded research on expansion microscopy for ‘footery’ samples.

#SOMC25 Day 7 kicks off with @ralfmbauer.bsky.social (@unistrathclyde.bsky.social) giving a lecture on lightsheet microscopy.

Our Day 6 #SOMC25 afternoon lecture on single-molecule localisation microscopy was delivered by Susan Cox (@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social), followed by rotations around some advanced practicals.

After our morning practical session at #SOMC25, we have our first lecture of the day delivered by @superresolusian.bsky.social (@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social) on STED and super-resolution microscopy methods.

Field trip day at #SOMC25 - we took a trip to the Isle of Cumbrae to collect specimens to image for the rest of the course. Tide pooling, beach combing, diatom netting, copepod fishing, crustacean hunting, and jelly junking. 🌊🪼🦀

Our final activity of #SOMC25 Day 4 is an image analysis lecture and workshop led by @beatricebo.bsky.social from the Cancer Research Scotland Institute.

Our second lecture of Day 4 at #SOMC25 was delivered by me (@uofgsii.bsky.social) covering aspects of live cell and in vivo microscopy.

Saturday morning and Day 4 of #SOMC25 starts with @lemgruber.bsky.social (@uofgmvls.bsky.social @uofgsii.bsky.social) telling us about the most widely used light microscopy methods; widefield epifluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Day 3 of #SOMC25 is rounding off with our evening lecture from Bob Edkins (@unistrathclyde.bsky.social) on Fluorescence and Fluorescent Proteins. 🌟🔬

#SOMC25 Day 3 practical session of phase and DIC methods kicks off with a demonstration from Brad Amos before the students will spend time aligning systems for phase contrast and DIC, then imaging various aquatic and marine specimens.

Next up at #SOMC25 is our second lecture of the day from @gailmcconnell.bsky.social (@unistrathclyde.bsky.social) on light source for optical microscopy. 💡🔬

#SOMC25 Day 3 kicks off with our morning lecture from Klaus Suhling (@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social) discussing detectors for optical imaging. 📷🔬

Rounding off the day with Lecture 3 of #SOMC25 with Polarisation, Interference and Diffraction delivered by @muellenbroich.bsky.social, featuring sunglasses-adorned Brewster and a young(er) @ralfmbauer.bsky.social.

Day 1 #SOMC25 practical sessions demonstrating Abbe’s famous experiments followed by hands on alignment and Köhler illumination exercises using a variety of transillumination setups.

Day 2 Lecture 2 of #SOMC25 delivered by David McKee (@physicsstrath.bsky.social) on Ray and Wave Optics. 🌈🔬

Day 2 of #SOMC25 kicks off with Lecture 1 from Brad Amos with an Overview of Optical Microscopy. Starting with the question: does the microscopist need to understand physics?

The Strathclyde Optical Micoscopy Course #SOMC25 kicked off today - 10 days of practical light microscopy training with 24 students from around the world! From fundamental & advanced lectures, to hands-on workshops with high end systems, & a field trip to the Isle of Cumbrae, it will be great! 🔬

🆕 | @uofgsii.bsky.social Bacteriology Research Fellow Dr Liam Rooney (@liam-rooney.bsky.social) was recently recognised with the @microbiologysociety.org Infection Sciences Award, as well as election to the council of the @royalmicrosoc.bsky.social. 🔗 Read more: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infe...

🌟 Exciting News! 🌟 I’ve been awarded the Infection Science Award by @microbiologysociety.org in recognition of recent work using cross-scale imaging methods to study complex infection models. Thanks to the Microbiology Society, mentors, funders and collaborators for all their support! 🙏🏻🧫🔬🧪

This is hardly surprising, the message that scientists should “stay in their lane” is just nonsense. Shifting research focus takes courage and sometimes necessary as times change. One make take a hit in citation metrics, but the broader impact as well as career longevity can be profound. 🧪

🔬𝐔𝐊 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨-𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 £𝟏.𝟖𝐌 from @ukri.org This will: -Democratise access to cutting-edge biological and biomedical imaging -Support 200+ researchers yearly -Boost open science Thanks to BBSRC and MRC for this major upgrade! 🚀 Congrats to the entire UK Node team 👏 Link in replies⬇️

Last week, the Latin American Hub for Bioimaging Through Open Hardware kindly invited me to speak about our 3D printing work to researchers across Latin America. Great to see so much engagement & positivity about the work. Really great to hear about other research in the #OpenMicroscopy space. 🔬

Awesome that you can turn an Ender 3 3D printer into a microscope! This sort of thing would have been a big help during my PhD where I built a small surgical scope. Great work @niamh-deburca.bsky.social et al! Paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... HT: @liam-rooney.bsky.social

Improved contrast transmission stereomicroscopy using a low-cost 3D printed optical element! 🔬🧫🐟🧅 More details in our preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚨New pre-print out now!🚨 We 3D printed a large optical element that enhanced the illumination, contrast & image quality in transmission stereomicroscopy. This simple addition to the illumination path lets us detect refractive structures & dynamics unobserved by conventional stereomicroscopy. (1/5)

Had a fantastic week at #Biofilms11 in sunny Cardiff! Great to catch up and meet so many folks and see all the amazing biofilm research on show. Plus a life size 3D printed mammoth! Thanks for a great conference @ukbiofilms.bsky.social!

I forgot to post about this recent paper - exciting work led by @michriscopy.bsky.social showing clearest evidence yet for transertion strongly tethering the bacterial nucleoid to the membrane during fast growth. It was a pleasure to contribute a little 🔬🦠🧫 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Postdoc position available! This is a 2-year post funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences. You'll be based in the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology here in Newcastle, using super-resolution microscopy to look at the bacterial cell wall. 🔬🦠 Please re-post 🙏 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMY885/r...

New paper alert! Demonstration of oxygen gradients in biofilm nutrient channels, using a neat approach. @MicrobioSoc @liam-rooney.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 We used complementary sensing approaches to study oxygen microenvironments in E. coli biofilm transport channels, which provided a spatial overview of how transport channels maintain chemical gradients in complex communities. doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001543

This session has been one of the best attended and most scientifically diverse at previous mmc events - promote your most exciting, hot-out-of-the-lab results by submitting an abstract today! @royalmicrosoc.bsky.social @rmsearlycareer.bsky.social

It was a pleasure to deliver a seminar today at @glasgowcaledonian.bsky.social; back where it all began as an undergrad 13 years ago! Thanks to the team (@gcureach.bsky.social @shipgcu.bsky.social) for the invitation and hospitality!

It’s been just over 2 weeks since I started my fellowship at @uofgsii.bsky.social - here’s to all the exciting science on the horizon! 🧪🧫🔬

Abstract submission is open for the @microbiologysociety.org Early Career Summer Conference in Newcastle (23rd and 24th June). This is always a fantastic event, with a mix of talks, posters and professional development sessions. Abstract deadline 4th May. microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Our set of new prokaryote-optimized fluorescent proteins is now published ! #microbiology #microsky #microscopy 🧫🦠🔬 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Absolutely delighted to share that I've been awarded the BBSRC Fellowship to continue my working on antivirulence drugs at the University of Glasgow. A massive thank you to all of my mentors and collaborators. I can't wait to see what the future holds for the project 🔬

Fellow bacterial cell biologists, message me if you use @thermofishersci.bsky.social Gene Frames for microscopy! Thermo are planning to discontinue these in September but have indicated they will look into this further. If I make list of labs using them Thermo might not kill the product Please RT🔬🦠

Our newly advertised Research Technician @uofgsii.bsky.social post is supported by this #Springboard25 award! If you're passionate about bacterial evolution & gene regulation, apply by 30th April. A fantastic opportunity for soon-to-be/recent graduates to dive into research! tinyurl.com/2z9z9kse 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔬

Excited to share that I’ve been awarded an @acmedsci.bsky.social #Springboard25 award to support our work on how new genes drive bacterial adaptation to changing environments @uofgsii.bsky.social! Grateful for this investment in my new research program—can’t wait to do some cool & impactful science!