Advanced Imaging Workshop for Pollen and Tip-growth Biology

“Advanced Imaging Workshop for Pollen and Tip-growth Biology” sponsored by the NSF-Supported Pollen Research Coordination Network
 
WHEN: April 5 (Arrival, April 6 am first session) to April 10 (Monday, last session ends by lunch time, departure) [4.5 days of hands-on activity], 2017
                          
WHERE: University of Maryland, College Park 
     Organizers: Jose Feijo, University of Maryland
Alice Cheung, University of Massachusetts
Mark Johnson, Brown University
Ravi Palanivelu, University of Arizona
 
WHAT is offered:
·      Morning lectures by experts, set up some experimental materials
·      Afternoon tutorials and demos
·      Late afternoon and Evening, ad-lib experiments, and informal discussion sessions.
 
Who can attend:
·      16 bench occupying students (these can be at any level, grad. Students, postdocs, PIs); more to attend the morning lectures (up to 50, to facilitate discussions amongst participants).
 
As space is limited, there will be some selection among applicants, we urge all applications to be submitted before Feb. 5, 2017 for consideration. Please indicate in applications the topic of your research project, and methods you would like to learn or particular problems you like discuss towards a solution.
 
COST:
·      $250 registration fee per bench-occupying student;
·      Hotel for bench-occupying students (~$165 per night, double occupancy; details will follow);
·      Travel.
Limited funds are available for qualified participants for Hotel and Travel expenses for participants from laboratories in the U.S.; for inquiry contact Alice Cheung.
 
Workshop will provide breakfast and lunch each day along with two group dinners
 
GOALS:
(1)  Hands-on experience with experimental materials required to utilize cutting-edge imaging approaches. Including: basic confocal imaging of in vitro, semi-in vivo grown pollen tubes [e.g. for investigators who are just beginning functional studies in reproduction], various advanced imaging methods [e.g. software-driven quantitative analysis of cytoplasmic trafficking pattern, exo- and endocytosis, cytoskeleton], probing of ion dynamics, to custom approaches to imaging pollen tube-ovule interactions, fertilization etc.
(2)  Beyond the basic methods, goals will be participant-driven, i.e. all bench-occupying participants are encouraged to propose questions and if materials are available and logistics permits, bring them to the workshop. The workshop is not intended to be one that participants just observe, but actually have questions in mind that (1) might be solved easily by existing methods or (2) new methods have to be explored between participants and resident and/or guest imaging experts.
(3)  Establish contacts among participants for collaboration.  We believe that the questions addressed during the Workshop, and additional questions and method innovations that arise from discussions during the workshop will set the foundation for collaborative efforts after the Workshop.
 
LIST OF CONFIRMED SPEAKERS (more pending) for morning theoretical sessions:
 
Margarida Barroso (Albany Medical College)- FRET, membrane trafficking, super-resolution
Alex Costa (Univ Milan, IT)- Ca2+ imaging, Light-sheet Microscopy in plants
José Feijó (Univ Maryland)- General opinions in microscope choices in reproduction biology; pollen tube imaging
Dave Erhard (Stanford Univ)- Plant imaging and genetic probes
Ricardo Henriques (Imperial College, London UK)- Super resolution by hardware and software
Gabriel Martins (Inst Gulbenkian Ciencia, Oeiras PT)- Three-dimensional imaging and image processing; OPT (optical projection tomography)
Nuno Moreno (Inst Gulbenkian Ciencia, Oeiras PT)- Design and choices of microscopy methods, lenses, CCDs and everything about a microscope
Ana Moroni (University of Milan) – development of novel sensors and probes for channels and other structures
Sougata Roy (Univ Maryland)- Cell-cell signaling during fly development
Hari Shroff (NIH/NIBIB)- Light-sheet microscopy design and operation
 
LIST OF PRACTICAL SESSIONS/TUTORIALS:
 
Confocal microscopy (Amy Beaven, various)
Spining disk microscopy (Amy Beaven, various)
Deconvolution microscopy (Amy Beaven, various)
Two-photon microscopy (Jose Feijo, Leonor Boavida- Purdue Univ.)
            Optical projection tomography micorscopy (Gabriel Martins)
Oscillation analysis and quantification (Daniel Daminelli- UMD)
Imaging and ion flux acquisition (M Teresa Portes- UMD)
Semi-vivo fertilization methods (Leonor Boavida; Ravi Palanivelu; Mark Johnson)
Lab-on-a-chip (Hana Rakusova- McGill Universityl)
Image Analysis Software- Fiji and other publicware (Gabriel Martins/Nuno Moreno)
diSPIM/ light sheet (Jon Daniels/ASI; Harsh Vishwasrao, NIH/NIBIB)
 
In addition to the available methods in UMD, additional demos from vendors from various top of the line imaging tools are still being negotiated. Some of these vendors might also offer seminars pertinent to their wares.
 
For information on registration and other logistics, contact
            Alice Y. Cheung, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.
                                    acheung@biochem.umass.edu
 
For information on workshop topics and capabilities, contact
            Jose Feijo, University of Mary, College Park, MD 20742.
                                    jfeijo@umd.edu