NPL chairs a very successful 89th IUVSTA Workshop June 2019 A highly successful 89th IUVSTA workshop on the biological sample preparation for the high-resolution imaging by high vacuum techniques, took place in Zakopane, Poland, on 19–24 May 2019. The workshop was chaired by Paulina Rakowska and brought together 58 leading international researchers and analysts for scientific debate. The 89th IUVSTA workshop was co-organised by NPL, NIBSC (National Institute for Biological Standard and Control, UK), Justus-Liebig University Giessen, European Commission and ETH Zurich. IUVSTA, the International Union of Vacuum Science, Techniques and Applications, supports expert workshops on topics of high priority. The importance of the workshop subject was also recognised by industry and generous financial contribution from five industry sponsors (CAMECA, Ionoptika, IONTOF, Leica and Tescan) matched the funding of IUVSTA. This meeting brought together leaders in the areas of secondary ion mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, atom probe tomography and spectroscopies at large light beam facilities. The meeting was unique in bringing these diverse communities together with many people meeting for the first time. It created an inclusive forum for researchers, experimentalists and innovators in methodology and instrumentation. The main focus of the meeting was the extended discussion periods after each session, which were very candid and open, with the aim of working together as a community to advance the field. The scientific programme and quality of debate were excellent and identified the important metrological priorities in the areas of biological sample preparation, correlative analysis and technological developments. NPL had a strong voice during the workshop. Junting Zhang (NiCE-MSI group) gave a talk on 3D cryoOrbi-SIMS imaging of bacterial biofilms, and gave a tutorial on the cryogenic sample preparation and handling for cryo-SIMS analysis. Clare Newell (NiCE-MIS & Francis Crick) and Winifred Akwani (NiCEMSI & University of Surrey), both presented posters. Clare talked about OrbiSIMS imaging of lipids in skin of fruit flies and Winnie about using NanoSIMS to image drug penetration in mycobacterial biofilms. The workshop received an excellent feedback and here are some of the comments: “I had a fantastic time and connected with a lot of people, which will be very useful for my research. The event was very well organised and I wish that more conferences would use the same format!” “…it was by far one of the best conferences I have been to recently, having the discussion sessions and such a clear focus for the conference really meant I got a lot out of it. Great location as well … organisers are to be congratulated…” “It was really great to go to a different conference, particularly one that celebrates multidisciplinary science!” “It has been a wonderful and very useful week. Learned a lot and met a lot of new people. Definitely hoping to set up some new collaborations with NPL.” This workshop was one of the outcomes of the recently finished EMPIR-funded MetVBadBugs project. CryoSIMS for High Pressure Frozen Samples tutorial June 2019 Junting Zhang of project partner NPL has created a tutorial on the CryoSIMS for High Pressure Frozen Samples. You can find a copy here, and also over on our Documents & Data Resources page. SPECS host free webinar EnviroESCA – XPS surface studies of bacteria and biofilms under near ambient pressure conditionsJune 2019Project partner SPECS are hosting a free live webinar “EnviroESCA – XPS surface studies of bacteria and biofilms under near ambient pressure conditions” Thursday 06.06.19, 15:00 ECT. In this webinar, they will demonstrate how Near-Ambient Pressure XPS (NAP-XPS) measurements can be used to study the surface chemistry of bacteria and biofilm samples. Different sample preparation protocols will also be presented. For more information and registration, click here (https://www.specs-group.com/specsgroup/latest-news/) Abstract Submissions for ECASIA 2019 March 2019 Project partner BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung) are organizing a special session on surface analysis of bacteria and biofilms at the European Conference for Applied Surface and Interface Analysis (ECASIA 2019). Researchers are welcome to submit an abstract under the topic “BIO”. The conference takes place 15-20 September 2019 in Dresden. For more information and details on abstract submission, please visit http://www.ecasia2019.com 89th IUVSTA Workshop February 2019 The 89th IUVSTA workshop will bring together leading scientists in electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, atom probe tomography, cryo-spectroscopy and related technologies to address important challenges in biological and soft matter sample preparations for high-resolution imaging by high vacuum techniques. The workshop will include invited and contributed presentations to stimulate debate. This is a forum where experts share their views and engage in in-depth discussions to identify and solve current challenges and issues. Participation is limited to 60 delegates. The workshop is organised jointly by National Physical Laboratory (NPL, UK), the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NBISC, UK), Justus-Liebig University Gießen (Germany), the European Commission (Italy), and ETH Zurich (Switzerland). The workshop starts on Monday 20 May at 08:30 hrs and closes at 13:00 hrs on Friday 24 May. There will be an evening welcome reception on Sunday 19 May. For more information and details on abstract submission, please visit https://www.npl.co.uk/events/89th-iuvsta-workshop Successful M34 MetVBadBugs project meeting February 2019 A successful M34 MetVBadBugs project meeting took place in Turin. The meeting was hosted by project partner INRiM (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica). The partners came together to look at the work that had been completed since M27 of the project and looked ahead at the work required towards the end of the project at M36. You can download the agenda here. PTB Nearfield IR Spectroscopy seminar December 2018 Project partner Physikalisch Technisch Bundesanstalt (PTB) held a seminar at the RWTH Aachen University with the title “Nearfield IR Spectroscopy: Enhancing the molecular sensitivity using compressed sensing and other techniques” in December 2018. By combining infrared spectroscopy with atomic force microscopy, the sensitivity can be enhanced to a level that makes detection of drugs in bacterial cells possible. This was done in cooperation with project partner INRiM, which delivered tailored nearfield-AFM tips. Radiation sources and signal detection were also discussed. A copy of the presentation can also be found on our Documents & Data Resources page. Cryogenic Sample Preparation for Vacuum Based Metrology Instruments November 2018 A good practice guide for advanced cryo preparation methods that enable “liquid” (vitrified) water to be present in the vacuum of high performance metrology instruments has been produced and is now available. Cryogenic Sample Preparation for Vacuum Based Metrology Instruments is available to down from here and also over on our Documents & Data Resources page. EnviroESCA application note published by SPECS July 2018 An application note has been published by SPECS. It shows how EnviroESCA can be used to analyze bacterial samples under near ambient pressure conditions in various states of hydration using different levels of humidity. Such investigations of bacterial cell wall surfaces in their hydrated state are essential for studying biological interfaces at work. You can find the application note here. Surface characterisation of Escherichia coli under various conditions by near‐ambient pressure XPS July 2018 Project partner BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung) have contributed to the paper Surface characterisation of Escherichia coli under various conditions by near‐ambient pressure XPS. The paper was recently published in Surface and Interface Analysis. A copy of the paper can be found on our Documents page. A Special Session at SIMS Europe 2018 on Bacteria and Biofilms July 2018 Project partner IONTOF Technologies GmbH have announced that there will be a special session at this year’s SIMS Europe conference focussing on bacteria and biofilms. The deadline for abstracts has been extended to July 15th and IONTOF cordially invite you to submit an abstract. The conference will take place in Münster, Germany, 16-18 Sept 2018. For further information and abstract submission please visit https://www.sims-europe.org/ Models to interrogate biofilm architecture using the Fluxion BioFlux Webinar May 2018 Project partner Dr Kim Hardie (an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham), a leading authority on the role of autotransporter proteins in biofilms, will be presenting her latest research where she will describe the establishment of biofilm models to characterise antimicrobial penetration and biofilm viability and pH changes tracked over time. Examples of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus mutans as mono and polymicrobial biofilms on abiotic or biotic surfaces will be described using the Fluxion BioFlux and novel optical nanosensors. To register for the Webinar, please click here. For more information on Fluxion BioFlux, please click here. Characterization of Highly Inclined Optical Sheet Microscopy for Localization Microscopy May 2018 Tiziano Vignolini of project partner LENS will deliver an oral presentation titled Characterization of Highly Inclined Optical Sheet Microscopy for Localization Microscopy at FOTONICA 2018 AEIT – 20th edition of the Italian Convention on Photonic Technologies, in Lecce (Italy) on the 24th of May. Characterization and improvement of highly inclined optical sheet microscopy April 2018 Project partners PTB have contributed to the paper Infrared Nanospectroscopy of Phospholipid and Surfactin Monolayer Domains. You can download the paper here. Characterization and improvement of highly inclined optical sheet microscopy February 2018 Project partners LENS-UNIFI have contributed to the paper Characterization and improvement of highly inclined optical sheet microscopy. You can download the paper here. Optimization of highly inclined optical sheet illumination for super-resolution microscopy February 2018 Project partners LENS-UNIFI have contributed to the paper Optimization of highly inclined optical sheet illumination for super-resolution microscopy. You can download the paper from our Documents page. A pilot study on fingerprinting Leishmania species from the Old World using Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy November 2017 Project partners PTB have contributed to the paper A pilot study on fingerprinting Leishmania species from the Old World using Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy. Further information can be found here. MetVBadBugs at the AVS 64th International Symposium and Exhibition November 2017 Project partner NPL recently presented two topics from the project at the AVS 64th International Symposium and Exhibition which took place, October 29 – November 3 in Tampa, Florida. Ian Gilmore presented on the Study of drug uptake and action on metabolic processes at the single-cell level using the 3D OrbiSIMS, and Paulina Rakowska presented on Cryo-SIMS – metrology of biological sample preparation methods for preservation of ultrastructure and chemistry. MetVBadBugs at the 21st International Conference on Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry September 2017 Project partner NPL recently presented two topics from the project at the 21st International Conference on Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry which took place, September 10-15 in Krakow. Ian Gilmore presented on the Study of drug uptake and action on metabolic processes at the single-cell level using the 3D OrbiSIMS, and Paulina Rakowska presented on Cryo-SIMS – metrology of biological sample preparation methods for preservation of ultrastructure and chemistry. A copy of Paulina’s abstract can be found here. MetVBadBugs at the ECASIA’17 -17th European Conference on Applications of Surface and Interface Analysis September 2017 Project partners SPECS and BAM presented on Characterisation of biofilms with near-ambient pressure XPS at the ECASIA’17 -17th European Conference on Applications of Surface and Interface Analysis in France. MetVBadBugs at the EMRS ALTECH 2017 May 2017 Project partner INRIM recently presented a poster from the project at EMRS (European Materials Research Society) ALTECH 2017 (Analytical techniques for precise characterization of nano materials) which took place May 22 – 26 in Strasbourg, France. Fabrication of flexible silicon nanowires for high sensitive bio-sensing by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy by colleagues at INRIM along with colleagues from Politecnico di Torino and the University of Turin was presented under the Advanced Optical Metrology session. Project partner PTB also provided a presentation on Analytical techniques for precise characterization of nano materials. MetVBadBugs at the 6th FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress May 2017 Project partner NPL recently presented at the 6th FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress which took place, 21-24 May in Stockholm. Paulina Rakowska presented on 3D label-free imaging of drug uptake into cells and bacteria using secondary ion mass spectrometry. MetVBadBugs at the Microbio Annual Conference April 2017 Project partners NPL and The University of Nottingham recently presented a topic from the project at the MicroBio annual conference which took place, 3–6 April in Edinburgh. James Brown provided an oral presentation on the Optimisation of biofilm models to facilitate the monitoring of antimicrobial penetration. The presentation was part of the ‘Heterogeneity and polymicrobial interactions in biofilms’ symposium organized by Kim Hardie of The University of Nottingham with Angela Nobbs (University of Bristol, UK), Mark Webber (University of Birmingham, UK) and Rebecca Hall (University of Birmingham, UK) Successful M9 MetVBadBugs project meeting February 2017 A successful M9 MetVBadBugs project meeting took place in Turin. The meeting was hosted by project partner INRiM (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica). The partners came together to look at the work that had been completed in the first nine months of the project and looked ahead at the work required towards M18. You can download the agenda here. Science & Technology Day and 3D OrbiSIMS launch November 2016 National Physical Laboratory, Teddington Kick-Off Meeting 13 – 14 June 2016 Download agenda
