SCANDEM 2023

Deadlines
Paper submission	TBD
	Registration		NOW OPEN! follow this link

Program

An overview of the preliminary program is shown below. The parallel sessions will have tracks with material and life science focus, respectively. Preliminary session topics are:

Material science

MS1. Refinement and development of microscopy techniques
MS2. Studies for structure and strain in materials
MS3. Electron microscopy in-situ and in-operando techniques
MS4. Functional materials
MS5. Microscopy of soft and beam-sensitive materials
MS6. Use of spectroscopic techniques in material science and geoscience

Life science

LS1. Beyond the resolution revolution - new challenges in cryo-EM/ET
LS2. Image analysis and data visualization
LS3. Correlative light and electron microscopy
LS4. Ultrastrucutral pathology and disease understanding
LS5. Automated and AI based microscopy imaging and analysis
LS6. In situ and live cell microscopy

Plenary speakers

P1. Xiaoqing Pan
UC Irvine, USA

P2. Wolfgang Baumeister
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany

Cryo-Electron Tomography or the Power of Seeing the Whole Picture
Abstract:Traditionally, structural biologists have approached cellular complexity in a reductionist manner by studying isolated and purified molecular components. This 'divide and conquer' approach has been highly successful, as evidenced by the impressive number of entries in the PDB.
However, awareness has grown in recent years that only rarely can biological functions be attributed to individual macromolecules. Most cellular functions arise from their acting in concert. Hence there is a need for methods developments enabling studies performed in situ, i.e. in unperturbed cellular environments. Sensu stricto the term 'structural biology in situ' should apply only to a scenario in which the cellular environment is preserved in its entirety.
Cryo electron tomography has unique potential to study the supramolecular architecture or 'molecular sociology' of cells. It combines the power of three-dimensional imaging with the best structural preservation that is physically possible to achieve. We have used this method to study the 26S proteasome in a number of cellular settings revealing their precise location, assembly and activity status as well as their interactions with other molecular players of the cellular protein quality control machinery.

Short bio: Wolfgang Baumeister obtained his PhD from the University of Düsseldorf in 1973. 1981/82 he spent time at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England as a Heisenberg Fellow. In 1982 he joined the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried as a group leader. Since 1988 he is a Scientific Member of the MPG and Director of the Department of Structural Biology. He is a Honorary Professor at the Technical University of Munich in the departments of Physics and Chemistry. Since 2018 he is also a Distinguished Professor at ShanghaiTech University. Professor Baumeister’s main interest is the development of new tools and methods for the structural characterization of molecules and cells. He is particularly interested in the development of cryo-electron tomography for structural studies of molecular and supramolecular structures in situ, i. e. in their native cellular habitats. A major focus of his work is the molecular machinery of protein degradation, in particular via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, and autophagy. He is a member of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

P3. Xiaowei Zhuang
Harvard Medical School, USA

P4. Michael Laue
Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
Electron microscopy in infectious diseases – a medical perspective
Abstract: Exciting developments in light and electron microscopy over the past decades have provided better insights and literally pictures of how pathogens interact with cells at the cellular, subcellular and molecular level. However, the reaction which a pathogen causes in the human body is complex and goes beyond the interaction of the pathogen and the individual cell. Usually, it is a systemic reaction which involves a complex interplay between several systems of the human body. The presentation will highlight this aspect by showing examples from studying COVID-19 disease and the recent outbreak of the mpox. A side view will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of infectious disease models. Finally, an outlook tries to define which developments are necessary in (electron) microscopy for improving the research of infectious diseases in future.

Short bio: Michael Laue studied biology and mainly used electron microscopy for investigating research questions in various fields of biology and medicine. After working for the Max-Planck Society and several medical faculties in Germany, he became head of the microscopy division at the Robert Koch Institute, which is the main public health institute in Germany. Besides studying how microorganisms live and perform, the microscopy division supports the public health sector with diagnostic electron microscopy in infectious diseases.

P5. Ute Kaiser
Ulm University, Germany
Findings from the happy marriage between low-dimensional materials and low-voltage atomically-resolved TEM
Abstract: We have known for about 2500 years that the world is made of atoms. But only recently have we learned that the well-defined arrangement of atoms in two dimensions leads to materials with extraordinary solid-state and quantum properties. And it is precisely in these well-defined thin materials that we are beginning to use the developments in aberration-corrected low-voltage electron microscopy that have taken place in parallel to image individual defects including their movement in these thinnest materials and to modify the material in a targeted manner. In the lecture we show selected examples.

Short bio: Ute Kaiser received her diploma, her PhD in crystallography from the Humboldt University Berlin, and her habilitation in experimental physics from the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany, in 2002. Since 2004 she is full professor at Ulm University in the Physics Department and Head of Ulm’s Materials Science Electron Microscopy Centre. Her research interests comprise the areas of TEM methods and instrumentation development, and applications in the fields of battery, semiconductor, and catalysts materials. From 2009 till 2018 she was the scientific director of the SALVE (Sub Angstroem Low-Voltage Electron Microscopy) project to develop low-voltage transmission electron microscopy, including the development of the chromatic and spherical aberration-corrected instrument, sample preparation methods and contrast calculation at lower accelerating voltage. By means of this unique TEM instrument, she dedicates her work to unravel the crystallographic and electronic properties of low-dimensional materials. Ute Kaiser has more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, and holds several honorary adjunct positions. She is currently the Physical-Sciences Editor for the Journal Micron.

P6. Frances M. Ross
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA

In situ TEM techniques for controlling structure and interfaces in 2D material
Abstract: The properties of two dimensional (2D) van der Waals materials are remarkably varied, but can be expanded even further if we pattern the layers in-plane or create well-defined interfaces between the 2D layer and other types of materials. In situ electron microscopy helps develop and refine these strategies by providing spatially and temporally resolved information while we perform these modifications. I will first discuss interfacial control, showing how in situ deposition and annealing experiments in an ultra-high vacuum TEM enable quantification of the nucleation and growth of epitaxial nanocrystals and more complex, multi-component nanostructures on 2D surfaces. I will then discuss patterning, using 2D magnets as an example. Here, electron beam-induced atomic displacements, controlled through machine learning techniques, enable the structure to be modified at individual lattice sites, potentially tailoring the magnetic texture. Given the variety of fascinating materials problems and the exciting advances in instrumentation and data analysis that are ongoing, it seems likely that in situ techniques will continue to play their unique role in the development of new structures and functionalities based on 2D materials.

Short bio: Frances M. Ross is at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA. She received her B.A. in Physics and Ph.D. in Materials Science from Cambridge University, UK, where she became captivated by electron microscopy. She continued this interest during her postdoc at A.T.&T. Bell Laboratories, as a Staff Scientist at the National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and as a Research Staff Member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. She joined MIT in 2018. Her research is based around the development of in situ electron microscopy techniques to help understand crystal growth, epitaxy, self-assembly and electrochemical and other liquid phase processes.

Invited session speakers

MS1. Knut Müller-Caspar
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Münch, Munich, Germany
Multidimensional TEM – characterization of electric fields and structure based on full momentum resolution
Abstract: In recent years, the dimensionality in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has increased rapidly by the advent of ultrafast cameras that record at frame rates of many kHz. This development has especially paved the way for a revolution as to the versatility of scanning TEM (STEM). In particular, momentum-resolved STEM enhanced traditional Z- and phase-contrast techniques such that any conventional imaging mode is present simultaneously in a 4D data set. Most importantly, the combination of real- and reciprocal space information nowadays allows to quantify charge densities with subatomic resolution, to measure polarisation-induced electric fields, and to solve the phase problem by ptychographic techniques. This presentation demonstrates the capability of 4D-STEM by means of several examples such as the mapping of atomic electric fields in 2D materials and ptychographic reconstructions using different algorithms. Furthermore, mapping of polarization-induced electric fields in semiconductors and ferroelectrics is addressed using GaN/AlN systems and PbZrTiO. Finally, factors impacting the quantitative interpretation of 4D STEM data are worked out, namely the role of probe focus and momentum transfers due to (multiple) plasmon scattering.

Short bio: Knut Müller-Caspary received his Ph.D from Bremen University (Germany) in 2011. Between 2011 and 2016 he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in Bremen focussing on strain, composition and electric field mapping by momentum-resolved STEM. He established cooperations with several companies to explore new detectors as to speed, dynamic range, efficiency and in-situ capability. In particular, he contributed key developments to the mapping of atomic electric fields and charge densities at subatomic scale by exploiting the full complexity of STEM diffraction patterns. In 2016 Müller-Caspary moved to the EMAT institute at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) where he applied STEM to the electrical characterisation of 2D materials. In 2018 he established a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group for momentum-resolved STEM at Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) and became junior professor at RWTH Aachen University in 2019. In 2021, Knut Müller-Caspary moved to the faculty of chemistry and pharmacy at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich as university professor for TEM.

MS2. Randi Holmestad
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
4DSTEM used to study Precipitates in age-hardenable Aluminium Alloys
Short bio: Randi Holmestad has been a professor at Department of Physics, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway since 1999. She completed her PhD in materials physics (on quantitative convergent beam electron diffraction) from the same university in 1994. Holmestad's present research interests are focused on materials physics; transmission electron diffraction and microscopy (TEM), materials microstructure and the relations to macroscopic properties. Her research group has high expertise in using advanced TEM techniques to study (aluminium) alloys, scanning TEM, and different diffraction techniques, including scanning precession electron diffraction (SPED) and convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED). Holmestad has had several sabbaticals abroad, latest at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, in 2005 and 2012, and at Monash University, Australia for 2 months during fall 2019. She is the leader of the NORTEM infrastructure project, the TEM Gemini Centre, a program head in SFI-CASA, and SFI PhysMet and a board member in EMS. The TEM group in Trondheim is a member of ESTEEM3.

LS2. Carolina Wählby
Uppsala University
Spatial transcriptomics
Abstract: Spatial transcriptomics combines microscopy with groundbreaking molecular methods enabling detection of hundreds of active genes in parallell, directly in a tissue sample at sub-cellular resolution. This opens up for new possibilities of linking gene expression to health, development and disease, and also to local tissue morphology. In my talk, I will focus on possibilities and recent results when it comes to understanding organ development and cancer, and showcase some of our latest tools for data visualization and computational analysis of this information-rich data.

Short bio: Carolina Wählby is professor in Quantitative Microscopy at the Dept. of Information Technology, Uppsala University, and Scientific Director of the National SciLifeLab Bioimage Informatics facility. Her research lies in the intersection between life science and computational image analysis, developing image analysis, deep learning, and visualization approaches for understanding dynamics of cancer tissue, antibiotics susceptibility and spatial transcriptomics, funded primarily by the ERC and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic research. She has a MSc in molecular biotechnology and a PhD in digital image analysis, and carried out postdoc research within genetics and pathology. She was part of the Imaging Platform of the Broad Institute 2009-2015, developing CellProfiler, and became full professor at Uppsala University in 2014. She received the SBI2 President’s innovation award in 2014, and the Thuréus prize in 2015 and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. She is a member of the steering group of a 300M€ effort on Data Driven Life Science, funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, with the ambitious goal of training the next generation of life scientists.

MS3. Kimberly Dick Thelander
Lund University, Sweden
Real Time Investigation of Crystal Growth and Nucleation of Low-dimensional Inorganic Nanostructures
Abstract: A major challenge to designing new, novel nanostructures with properties tailored according to specific needs is understanding at an atomic scale the nanoscale processes and size effects that lead to structures with unique properties. To address this we use atomically-resolved in-situ TEM to follow the nanoscale crystal growth process in real time, which offers insights into the growth processes unparalleled by any other technique. Our approach uses an aberration-corrected environmental TEM connected to a chemical vapor deposition system designed for compound semiconductor growth with separate gas lines for supplying the different precursor gases. In this talk I will discuss recent investigations into the crystal growth of semiconductor nanostructures, including nanowires and nanoparticles.

Short bio: Kimberly Dick Thelander is a Professor of Materials Science at the Centre for Analysis and Synthesis, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, Sweden, and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. She received her PhD degree in Physics in 2007 from Lund University, following a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Physics in 2003 from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Her research involves the crystal growth of novel semiconductor nanomaterials, with particular focus on understanding the processes and conditions that lead to the formation of metastable crystal phases and alloys.

LS3. Marie-Charlotte Domart
Crick Institute, UK

MS4. Jakub Matusik
AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland
Unraveling the structure-property relationship of adsorbents and photocatalysts derived from 2D layered materials of natural and synthetic origin
Abstract: The materials which meet the requirements of several applications can be directly obtained from numerous geological deposits available worldwide. One example are clay minerals which are aluminum silicates having a 2D layered structure which is susceptible for chemical modifications. The lecture will provide selected examples of functional materials derived from clay minerals (mainly kaolin group minerals) as well as synthetic layered double hydroxides (LDH). In particular the presentation will focus on mesoporous nanotubular particles which can be derived from natural kaolinite mineral. The synthesis approaches for nanotubes formation and their properties will be discussed with emphasis on characterization with microscopic techniques. Finally the potential applications of kaolinite nanotubes will be presented with focus put on their loading with semiconductors (e.g. TiO2) for photodegradation of pollutants currently investigated by our research group.

Short bio: Prof. Jakub Matusik is currently employed at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow (Poland). He obtained his PhD in 2010, habilitation in 2015 and graduated as full professor in 2021. By education, he is a geologist (clay mineralogist) working on the border of applied mineralogy and materials science. He has experience in designing, obtaining and testing nanomaterials based on various minerals. In particular he focuses on layered structures including natural clay minerals and synthetic layered double hydroxides as well as zeolites. Most of his research is devoted to adsorption phenomena and wastewater treatment. Other research areas include synthesis of clay-polymer nanocomposites and mineral-based (photo)catalysts. He leads a Mineral-based Architectures Group at AGH University: www.mba-group.agh.edu.pl

LS4. Christer Betsholtz
Uppsala University & Karolinska Institute, Stockholm
New insights into the molecular and cellular composition of the brain barriers
Abstract: The brain is protected by both physical and biological barriers. The brain’s blood vessel walls are equipped with a blood-brain barrier, and the choroid plexus and the meninges are equipped with blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers. To ensure that the brain is reached by wanted molecules, such as glucose, at the same time as it is protected by potentially neurotoxic substances circulating in the blood, the cells that form the barriers are equipped with efficient and specific molecular transporters. To learn more about these barriers, we have analyzed the gene expression in the barriers’ cell types at the level of single cells using a technique referred to as single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq). We identified distinguishing markers for individual barrier-forming cells types and subtypes, as well as other neighboring cell types, and used the markers to map the position of the cells in in vivo. I will present work in which we combined scRNAseq with immunofluorescence, in situ hybridization, transmission electron microscopy and immuno-EM to arrive at highly granular molecular anatomic maps of the brain barriers. This work revealed a surprising degree of cellular and molecular complexity and sophistication of the meninges, in particular the barrier located within the arachnoid mater.

Short bio: Betsholtz is currently a Professor at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institute. His research field of interest is vascular biology, in which he studies how cells communicate with each other and its surroundings when blood vessels form, and when they are affected by disease. He became Assistant Professor (1986) and Associate Professor (1990) at the Dept. of Pathology, Uppsala University. In 1994 he was appointed full Professor of Medical and Physiological Chemistry at Göteborg University, where he stayed until 2004, when he took a position as full Professor at the Dept. of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. At 2013 he again took a new position, now as full Professor at Uppsala University. Between 2017 and 2020, he was Director of the Integrated Cardiometabolic Center at Karolinska Institutet. Today, he shares his time between Uppsala University and Karolinska Institute as Professor of Vascular Biology at both institutions. He has received various prestige awards such as the Louis-Jeantet Prize in Medicine, the Anders Jahre Prize in Medicine and the Fernström Nordic Prize. He is a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet and member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. He received his Bachelor of Medicine degree from University of Uppsala in 1981, and his PhD degree in 1986. He was appointed Docent in 1987.

MS5. Jani Kotakoski
University of Vienna, Austria
In and ex situ (S)TEM manipulation of 2D materials
Abstract: Structural engineering is the first step toward changing properties of materials, but has remained a challenge for 2D materials. The difficulties range from the preparation of clean and uniform samples to the sensitivity of these structures to the overwhelming task of sample-wide characterization of the subjected modifications at the atomic scale. I will demonstrate how these issues can be overcome using a near ultrahigh vacuum system comprised of an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope and setups for sample cleaning and manipulation, which are combined with automated atomic-resolution imaging of large sample areas and a convolutional neural network approach for image analysis. This combination of methods allows creating and fully characterizing atomically clean 2D materials, that can be further manipulated through introduction of defects and impurity atoms at the atomic scale.

Short bio: Jani Kotakoski has pioneered the research in atomic-scale structural manipulation of low-dimensional materials using electron and ion irradiation combining experimental materials physics, atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and computational physics. He received his PhD in 2007 from University of Helsinki. After research periods at TU Darmstadt and University of Helsinki, he moved in 2011 to University of Vienna, where he is currently a full professor in condensed matter physics. His current research aims at creating atomically tailored structures embedded in solid state matrices to pave way for the second quantum revolution, and green energy production and storage.

LS5. Pontus Nordenfelt
Lund University, Sweden
Data-driven microscopy allows for automated context-specific acquisition of high-fidelity image data
Abstract: Light microscopy is a powerful single-cell technique that allows for quantitative spatial information at subcellular resolution. However, unlike flow cytometry and single-cell sequencing techniques, microscopy has issues achieving high-quality population-wide sample characterization while maintaining high resolution. I will present a general framework, data-driven microscopy (DDM), that uses real-time population-wide object characterization to enable data-driven high-fidelity imaging of relevant phenotypes based on the population context. DDM combines data-independent and data-dependent steps to synergistically enhance data acquired using different imaging modalities. We have developed plugins for improved high-content screening and live adaptive microscopy for cell migration and infection studies that capture events of interest, rare or common, with high precision and resolution.

Short bio: Pontus Nordenfelt is an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at Lund University. He is committed to a quantitative understanding of immunology, cell biology, and microbiology, with a primary interest in antibody function, infection processes,and cell migration. He did his Ph.D. at Lund University and University of Toronto, focusing on molecular and cell biology of phagocytosis of bacteria. This was followed by a postdoc at Harvard Medical School, partly at MBL Woods Hole, with a focus on integrin biology and cell migration. He was also a fellow with the Image and Data analysis core at Harvard. After starting his own lab at Lund University, he has continued to develop microscopy and image analysis technologies and applied these to research into antibody function, infection, and cell migration. Technologies and molecules of interest include but are not limited to quantitative microscopy, live imaging, single-cell studies, antibodies, complement, and integrins.

MS6. Demie Kepaptsoglou
University of York, UK

LS6. Anders Tengholm
Uppsala University, Sweden
Live-cell imaging of sub-membrane signalling and secretion
Abstract: Critical to the understanding of cell function is availability of methods for recordings of intracellular regulators in single, living cells. Many key cellular events take place in the immediate vicinity of the plasma membrane. This presentation will highlight imaging approaches for the investigation of sub-membrane signalling of importance for the secretion of blood-glucose-regulating hormones insulin and glucagon from beta- and alpha-cells in the pancreatic islets. It will be shown how nutrients and neurohormonal stimuli induce dynamic changes of intracellular ATP, calcium ions and other second messengers and downstream effector proteins in the islet cells to shape the hormone release patterns.

Short bio: Anders Tengholm is a professor at the Department of Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala university. He completed his PhD at Uppsala university in year 2000. Following a postdoc period at Stanford university, he returned to Uppsala, where he conducts research aiming at understanding intracellular signalling processes that control secretion of blood-glucose-regulating hormones and the mechanisms underlying defective hormone release in diabetes. Tengholm utilizes various optical sensors and live-cell imaging approaches to monitor changes in second messenger concentrations, localization and activity of signalling proteins and exocytosis in single cells and in the intact pancreatic islet organ.

Early Career program

This part of the conference is dedicated to developing scientific visualization skills and aimed at early career researchers, but, of course, open for any participant to join free of charge. To realize this goal, we have engaged the services of Andreas Dahlin and his company "Visualize your Science" to realize two parts of the program:

Tuesday lunch break: poster feedback in small groups under professional guidance
Tuesday 17:30-18:30: how-to presentation on poster design/scientific visualization

About Andreas Dahlin and "Visualize your Science":
Andreas has experience from the industry and academia, having worked in pharma for three years and becoming Assoc. Prof. at Uppsala University in 2017. During his time at Uppsala, Andreas got known as the go-to guy for illustrations and started the Visualize Your Science course in 2011 due to popular demand. As the interest in the course grew, he saw an opportunity to teach full-time and left academia in 2016 to start to Visualize your Science AB. Today there are five visual scientists in the company, giving courses to around 600 PhD students yearly in visual communication skills for scientists.

Workshops

This is a prelimary list of workshops. Modifications of topics are possible, and additional workshops might be added.

Several TEM – materials science workshops, topics to be announced soon
Several SEM – materials science workshops, topics to be announced soon
EDS in the SEM
Acquiring EELS data for quantitative analysis
Focussed Ion Beam
SEM in-situ testing methods
Superresolution STED
Basic image processing
STEM simulations: effects of electron beam propagation through crystalline solids
Advanced analysis with annular EDS detector
Electron Probe Microanalyser: applications in earth and materials sciences
High performance TEM studies with quantifiable dose measurement & tracking

Main conference	June 12, 13:00 - June 14, 17:00
Workshops	June 15
Registration	early bird until March 30
Abstract submission	open until ~~March 31~~ Extended to April 16!!
Notice of acceptance	April 30

Welcome to SCANDEM 2023!
73rd Annual Meeting of the Nordic Microscopy Society!

Important dates

Registration

Online registration now open! Follow this link. Early bird rates apply until March 30.

Travel Grants

Payment instructions

Abstract submission

Submit your abstract via our on-line system using this link.

Program

Plenary speakers

Invited session speakers

Early Career program

Workshops

Exhibitors

Venue

Accommodation

Hotel Von Kraemer,

Elite Academia Uppsala,

City Stay Uppsala,

Organizers

Welcome to SCANDEM 2023! 73rd Annual Meeting of the Nordic Microscopy Society!

Important dates

Registration

Online registration now open! Follow this link. Early bird rates apply until March 30.

Travel Grants

Payment instructions

Abstract submission

Submit your abstract via our on-line system using this link.

Program

Plenary speakers

Invited session speakers

Early Career program

Workshops

Exhibitors

Venue

Accommodation

Hotel Von Kraemer,

Elite Academia Uppsala,

City Stay Uppsala,

Organizers

Welcome to SCANDEM 2023!
73rd Annual Meeting of the Nordic Microscopy Society!