Journal of microscopy最新文献

{"title":"Practical strategies for marketing a core facility","authors":"Austin Tagnani,&nbsp;Alexander Lovely,&nbsp;Adriana Nuñez,&nbsp;Heather Brown-Harding","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70091","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70091","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Core facilities provide indispensable access to advanced instrumentation, technical expertise, and support services that enable research, with impact extending beyond the university level to the broader scientific community. Despite their pivotal role in driving discovery, many cores face persistent challenges in achieving sustainability, visibility, and user engagement, particularly in changing funding environments. A survey was conducted of current marketing practices by core facilities to identify common approaches and their perceived effectiveness. All marketing methods surveyed were rated as slightly to moderately effective, underscoring the need to improve current tactics or pursue entirely new ones. This paper presents a practical framework for strategic marketing in core facilities that integrates established business methodologies with the operational realities of shared research infrastructure. Particular focus will be placed on self-evaluation (SWOT), setting measurable goals (SMART), and creating content that provides value to potential users (Value Proposition). The core facility marketing method emphasises developing a clear, engaging plan that leverages the core staff's strengths and aligns with institutional priorities. Even with the limitations faced by core facilities, marketing is a practical tool for strengthening scientific and community impact while also supporting long-term operational viability.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"358-369"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147774029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"People-centred funding as a catalyst for sustainable imaging infrastructure","authors":"Yara Reis,&nbsp;Johanna Bischof,&nbsp;Claire M. Brown,&nbsp;Michelle S. Itano,&nbsp;Caron A. Jacobs,&nbsp;Leonel Malacrida,&nbsp;Caterina Strambio-De-Castillia,&nbsp;Adriana A. S. Tavares,&nbsp;Antje Keppler","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70099","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70099","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Advanced imaging core facilities are critical pillars of modern life sciences research, providing access to complex technologies, specialised expertise, and training. At the heart of these facilities are Imaging Scientists, whose work spans technology development, operations, training, data stewardship, and community coordination. Despite their central role, Imaging Scientists have rarely been the focus of coordinated funding at scale. Here, we evaluate the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Imaging Scientist program—<i>to our knowledge, one of the first large-scale efforts to support this workforce</i>—through an anonymous survey and selected case profiles across diverse institutional, technical, and geographic contexts. Survey responses highlight the program's value in enabling structurally underfunded activities such as technology integration, scalable training, leadership, and community building. By abstracting across cases, we identify recurring impact themes, showing how support for Imaging Scientists strengthens core facility foundations, accelerates adoption of new technologies, and fosters national and international networks. These findings illustrate that investing in Imaging Scientists generates measurable scientific-, institutional-, and community-level returns, complementing technology-focused funding and maximising the impact of research investments.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"295-311"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70099","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147972927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced good practice for core facilities","authors":"Michelle S. Itano,&nbsp;Sebastian Munck,&nbsp;Kurt I. Anderson","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70109","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70109","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148005567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Making the invisible visible: A global examination of careers and recognition for Imaging Scientists in core facilities","authors":"Kerry Thompson,&nbsp;Johanna Bischof,&nbsp;Yara Reis,&nbsp;Constadina Arvanitis,&nbsp;Olubunmi A. Balogun,&nbsp;Claire M. Brown,&nbsp;Mariana De Niz,&nbsp;Marcela Díaz,&nbsp;Lize Engelbrecht,&nbsp;Eunice Fabian-Morales,&nbsp;Elnaz Fazeli,&nbsp;Georgina Fletcher,&nbsp;Adan Guerrero,&nbsp;Michelle S. Itano,&nbsp;Eleanor Kable,&nbsp;Gregory T. Kitten,&nbsp;Shinya Komoto,&nbsp;Xiaoxiao Ma,&nbsp;Peter John O'Toole,&nbsp;Andreia Pinto,&nbsp;Cora Noemi Pollak,&nbsp;Clara Prats,&nbsp;Joanna W. Pylvänäinen,&nbsp;James Douglas Riches,&nbsp;Jean Salamero,&nbsp;Virginia Silio,&nbsp;Stefan Terjung,&nbsp;Sophie Winter,&nbsp;Graham Daniel Wright,&nbsp;Lisa Yen,&nbsp;Antje Keppler","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70089","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70089","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Imaging facilities underpin a growing share of modern life-science research, yet the career conditions and scholarly recognition of the Imaging Scientists in core facilities who design, deliver, and interpret imaging research remain uneven. This mismatch has previously been shown to risk loss of expertise, reduced service quality, and weaken long-term sustainability of shared research capabilities. To provide an evidence base for practical change, we synthesise findings from two complementary international community surveys run by Global BioImaging: a ‘Top 5’ survey on career development and job conditions (&gt;290 responses spanning 43 countries) and an authorship&amp;acknowledgement survey examining how publication credit is assigned for imaging-related contributions of core facility staff (&gt;330 responses spanning 43 countries).</p><p>Across both surveys, respondents consistently link limited recognition to constrained career prospects. The career survey highlights recurring bottlenecks around progression routes, job stability and attractiveness, access to professional development, and the day-to-day consequences of being perceived primarily as service providers rather than scientific partners. The authorship&amp;acknowledgement survey documents substantial variability in credit practices across facilities, disciplines, and regions, with many respondents reporting uncertainty about expectations, difficulty initiating credit discussions, and concerns about bias and power dynamics. Taken together, the results suggest a reinforcing cycle: inconsistent credit reduces visibility and leverage for Imaging Scientists in core facilities, which in turn entrenches fragile career pathways and inhibits retention.</p><p>We translate these findings into targeted, stakeholder-specific actions. Recommendations focus on defining career paths that match facility roles, aligning evaluation with the full range of facility outputs (including methods, data, software, and training), and ensuring that institutions, funders, publishers, and research teams share responsibility for fair and consistent credit.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"274-294"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70089","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147773940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A role for core facilities in improving research rigour","authors":"Alison J. North,&nbsp;Kurt I. Anderson","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70110","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70110","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Scientific reproducibility is an ethical and societal responsibility. Discussions of reproducibility and repeatability often focus on the roles of stakeholders in the scientific process, including researchers, publishers, and funders. Core facility staff have distinct functions in research planning, training, interpretation and oversight which are not available to other stakeholders, yet their role in promoting reproducibility is often overlooked. Core facilities also provide a critical role as the ‘institutional memory’ of their respective institutes, guiding researchers towards rapid, successful outcomes by avoiding prior, unproductive approaches. Many aspects of core facility best practice are naturally aligned with recommendations for improving scientific reproducibility, including quality control of instruments, extensive and rigorous training, and better methods reporting. Other requirements for data to be truly reproducible, such as the need for statistical robustness, can be improved with better awareness and education. Here we review existing core facility practices which support reproducibility and suggest additional opportunities for core facility staff to develop their role as guardians of scientific excellence. While our focus is on light microscopy, many principles will apply to other technology facilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"256-266"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70110","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147838874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Building capacity in imaging data management","authors":"Silvia Melina Velasquez,&nbsp;Georgina Fletcher,&nbsp;Jean-Marie Burel,&nbsp;Maddy Parsons,&nbsp;Jason Swedlow,&nbsp;Matthew Hartley,&nbsp;Seema Bagia,&nbsp;Alison Beckett,&nbsp;James H. Crichton,&nbsp;Stephen John Cross,&nbsp;Daniel M. Foulkes,&nbsp;James Grimshaw,&nbsp;Marie Held,&nbsp;Kenneth Ho,&nbsp;Martin Jones,&nbsp;Martin Lee,&nbsp;Marco Marcello,&nbsp;Stefania Marcotti,&nbsp;Robert Markus,&nbsp;Gail McConnell,&nbsp;Steven G. Thomas,&nbsp;Steven J. West,&nbsp;Ann Wheeler,&nbsp;Aybüke Küpcü Yoldaş","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70078","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70078","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Effective management of imaging data is critical to ensuring reproducibility, accessibility, and long-term value of image-based biological research. However, good data management remains a major challenge across imaging facilities, with lack of standardised practices and limited training opportunities. Additionally, there is a need to upskill Research Technical Professionals (RTPs) in areas such as image data stewardship, as well as opening new career pathways. Here, we report on an approach to identify and design a training curriculum for imaging data stewardship in the UK bioimaging community. An initial survey captured current practices, challenges, and training requirements. These findings were presented at a community event, where structured feedback activities further identified pain points across the imaging data life cycle, and prioritised training needs. These consultations resulted in a three-module training framework covering data management and metadata, data storage and sharing, and public repository submission. The iterative approach provided technical guidance for curriculum design and community input on delivery models, target audiences, and incentives for engagement. This work highlights the need for training resources that address critical skill gaps, increase RTP visibility and recognition, and improve the quality of image data management.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"334-345"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70078","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147504101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"3D printing in core facilities – Low pain, high gain","authors":"Mohammad Goudarzi,&nbsp;Maximilian Schuster,&nbsp;Arthur Milberger,&nbsp;Manuel Gunkel,&nbsp;Stefan Terjung,&nbsp;Gabriel Krens","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70106","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70106","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Three-dimensional (3D) printing has rapidly developed from a niche hobbyist activity into a widely accessible and indispensable technology across multiple scientific disciplines. Within microscopy, optical engineering laboratories and imaging core facilities, 3D printing enables creating customised solutions for sample holders, optical components and everyday laboratory tools that traditionally required specialised machining. By providing rapid prototyping, low-cost production and reproducibility, 3D printing facilitates innovation and efficiency in facility operations. This article provides a perspective on the possibilities, challenges, and practical aspects of implementing 3D printing within microscopy core facilities. Instead of providing technical review about 3D printing, we focus on service organisation, user engagement, resource management and community-driven repositories for design dissemination. Our aim is to share insights with those considering the implementation of 3D printing as a service for developing add-on components to ease the operation of different aspects of the machine-park driven services and those who are managing advanced instrumentation within research groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"382-395"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70106","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147856488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Remotely accessible optical microscopy education through a wide (and global) lens","authors":"Zachary Sanchez,&nbsp;Miguel de Jesus,&nbsp;Moses David,&nbsp;Ali Taheri,&nbsp;Sunday Yinka Olatunji,&nbsp;Mai Rahmoon,&nbsp;Kevin W. Eliceiri,&nbsp;Anita Mahadevan-Jansen,&nbsp;Bryan A. Millis","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70112","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70112","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Access to rigorous optical microscopy education remains unevenly distributed across the globe despite widespread use of optical methods. While lower-resourced settings certainly feel this burden, it is far from a foregone conclusion that such opportunities are ubiquitous, even at well-funded institutions. Despite a growing number of online educational resources and other tools, many biomedical researchers learn microscopy in a task-specific manner, and without the conceptual foundation to maximise the potential of its capabilities, robustly interpret data, avoid bias, and/or troubleshoot effectively. Given microscopy's significant impact in the discovery process and status as a cornerstone scientific tool, we developed a remotely accessible, global, and highly interactive program to help address the education gap with respect to the fundamentals of microscopy, irrespective of one's location or ability to access high-end platforms. Here we reflect on the design and evolution of the resulting ‘Widening the Lens’ (WtL) program: what worked, what didn't, and how the course adapted in response, with the intent of enabling others to leverage our experience to develop programs of their own. We also describe our partnership with critical network organisations, including the African BioImaging Consortium (ABIC) to implement a WtL based train-the-trainer model across the African continent. WtL demonstrates that equitable microscopy education is not only achievable, but that closing education gaps involves building a community in concert with likeminded educational opportunities and networks across the globe.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"406-418"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70112","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147948301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The ancient trading hubs of modern science: Bridging the divide between microscopists and data scientists","authors":"Yasmin M. Kassim,&nbsp;Uri Manor","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70108","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jmi.70108","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biomedical imaging is increasingly defined by a paradox: advances in microscopy now enable the routine generation of extraordinarily rich, high-dimensional datasets, yet the extraction of reproducible, biologically meaningful insight from those data often remains a major bottleneck. This mismatch has widened a growing divide between microscopists and experimental biologists, who generate complex image data, and data scientists, who develop the computational tools needed to interpret them. In this Perspective, we argue that this divide is not merely technical, but also cultural, shaped by different assumptions about validation, dissemination, workflow design, and what constitutes meaningful success. We highlight how artificial intelligence and computational microscopy are simultaneously overrated when treated as turnkey solutions and underrated when deployed thoughtfully to reshape experimental design, data acquisition, and biological discovery. We further argue that current validation practices often fail to capture biological fidelity, creating a dangerous gap between benchmark performance and real-world utility. Finally, we propose that imaging core facilities should evolve beyond service models into collaborative hubs and training grounds where acquisition, analysis, and interpretation are integrated from the outset. By fostering shared standards, iterative workflows, and cross-disciplinary training, core facilities can help bridge the divide between photons and pixels and enable a more rigorous, scalable, and biologically grounded future for imaging science.</p>","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"320-333"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70108","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147972968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"TOC - Issue Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/jmi.70100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jmi.70100","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16484,"journal":{"name":"Journal of microscopy","volume":"302 3","pages":"241-242"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jmi.70100","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148099334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}