XXIII Elettra Users' Meeting: New synchrotron radiation and optical techniques for nanoscale microscopy of biological systems: from single molecules to cells

NMBS2015
New synchrotron radiation and optical techniques for Nanoscale Microscopy of Biological Systems: from single molecules to cells

To correlate chemical structure, 3D architecture and function of bio-molecules, acting in their natural environment, is the experimental dream of any scientist, from structural to cellular biologists. The ideal experimental technique should have impressive sensitivity, at the level attograms or even less, superior selectivity, for being able to tackle the specie of interest in the complex cellular scenario, and sub-nanometric lateral resolution in 3D. 4D experiments where the temporal dimension is implemented would allow for watching in real-time the cellular machine at work. None of the analytical tools nowadays available fully accomplish, individually, all these tasks. However, the dream is becoming closer to reality, thanks to the exciting technological advances in spectroscopy and microscopy in the last decade and to the efforts pursued by the scientific community for attaining a superior synergic interplay between complementary approaches. These were the two keystones on which the NMBS2015 workshop has been designed.

The workshop, held December 9-10 2015 during the Elettra User Meeting, opened with the welcome from Elettra president and chief executive officer Prof. Alfonso Franciosi. During the sessions, the speakers presented the most recent technical developments and outstanding applications in the biological field of both synchrotron-based and advanced laboratory analytical tools such as TEM, SAXS, XRD, UV-CD, UV imaging and UV resonant Raman spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, AFM and IR nanoscopy, with special emphasis to their integration for closing the gap between Ångström and micron scale.

More than 100 participants took part at NMBS2015, and the workshop represented an unique opportunity for the attendees to get new insights on a multitude of techniques and on the way to merge them to turn the dream into reality. At the end of the workshop a visit to FERMI was organized.

Lisa Vaccari