April 29, 2025

May 2025 Newsletter

Upcoming conference I am excited to share that I will be participating as a teaching assistant for the Analytical and Quantitative Light Microscopy (AQLM) course at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. AQLM is a comprehensive and intensive course in light microscopy for researchers in biology, medicine, and material sciences. This course provides a systematic and in-depth examination of the theory of image formation and application of digital methods for exploring subtle interactions between light and the specimen.
April 09, 2025

Jian's ABRF workshop featured on BioTechniques

BioTechniques Jian’s recent AI and bioimage analysis mini-workshop is being featured in the journal BioTechniques. In the article, he talks about some of the interesting discussion points from the workshop and shares his takeaways. You can read the article here.
March 31, 2025

April 2025 Newsletter

Contents Bruker TruLive3D Light Sheet Microscope Update Single Objective Light Sheet Microscope Update Publications Data acquired with the Bruker TruLive3D. Top left: organoids, image courtesy of Nolan Petrich. Top right: slice view of organoids, image courtesy of Nolan Petrich, scale bar is 50um. Bottom left: single cells, image courtesy of Dr Alex Kang. Bottom right: organoid, image courtesy of Dr Kaustav Bera. Scale bar is 100um for the volume images. Bruker TruLive3D Light Sheet Microscope update The Beckman Center Light Sheet Specialist is delighted to share some exciting news about our two specialized Light Sheet Microscopes.
March 14, 2025

Jian Tay featured in the ABRF Member Spotlight

Recently, Jian Tay, our Biological Image Analysis Group Leader, was highlighted within the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities Member Spotlight. The ABRF is an international organization of Core Facilities consisting of more than 4,000 members worldwide, and Jian was selected due to his significant involvement within the association, and for his leadership role on the education, implementation, and use of artificial intelligence within our microscopy cores. Please follow the link to read Jian’s interview and find out more!
March 03, 2025

March 2025 Newsletter

Contents Image analysis update Project VIABLE Publications Image analysis update As the Biological Image Analysis Group Leader, I am excited to share updates about some of our ongoing image analysis projects. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that we have been gearing up on AI - for both commercial and home-built approaches. Screenshot from Imaris showing how AI segmentation works. The broad green and magenta lines are user annotations, while the shaded areas are machine-predicted labels for foreground (cells) and background.
February 01, 2025

February 2025 Newsletter

Welcome Shao Li! Upcoming Altium Demo Recent publications Welcome Shao Li! To meet the growing and evolving needs of our Users, we are happy to announce that Dr. Shao Li has joined our Advanced Light Microscopy Core team. Shao recently graduated from the University of Georgia where she worked with Professor Peter Kner. During her graduate studies, Shao developed custom-built optical systems that incorporated several advanced techniques such as TIRF, super resolution (dSTORM), single molecule imaging, and light sheet microscopy.
December 12, 2024

CU Up Close 2024 Winners

Recently, we gathered to celebrate the finalists of the 2024 CU Up Close image competition, the 9th edition of our annual event where we highlight the beauty of our science, and the creativity of our investigators. The top twelve images were chosen from over 100 applicants, and the top three determined by an open vote. All twelve finalists are highlighted within our annual calendar that is distributed throughout our campus, the local community, and across the country.
May 14, 2024

Art in Science

Your images are on display!
May 01, 2024

ASSETT Virtual Labs completes its first year

Software Development Team demonstrating the new simulated lab at the Engineering Projects Expo 2024. The ASSETT Virtual Labs team, led by Dr. Jian Wei Tay (Biological Image Analysis Group Leader, ALMC) and Dr. Kristin Moore (Teaching Professor, MCDB), has completed its first year. The project aims to build a simulated laboratory environment to teach new researchers how to run cell biology experiments, including training students to use a microscope. By doing so, these simulations will enable students to acquire research skills in a faster time.
February 05, 2024

CU Up Close art exhibition

CU Up Close images highlighted in the community!
December 19, 2023

2023 CU Up Close Winners Announced

Gabriel J. Rodriguez Rivera and Siddhart Sharma (Burdick lab) - Nikon AXR Laser Scanning Confocal. Organoids are excellent but challenging laboratory models that can simulate human organs. To improve them, researchers are engineering new synthetic materials with tunable physical properties such as elasticity, size, and shape. This image reveals how a developing organoid (magenta) is interacting with a custom supporting material (green). The 2023 edition of the annual CU Up Close Awards Ceremony recently took place and the top three winners announced.
June 07, 2023

Jian receives ASSETT Innovation Incubator

Dr. Jian Wei Tay and Dr. Kristin Moore (MCD Biology) have received the 2023-26 CU ASSETT Innovation Incubator award! The mission of the ASSETT Innovation Incubator is to improve the undergraduate experience by getting students out of their seats and into active learning. Their winning proposal is focused on developing virtual laboratories to train undergraduates in research involving microscopy and molecular biology techniques. Virtual laboratories are interactive computer applications which will allow students to perform activities and actions which mimic working in a physical laboratory.
June 06, 2023

New wiki site launched!

We are excited to announce the launch of our new BioFrontiers Imaging Wiki! The wiki will contain documentation on how to utilize our microscopes, as well as basic concepts related to biological imaging. We currently have a new manual on how to use the Nikon Widefield microscope, and more are on their way! You can view the new wiki here.
April 10, 2023

Congrats Ayden and Kolya!

L to R: Ayden Smith (Computer Science '24) and Kolya Dols (Biochemistry '26) Please join us in congratulating Ayden Smith (Computer Science ‘24) and Kolya Dols (Biochemistry ‘26) for successfully applying for and receiving research funding for the upcoming year! Ayden and Kolya have been working with Dr. Jian Wei Tay this past semester, learning the basics of microbiology, quantitative microscopy, and image analysis. Their success at getting these competitive grants reflects the effort they have put in and progress they have made this semester.
March 22, 2023

Welcome Dr. Evoléne Premillieu!

The Beckman Center for Advanced Light Sheet Microscopy and Data Science is Growing!
December 07, 2022

2022 CU Up Close Winners Announced

Jessica Hanson, Keenan Kushner (Hoeffer and Huntsman lab) - Nikon A1R Laser Scanning Confocal. The human brain has approximately 86 billion neurons. In animal models, investigators can monitor the electrical pulses of individual neurons through a process called patch clamping. Introducing a fluorescent label allows investigators to compare the dynamic properties of the neurons with their intricate morphology in healthy versus diseased brains. This image shows two neurons from different hemispheres of a mouse brain experiencing schizophrenia.
November 17, 2022

Vote in the 2022 CU Up Close competition

The 12 finalists have been selected and we now need your help to decide on the winners! This year, voting can be done in person or online. Voting is open until 2:30pm on Friday, November 18. ** In person ** Prints of the finalist images have been perfectly placed outside my office in the 3rd floor C-Wing break area. Come by to view them and cast your ballot. ** Online ** You can also cast your vote online: https://cuboulder.
August 29, 2022

2022 CU Up Close Image Competition

We are excited to announce that the 2022 CU Up Close Image Competition is now accepting your submissions. This will be our 7th iteration of the event are we are poised for it to be our best ever! The CU Up Close Image Competition is our fun and joyful opportunity to celebrate the art in our science. Much of what we do requires an intense focus on the rigor of creating robust imaging data.
June 10, 2022

Reservations moving to Stratocore in July 2022

As of July 1, 2022 the ALMC is moving to the PPMS system by Stratocore for microscope reservations. This new reservation calendar will allow us to have all microscopes on the same software, as well as allow us to keep track of publications resulting from the core. For our users, this system also allows you to log in without needing to connect to the VPN. To access the new calendar, please go to https://ppms.
February 01, 2022

2021 CU Up Close Winners Announced

The 2021 CU Up Close Awards Ceremony was recently held with a large audience in the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building. From more than 140 images submitted from across campus, 12 finalists were selected by our committee, with the top three winners chosen in open voting. Together, these images are highlighted within our annual calendar and are hung in the building. The submitted and selected images exemplify the diversity of research embodied by the BioFrontiers Institute, and represent work from graduate students, postdoctoral associates and faculty.
May 28, 2021

BFALMC to Fully reopen June 1

Following CU-Boulder and BioFrontiers guidelines, the BFALMC will fully reopen starting June 1
May 20, 2021

New collaboration with Prof. David Blake at Fort Lewis College

New collaboration to develop biodegradable porous silicon membranes for lung-on-a-chip microfluidic devices
May 17, 2021

Jian wins best postdoc poster award at CSU qCMB symposium

A single-cell platform for studying photosynthesis was developed in collaboration with the Cameron Lab
April 15, 2021

Light sheet microscopy is coming to the BFALMC

CU Boulder Scientists awarded $1.2M grant to establish the Beckman Center for Advanced Light Sheet Microscopy and Data Science
April 07, 2021

Welcome to our new site

Welcome to the new Advanced Light Microscopy Core website! We’ve been working hard to update both the design and the information on this site. If you have any suggestions or comments, please send us an email at biof-imaging@colorado.edu.