CAM Announcements
We are excited to announce that through support from the Feinberg Dean's Office, CAM undertook major renovations at Searle and Morton. We welcome Nicolas Piguel, PhD to the CAM team as a super-resolution specialist. We look forward to welcoming you to an Open House and invited lectures on super-resolution during the first week of August. During this Open House, we will introduce two new instruments now at CAM: the TissueGnostics TissueFAX SL and the MIRAVA Polyscope from Abberior, capable of 2D MINFLUX and 3D STED. The MIRAVA Polyscope is the first system of its kind installed and fully operational in the USA. It was obtained through efforts of Peter Penzes, Director of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment, and the CONTE Center, as well as support from FSM Dean's Office. In September of this year, Prof. Teng-Leong Chew, former CAM Director and current Head of AIC Janelia, will be an invited speaker at NU. Finally, we invite you to register for the CAM intensive summer series. This will take place in two weeks in August and September. We look forward to welcoming you to all relevant events.
What's New?
CAM renovations are complete. We welcome you to an Open House the first week of August 2025.
Renovations at CAM are complete! We thank all teams and colleagues involved in this major exercise, and we congratulate CAM Director Dina Arvanitis for her efforts. Thank you for being so accommodating during the multiple instrument moves. We look forward to welcoming you to our new 'imaging home' with an Open House event scheduled for Tuesday 5th of August 2025, 10am-12pm in the 2nd floor of Morton and Searle.
CAM is home to the first MIRAVA Polyscope in the USA, capable of 3D STED and 2D MINFLUX.
The MIRAVA polyscope, by Abberior, was received the first week of July, and has now been successfully installed and tested. This instrument adds to CAM's infrastructure of super-resolution with the latest technology capable of reaching 3nm resolution. We thank the Penzes, DeVries and Arispe Labs for the samples they provided for our own training. This instrument was acquired by Prof. Peter Penzes, Director of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment, in partnership with CAM. During the Open House this instrument will be open for everyone to check its capabilities. If interested in using this instrument, contact Nicolas Piguel.
CAM is now home to a TissueGonstics TissueFAX SL
The new TissueFAXS SL has a capacity for up to 120 slides in both fluorescence and RGB capture modes. This upgraded system has greatly reduced the amount of time users need to spend at the instrument, as it can perform loading and acquisition in a fully automated manner. During the Open House this instrument will be open for everyone to check its capabilities. For training on this instrument, contact Wilson Liu.
We welcome a new member to the CAM team: Nicolas H. Piguel, PhD
Nicolas Piguel, PhD, joined CAM as a super-resolution specialist in June 2025 and will oversee the new MIRAVA polyscope (3D STED and 2D MINFLUX). Nicolas earned his PhD in Neuroscience form the University of Bordeaux II and joined Northwestern University as a postdoctoral researcher in the Penzes Lab in 2015. To study molecular pathways of neuropsychiatric disorders (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), he specialized on several microscopy techniques including TIRF-PALM, expansion microscopy, STED and MINFLUX.
Super-resolution image on embryonic mouse epidermis sample from the Green Lab, prepared by Rose DiDominicis and imaged by Mariana De Niz, PhD, CAM team.
Coming Soon
Special seminar by the Abberior team on the capacities of the MIRAVA Polyscope
On Wednesday 6th of August at 10am-12pm, we will host a special seminar by the Abberior team, on the capacities of the MIRAVA Polyscope. The seminar will take place at the Searle Conference Room. Dr. Christian Wurm and Dr. Marie Grace Velasco will expand on the instrument's capacities, the STED and MINFLUX technologies, and sample preparation.
Introductory lecture by CAM's newest member Nicolas Piguel
On Wednesday 6th of August, as part of the 10am-12pm seminar in the Searle seminar room, our newest member to CAM, Dr. Nicolas Piguel, will give an inaugural lecture on his previous work, and his experience on super-resolution microscopy. He will be the reference point for the MIRAVA Polyscope.
Special seminar by Prof. Teng-Leong Chew
Guest speaker Prof. Teng Leong-Chew, Head of the Advanced Imaging Center (AIC) in Janelia, will be a guest speaker on September 9th 2025, from 1-2pm. The lecture will take place at the Searle Conference Room. Leong has strong ties to CAM and Northwestern University, preceding Joshua Rappoport and Dina Arvanitis as CAM's Director. He is a world- renowned imaging leader, and has gone to the greatest lengths to democratize access to microscopy worldwide. As part of these efforts, he leads the AIC program, which opens calls for applications to bring the latest technology in imaging to the hands of everyone. Many researchers from NU have benefited from this program over the years, gaining access to technologies like interferometric PALM, lattice light sheet, MOSAIC, SIM-View and FIB-SEM.
Super-resolution image on Xenopus embryo epidermis from the Mitchell Lab, prepared by Enzo Bresteu, PhD and imaged by Mariana De Niz, PhD, CAM member.
Good news from CAM!
Nikon MP-NSPARC Demo successfully concluded
We thank all participating groups, both from NU and other institutes in the Chicagoland area for participating in the demo of Nikon's multiphoton system with NSPARC. Thanks to you, we tested this instrument to the limit, and visualized beautiful samples including IVM, organoids, thick tissue sections, insect samples, and embryos.
Chicagoland Microscopy Journal Club
We continue our efforts to bridge imaging expertise in the Chicagoland area through the Journal Club (JC). After a summer hiatus, we will resume our work in August 2025. If you are interested in joining the JC, please email Mariana De Niz to be added to the email list.
Super-resolution image on Drosophila melanogaster oocyte from the Gelfand Lab, prepared by Wen Lu, PhD and imaged by Mariana De Niz, PhD, CAM member and Jenna Jouandet, PhD, Nikon Representative at NU.
Save the Date
Join us for an Intensive Summer Course Covering Basic and Advanced Microscopy and Image Analysis Topics
Back in August 27th 2024, we started for the first time, a year-long seminar series on imaging and image analysis. This year, we will condense everything in a two-week summer course. The first week will focus on imaging concepts and techniques, and will take place from August 25th to 28th from 9am-12pm at the Searle Seminar Room. The second week will focus on practical and theoretical image analysis and will take pace from September 8th to 12th from 9am-12pm at the Kellerman Seminar Room (McGaw 2-322). We welcome everyone interested. Below is an overview of the topics. The seminars are free to attend.
If you wish to know more, please contact Dina Arvanitis, Mariana De Niz or David Kirchenbuchler.
Image Analysis: Fiji and CellProfiler Introductory Courses. We are also introducing Napari training.
CAM offers courses on image analysis, alternating monthly between Fiji and CellProfiler. David Kirchenbuchler leads the Introductory Fiji course and Mariana De Niz leads the Introductory CellProfiler and Introductory Napari course. The courses take place during the first week of each month, and for the 2025-2026 Fall and Winter season, the following schedule will be used:
- October 6th-10th, 2025 (CellProfiler/Napari)
- November 3rd-7th, 2025 (Fiji)
- December 1st-5th (TBD)
- January 5th-9th (CellProfiler/Napari)
- February 2nd-6th (Fiji)
If you are interested in attending, please look out for our monthly reminder which we share one week prior to the start of each course, or feel free to contact us.
Office Hours: Imaging Clinic
You are always welcome to contact us to schedule a time to discuss your workflow. In addition to scheduled consultations, we host an 'imaging clinic' in which you can drop by to get a consultation on any topic related to the microscopy workflow: experiment design, choosing fluorophores, troubleshooting, image acquisition, image analysis. Our office hours for unscheduled consultations will be Mondays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Super-resolution images of photo-receptor terminals from the DeVires Lab, imaged by Nicolas Piguel, PhD, on the MIRAVA Polyscope.
Publications From Northwestern University and CAM & NIC Users
Selected papers from CAM users:
Resolving the design principles that control postnatal vascular growth and scaling
Vimentin transport and organization revealed by single particle tracking and 3D FIB-SEM
Pro-cognitive reshaping of neuronal dynamics by a human CSF-based factor
α-Catenin force-sensitive binding and sequestration of LZTS2 leads to cytokinesis failure
With direct participation from NIC/CAM staff:
Apical size reduction by macropinocytosis alleviates tissue crowding (including Dina Arvanitis and Farida Korobova)
Ratio of miRNA-29 to miRNA-199 expression coordinates mesenchymal stem cell repair of bleomycin-induced pulmonary injury (including Dina Arvanitis)
A clinically relevant model and method to study necrosis as a driving force in glioma restructuring and progression (including Dina Arvanitis)
Bioengineered 3D microvessels and complementary animal models reveal mechanisms of Trypanosoma congolense sequestration (including Mariana De Niz)
Artificial intelligence-powered microscopy: Transforming the landscape of parasitology (led by Dina Arvanitis, Mariana De Niz and David Kirchenbuechler)
Trail-blazing and keeping pace: building, retaining and expanding image analysis expertise (led by Dina Arvanitis, including David Kirchenbuechler and Mariana De Niz)
We thank all labs who contributed images, samples, and insights for our most recent CAM-led submission Super-resolution through the lens of a core facility: value and applications for biomedical and basic research.
If you have work performed at CAM/NIC that has been recently published, please let us know, and will be happy to highlight it in our upcoming newsletter and share it with the Northwestern University and Imaging Community!
CAM congratulates Satoe Homma for their image being selected for the Journal of Neuroscience July 2025.
CAM Regional and International Engagement
Future events with CAM involvement
CAM has expanded its national and international involvement. Future events with CAM team participation include:
- Series of expert talks on AI led by David Kirchenbuechler (via ABRF)
- Training and education on writing successful instrumentation grants led by Dina Arvanitis (via BINA)
- Organization of Exchange of Experience Speaker Events on leadership and pedagogy led by Dina Arvanitis (via BINA)
- Organization of Speaker Series Events on Community Engagement including Black History Month, International Day of Women in Science, Hispanic Heritage Month, Mental Health in Science, Native American Heritage Month, Asian Heritage Month, and International Day of Persons with Disabilities led by Mariana De Niz (via BINA).
- Organization of the LABI Microscopy Outreach event in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November 2025.
- Organization of the Democratizing Microscopy in Latin America event in Banos de Agua Santa, Ecuador in October 2025, led by Mariana De Niz and Dina Arvanitis.
If you wish to get engaged in any of our activities or organizations, don't hesitate to contact us.
Super-resolution images of condensates from the Snead Lab, imaged by Mariana De Niz, CAM member.
Training Opportunities
In each newsletter issue, we will curate a list of training opportunities in BioImaging for interested users.
Archived Resources
(Permanent access)
- Reporting & Reproducibility in Microscopy
- Euro-Bioimaging Training Portfolio
- NEUBIAS Academy Archive
- MicroscopyDB
- Global Bioimaging - virtual training
- Global Bioimaging - in-person training
For other archived resources, check out our website.
Image of neurons and dendrites using 2D STED. Sample from Penzes Lab, imaged by Nicolas Piguel, PhD, CAM member.
More Ways to Connect
Follow us on these social media channels.
- Twitter: @CAM_NUChicago
- Instagram: @microscopy.nu.cam.nic
- LinkedIn: Center for Advanced Microscopy at Northwestern University
- Bluesky: @camatnu.bsky.social
Feel free to reach out to us if you wish to share news from your lab relevant to your imaging-based work, through our social media platforms.
Coming soon, our redesigned CAM website. Stay tuned!
Super-resolution image by Cassandra LeDuc McDaniel, PhD student at the Ozbudak Lab