Functional imaging
Advanced microscopy to understand life and fight disease: that’s the goal of the new NL-BioImaging network that will develop and integrate state-of-the-art microscopy technologies and services. Researchers from all Dutch universities and Medical Centres, including Maastricht University and the Maastricht University Medical Centre, are joining forces to optimize innovation in the field. ‘The current challenges cannot be overcome by any one institution by itself” says coordinator professor Eric Reits from the Amsterdam UMC. “NL-BioImaging (NL-BI) aims to overcome these challenges by jointly bridging technology gaps and offering access to advance functional imaging in complex systems at all scales.”

Intravital imaging
Maastricht University, represented by prof. Marc van Zandvoort as co-chair of one of the 7 Nodes, “Intravital Imaging” was awarded around 1.6 Million Euros for both an intravital Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Multiphoton Microscope (CARS-MP) and a CARS-MP Endoscope. Additionally, person-power for initializing the endoscope in both university and medical research can be hired for a period of 4 years. “With this funding we can acquire state-of-the art microscopic systems to structurally, functionally, and metabolically image deep in tissue, ranging from cells to human tissues and, potentially, life in humans using endoscopy. This combination of investments would not have been possible without this grant.” The intravital microscope will be integrated at the Microscopy CORE Lab (MCL), being the UM research platform for Advanced Light Microscopy and Electron Microscopy under the scientific and technological support of Kèvin Knoops and Carmen López-Iglesias.

Furthermore, the Microscopy CORE lab (Dr. Kèvin Knoops) was involved in the Data Management and Data analysis Node (as chaired by Prof. Ben Giepmans and Dr. Kathy Wolstencroft) aiming to establish FAIR data management and state-of-the-art Data Analysis tools, such as AI, for analyzing life cell processes. In this project we will continue our efforts initiated with DataHub to realize a microscopy data storage and cataloguing platform (OMERO) for the microscopy groups at UM, MUMC+, and the Netherlands.