Imaging Innovation Initiative
Seeing the Invisible
Leveraging a rich history of advancing biological discovery to a better world, the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) has created the Center for Innovation in Imaging and Image Analysis (Imaging Innovation Center). The MBL has long been at the forefront of developing new approaches to imaging and applying those methods to biological questions.
The Imaging Innovation Center, based inside the historic Lillie Laboratory, enables the MBL and the broader scientific community to stay abreast of the latest technological advances for a better understanding of basic biology. Extending the fundamentally important live sample imaging with advanced light microscopes are electron microscopes. These allow comparative and higher resolution imaging of complementary samples and the manufacturing of mechanical optical surfaces for light microscopes.
The Imaging Innovation Center, along with the New Research Organisms strategic initiative, supports all areas of research at the MBL including Microbiomes, Ecosystems, Regeneration and Development, and Cell Biology.
New State-of-the-Art Microscopes Installed at MBL
The first images taken on the Leica Stellaris 8 at the MBL as Leica engineers fine-tuned installation. Credit: Louis Kerr
Two microscopes funded by a $4.3 million award from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) have been installed at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). The two advanced instruments—a plasma focused ion beam-scanning electron microscope (Thermo Scientific PFIB-SEM Helios Hydra) and a confocal and super-resolution microscope (Leica Stellaris 8 STED)—will allow 2D and 3D reconstruction from both electron and light microscopy for comparative and high-resolution imaging.
Installation began in late March and the staff of the MBL’s Central Microscopy Facility are currently fine tuning the instruments and training select staff. The facilities will be open to MBL investigators and courses along with visiting researchers from Massachusetts and beyond.
"The MBL has long been at the frontier of new imaging technologies for biological discovery. These new instruments supported by the MLSC further advance our capabilities and bring new high resolution imaging to the MBL and the broader research community,” said Anne Sylvester, MBL director of research.
Building on an Unmatched History in Imaging Innovation
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1951MBL Distinguished Scientist Shinya Inoué’s pioneering work in polarized light microscopy, which led to his landmark discovery proving the universal existence of spindle fibers.
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1979Analytical and Quantitative Light Microscopy Course begins (started by Shinya Inoue)
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1980Optical Microscopy and Imaging in the Biomedical Sciences Course begins (started by Bob and Nina Allen)
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1980sInoué and Robert and Nina Allen develop video microscopy, dramatically improving contrast and clarity in live-cell imaging.
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1980sMBL-developed techniques in electron and video microscopy lead to the discovery of kinesin, a new family of motor proteins, by MBL Distinguished Scientist Ron Vale, Mike Sheetz, and Tom Reese.
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2008MBL Distinguished Scientist Osamu Shimomura wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the 1960s, leading to the development of its applications in experimental biology and live imaging.
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2014MBL Visiting Scientist and faculty member Eric Betzig wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of super-resolution microscope technology, tested at the MBL. When combined with fluorescent molecules such as GFP, this technology allows unprecedented levels of imaging in living systems.
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2019The MBL launches the Imaging Innovation Initiative to stay abreast of the latest technological advances for a better understanding of basic biology. The special focus placed on the light microscope-level of live imaging allows us to see at a level never seen before.
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2021Annual Light-Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy Conference (LSFM) begins
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2023The Massachusetts Life Sciences awards $4.3 million to the MBL to expand its imaging capabilities.
Increasing the Speed of Innovation
A Global Leader in Life Sciences
To address a new set of biological questions, the nature of which were unfathomable only a decade ago, the MBL has established a year-round collaborative center for research and training in next-generation light microscopy and computational image analysis. Recent advances in light microscopy are creating unprecedented opportunities for understanding living systems.
By coupling new imaging and gene editing technologies, computation, and the marine life accessible at its doorstep, the MBL is a center for collaboration and discovery for the world’s leading scientists.
Getting Involved with the MBL
Whether exploring the rich diversity of life in oceans and coastal marshes or uncovering the molecular details of the inner workings of cells from diverse organisms, the MBL is uniquely positioned to address existing biological questions in new ways as well as tackling new biological questions. By supporting the MBL’s mission or attending public events, the general public can help the MBL foster growth in optical imaging techniques and data science.
Imaging Committee
Co-Chairs:
- Amy Gladfelter, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; MBL Whitman Center Scientist and MBL Fellow
- Patrick La Riviere, University of Chicago; MBL Whitman Center Scientist and MBL Fellow
Committee Members:
- Zoe Cardon, Marine Biological Laboratory
- Ibrahim Cisse, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
- Daniel Colon-Ramos, Yale School of Medicine
- Karen Echeverri, Marine Biological Laboratory, New Research Organisms Committee Liaison
- Daniel Fletcher, University of California Berkeley
- Scott Fraser, University of Southern California
- Louis Kerr, Marine Biological Laboratory
- Abhishek Kumar, Marine Biological Laboratory
- Paul Maddox, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Rudolf Oldenbourg, Marine Biological Laboratory
- Josh Rosenthal, Marine Biological Laboratory, New Research Organisms Committee Liaison
- Hari Shroff, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Clare Waterman, National Institutes of Health