What to expect from the First Nordic Sub-Micron IR Microscopy Conference, 15-17 October
Milda sees the conference as a good opportunity to introduce a large community of researchers to the potential of using Sub-Micron Microscopy techniques.
The very first Nordic Sub-Micron IR Microscopy conference will be held at LINXS in October, in collaboration with the Environment and Climate and AIDA themes. One of the organisers, Milda Pucetaite, researcher at the Biology Department at Lund University, highlights what researchers can gain from taking part, and what they will learn.
Sub-Micron IR (infrared) Microscopy techniques enable spatio-chemical analysis down to the nanometer scale, by providing high resolution molecular information about different interactions, contaminants, and material compositions. They open possibilities for many new research questions, as they have overcome the resolution limitations of traditional IR spectroscopy. They allow for the characterization of structures in environmental science, heritage science, materials science and in the biomedical field – at unprecedented scales.
Why are you organising this conference at LINXS?
We want to introduce a large community of researchers from different fields to the opportunity of using Sub-Micron Microscopy techniques, including Atomic Force Microscopy-Infrared (AFM-IR), and Optical Photothermal IR (O-PTIR), highlighting not just the possibilities they provide for nanoscale sensing, but also how they can be combined and used complementary with synchrotron radiation-based X-ray microscopy approaches, for instance at MAX IV.
What will you learn?
We will provide a general overview of the techniques for those who are new to them, in combination with targeted talks with people from different fields, mainly environmental and earth science, cultural heritage science, environmental pollution and biomedical science. These talks will provide examples of what you can do with the techniques, and give tips on how to prepare for Sub-Micron IR Microscopy experiments.
What makes these techniques exciting?
They allow us to look at the nanoscale molecular chemistry of a variety of materials. One such example is protein folding in biomedical samples for example, as one can do simultaneous analysis of molecular structures (using infrared) and localization (using microscopy and combining with fluorescence detection), providing a detailed picture of protein aggregates and sub-cellar structures. This is useful for studying how various brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s form and develop. This research is driven by Dr. Oxana Klementieva, a Senior Lecturer at Lund University, and one of the invited speakers at the conference.
From an environmental perspective, one can use them to retrieve information about the organic chemistry of different samples. In my own research, and in collaboration with Dr. Edith Hammer and Dr. Dimitrios Floudas, I use Sub-Micron IR Microscopy to study the secretion from single fungal cells, and how they interact with minerals or wood. This research can give new insight into the importance of fungi for the environment and climate.
Moreover, these techniques have now reached the spatial resolution comparable to that of X-rays, so they serve as a really nice complementary technique to those experiments.
What can you expect from the conference?
An informative and engaging atmosphere that gives space for communication with other experts, and opportunity to learn if you are inexperienced. We also welcome people who use other IR spectroscopy approaches or different techniques at these spatial scales.
Read more and register for the conference