However much imaging technologies have recently evolved, researchers are still far from running out of biological mysteries waiting to be solved. The PHOQUS project got off the beaten track to keep pushing the boundaries. Over the past five years, it has trained a new generation of scientists to develop and apply novel techniques combining photonics, nanotechnology, advanced spectroscopy and novel spectral regions with the latest advances in imaging and diagnostics technology.
Let’s take light microscopy-based imaging as an example. According to Kees Weijer, Professor of Division of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Dundee and coordinator of PHOQUS, the latter is “rapidly developing to be one of the key techniques to observe the dynamics of living systems”. Yet the potential of this technology is still hindered by its technical limitations: in their quest for ever higher resolution, scientists have been faced with increasing level of photo-damage caused by the observation techniques they used. And whilst new methods to overcome these problems are being devised, this development process would usually take place in physics laboratories whereas its applications are in life science laboratories.
Further details: New generation of scientists pushes the boundaries of imaging technology