Events

The Hertha Sponer College Lecture Series is addressed to interested students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and PIs. The overall idea is to fundamentally explain research by providing an overview about the general aims of the six MBExC Research Alliances with special focus on the specific techniques that are developed and applied. The lectures take place on Tuesdays at 5 pm within the semester term, and are offered by MBExC PIs. Subsequent to lecture and discussion, Hertha Sponer College members have the opportunity to “Meet-the-PI” and each other for asking more specific or general questions, networking and socializing.

For information please contact: ed.negnitteog-inu.dem@darnoc.ekieh

Professor James T. Thackeray, PhD from the Translational Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging (TCMI), Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hannover Medical School will talk about “Molecular Imaging of the Heart-Brain Axis to Guide Repair after Ischemic Damage”

Abstract
The heart and brain comprise an interdependent symbiotic relationship. But what happens when a component of this battery is compromised, for example by ischemic damage? Does injury to one organ anticipate or instigate reciprocal harm to other organs, particularly those as tightly connected as the heart and brain? Clinical and experimental evidence suggests that myocardial ischemia imparts a higher risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. Cerebral stroke is associated with higher incidence of myocardial infarction and heart failure progression. Despite the observed evidence, the biologic mechanisms underlying this interconnection are poorly characterized. Part of this gap in knowledge derives from the technical challenges of assessing aberrations in multiple organs at the tissue or molecular level. Noninvasive strategies that enable simultaneous assessment of systems biology are appealing, and whole body molecular imaging using positron emission tomography to assess dysfunction provides a unique perspective on the evolution of disease. In this lecture, we will address the reciprocal damage incurred by distant organs after focal ischemic injury, and explore how molecular imaging methods provide new insights into inter-organ communication through the immune system after ischemic injury.

Hosts: Prof. Dr. Tobias Moser and Bettina Wolf, PhD

Location: Lecture hall 01/02, University Medical Center Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Str. 40

Poster of the talk:

Johann Georg Danzl from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria will talk about “Uncovering brain tissue architecture with super-resolution light microscopy” during the MBExC Microscopy Club.

Abstract
Light-microscopy based reconstruction of brain tissue down to individual synapse level would create major opportunities for decoding the dynamics and structure-function relationships of this tantalizingly complex and densely arranged biological tissue underlying all information processing in the brain. However, it has been hindered by insufficient 3D-resolution, inadequate signal-to-noise-ratio, and prohibitive light burden in optical imaging, whereas electron microscopy is inherently static and access to molecular information requires complex correlative workflows.
To solve these challenges, we developed an integrated optical/machine learning technology, LIONESS (Live Information-Optimized Nanoscopy Enabling Saturated Segmentation) [1]. It leverages optical modifications to STED microscopy in comprehensively labelled tissue and uses prior information on sample structure via deep learning-based image restoration to simultaneously achieve isotropic super-resolution, high signal-to-noise-ratio, and compatibility with living tissue. This allows dense, deep-learning-based instance segmentation and 3D-reconstruction at synapse level incorporating molecular, activity, and morphodynamic information.
In a complementary approach, which we termed CATS (Comprehensive Analysis of Tissues across Scales) [2], we visualize tissue architecture from the organ to subcellular nanoscopic scales by selectively labelling the extracellular compartment and employing super-resolution imaging in the fixed state. This opens up further possibilities for molecular labelling and choice of imaging modality, including expansion microscopy for large-scale tissue imaging. CATS enables 3D-reconstructing single synapses and mapping synaptic connectivity by identification and tailored analysis of putative synaptic cleft regions. It also allows studying diverse sample types, including human clinical specimens.
These approaches open up major avenues for studying the functional (nano-)architecture of brain tissue, which I will exemplify in applications to the hippocampal mossy fiber circuitry. 
[1] https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.16.484431;
[2] https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.17.504272.

Hosts: Carola Gregor (IFNANO), Jan Huisken (U GOE), Eri Sakata (UMG)
Local organizers: Alexander Egner (IFNANO), Jörg Enderlein (U GOE), MBExC

Location: Institut für Nanophotonik (IFNANO), Seminar Room, Hans-Adolf-Krebs Weg 1, 37077 Göttingen

Please find here the poster of the talk:

The MBExC will meet for it’s yearly Retreat, this time at the “Landhotel am Rothenberg” in Uslar, Volpriehausen, on March 6-8, 2023. Results of the MBExC research will be exchanged and discussed and strategic goals set.

The programme of talks will be accompanied by workshops and poster sessions.

The keynote talk on “Deep Visual Tissue Proteomics” will be held by Prof. Dr. Matthias Mann from the Dept. of Proteomics and Signal Transduction of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried.

The Hertha Sponer College Lecture Series is addressed to interested students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and PIs. The overall idea is to fundamentally explain research by providing an overview about the general aims of the six MBExC Research Alliances with special focus on the specific techniques that are developed and applied. The lectures take place on Tuesdays at 5 pm within the semester term, and are offered by MBExC PIs. Subsequent to lecture and discussion, Hertha Sponer College members have the opportunity to “Meet-the-PI” and each other for asking more specific or general questions, networking and socializing.

For information please contact: ed.negnitteog-inu.dem@darnoc.ekieh

The Hertha Sponer College Lecture Series is addressed to interested students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and PIs. The overall idea is to fundamentally explain research by providing an overview about the general aims of the six MBExC Research Alliances with special focus on the specific techniques that are developed and applied. The lectures take place on Tuesdays at 5 pm within the semester term, and are offered by MBExC PIs. Subsequent to lecture and discussion, Hertha Sponer College members have the opportunity to “Meet-the-PI” and each other for asking more specific or general questions, networking and socializing.

For information please contact: ed.negnitteog-inu.dem@darnoc.ekieh

Chair: Eri Sakata, UMG/MBExC

Speaker: Dr. Misha Kudryashev, Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC), Berlin

The Hertha Sponer College Lecture Series is addressed to interested students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and PIs. The overall idea is to fundamentally explain research by providing an overview about the general aims of the six MBExC Research Alliances with special focus on the specific techniques that are developed and applied. The lectures take place on Tuesdays at 5 pm within the semester term, and are offered by MBExC PIs. Subsequent to lecture and discussion, Hertha Sponer College members have the opportunity to “Meet-the-PI” and each other for asking more specific or general questions, networking and socializing.

For information please contact: ed.negnitteog-inu.dem@darnoc.ekieh