MICROSCOPY TRENDS 2020 - INTERNATIONAL ONLINE WORKSHOP - Brescia, December 18th, 2020 - Università Cattolica

FACOLTÀ DI SCIENZE MATEMATICHE, FISICHE E NATURALI
DIPARTIMENTO DI MATEMATICA E FISICA “NICCOLÒ TARTAGLIA”
INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN SCIENCE

MICROSCOPY TRENDS 2020
    INTERNATIONAL ONLINE WORKSHOP

                        Brescia, December 18th, 2020

INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANTS

ABOUT US
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart or Catholic University (Università
Cattolica del Sacro Cuore):

Known as UCSC or UNICATT or simply Cattolica, is an Italian private research university
founded in 1921. Cattolica, with its five affiliated campuses, is the largest private university
in Europe and the largest Catholic University in the world. Its main campus is located in Milan,
Italy, with satellite campuses in Brescia, Piacenza, Cremona and Rome.

The University is organized into 12 faculties and 7 postgraduate schools. Cattolica provides
undergraduate courses (Bachelor's degree, which corresponds to Italian Laurea Triennale),
graduate courses (Master's degree, which corresponds to Laurea Magistrale, and specializing
master) and PhD programs (Dottorati di ricerca). In addition to these, the University runs
several double degree programs with other institutions throughout the world. Degrees are
offered both in Italian and in English.

UCSC has been granted five stars by QS Stars, a global university rating system, in the
following fields: employability, teaching, facilities and engagement.

Our location:

FACOLTÀ DI SCIENZE MATEMATICHE, FISICHE E NATURALI
DIPARTIMENTO DI MATEMATICA E FISICA “NICCOLÒ TARTAGLIA”
INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN SCIENCE

MICROSCOPY TRENDS 2020
How microscopy techniques are changing the way we see science
Microscopy techniques are revolutionizing the way we think and do science.
The workshop will focus on the impact of microscopy on the way we tackle some of the most
intriguing problems in biology and condensed matter physics: from inner mechanisms of cells to
material characterization at the nanoscale.
A selection of prominent researchers will bring us into this important field and will present novel
opportunities and future scenarios for young students and researchers.
It will be evident the crucial role of basic research in leading the microscopy revolution and in
boosting the application to technology-oriented businesses.
Question and Answer time will give participants the opportunity of interacting with the speakers.

Schedule:
14:30-15:00          JOHAN HOFKENS, KU Leuven
15:00-15:30          ALBERTO DIASPRO, IIT & University of Genoa
15:30-16:00          ZANGBO WANG, Bangor university
16:00-16:30          PAOLO BIANCHINI, IIT
16:30-17:00          free chat for cofeee
17:00-17:30          GREGORY HARTLAND, Notre Dame
17:30-18:00          MASARU KUNO, Notre Dame
18:00-18:30          DARIO POLLI, Politecnico di Milano

Online Workshop

18 December 2020, 14.30-18.30

Click to join the Microsoft Teams meeting

Fifteen years of super-resolution
microscopy
  Johan Hofkens
  Katholieke Universiteit Leuven – KU Leuven - Belgium

Cells are fundamental functional units in all forms of life and subcellular processes
are at the origin of most, if not all, disease processes. Proper cellular function
requires the carefully coordinated action of numerous biomolecular actors.
Organelles and multi-protein structures, that compose the molecular machinery,
are often much smaller than ~200 nm. As a result, direct visualisation and study
of these phenomena, e.g. through classical microscopy imaging is challenging.
Super-resolution microscopy addresses this issue directly. It hence comes to no
surprise that people active in life sciences have embraced the technology
enthusiastically. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of how the field has
emerged, what the methodologies are available and will discuss where progress in
the near future can be expected.

Bio: Johan Hofkens received his MSc. and Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University
of Leuven (KULeuven). After postdoctoral research with Prof. Masuhara at Osaka University
and Prof. Barbara at the University of Minneapolis, he rejoined the KULeuven supervising
the Single Molecule Unit in the group of Prof. De Schryver. In 2005 he was appointed
Research Professor at the KULeuven and in 2008 he was promoted to full professor. He is
currently the division head of Department of Chemistry in KU Leuven.

Multi-messenger super resolved optical
microscopy
 Alberto Diaspro
 Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IIT - & Università di Genova, Italy

Fluorescence as a mechanism of contrast and spatial resolution are the starting
point to developing a multi-messenger optical microscope tunable down to the
nanoscale in living systems. Image scanning microscopy, coupling temporal and
spatial information, and Mueller matrix polarimetry, sensitive to the differential
scattering induced by sub-wavelength organizational motifs of biopolymers,
integrated with key scanning probe methods like multiphoton, STED and atomic
force microscopy are the bricks to build a liquid tunable microscope powered by
artificial intelligence. Chromatin organization in the biological cell at the
interphase is the case study linking the different methods.

Bio: Received his doctoral degree in electronic engineering from the University of Genoa,
Italy, in 1983. He is a university professor in applied physics. He is the Head of the
Nanophysics Department of the Italian Institute of Technology.

Super-resolution by dielectric micro lenses
   Zengbo Wang
   Bangor Univeristy, UK

Dielectric micro lenses, including microspheres and microcylinders, provide a
new means in achieving optical super-resolution. Calibrated resolution of ~λ/6 -
λ/8 has been demonstrated in experiments, making it possible to directly visualize
15-50 nm scale objects under a white light illumination, and other applications. In
my talk I will discuss the development of the technique from its start, including
background, fundamentals and key progresses to date, with focus on applications
in nano-imaging, microscopy and nanofabrication.

Bio: Dr Zengbo Wang received his BSc and MSc degrees in physics from Xiamen
University, P.R. China, in 1997 and 2001 respectively, and a PhD in 2005 in Electrical and
Computer Engineering from National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. He is
currently a reader at Bangor University, UK. His group is currently supported by several
large Welsh Government funded projects.

STED nanoscopy in a different perspective:
from pump-probe to expansion microscopy
  Paolo Bianchini
  Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IIT - Italy

Since the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014, STED nanoscopy became a
consolidated fluorescence technique to investigate the matter at the nanoscale.
Label-free and fast three-dimensional tissue imaging are still a challenging
application for such a method. The solution for such challenges could be Pump-
probe nanoscopy and STED Expansion microscopy. While the former allows
super-resolution imaging by saturating the absorption of non-fluorescent species,
the latter clears the sample exploiting the expansion properties of a hydrogel. The
sample uniform expansion in the three dimensions brings already a resolution
enhancement of five folds that can be unlimited improved by STED nanoscopy,
allowing nanoscale study on thick or crowded tissues.

Bio: Team Leader at Nanophysics Department, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia,
Genoa, Italy. He received is doctoral degree in Material Sciences from the University of
Genoa, Italy, in 2008 and the master’s degree in physics from the University of Genoa, Italy,
in 2004.

Studies of Single Nanostructures using
Transient Absorption Microscopy
  Gregory Hartland
  University of Notre Dame, USA
In recent years there has been considerable effort in developing ultra-sensitive
imaging techniques based on absorption. This talk describes recent results from
our laboratory on detecting single nano-objects using transient absorption
microscopy. This technique is extremely flexible, allowing the detection of single
semiconductor and metal nanostructures with high sensitivity. The key points for
implementing transient absorption microscopy for ultra-sensitive detection will be
discussed, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of this technique compared
to other ultrafast microscopy measurements (such as near-field scanning optical
microscopy, ultrafast electron microscopy, and time-resolved x-ray diffraction
experiments). Examples will be given of the application of transient absorption
microscopy to studying energy relaxation processes in nanoparticles, and the
motion of plasmons, excitons and/or charge carriers in different types of
nanostructures.

Bio: Professor at the University of Notre Dame. In 2014, Fellow of the Royal Society of
Chemistry. In 2011, Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). In 2009, Fellow of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Kaneb Teaching
Award, University of Notre Dame.

Infrared photothermal heterodyne imaging
applied to materials research
  Masaru Kuno
  University of Notre Dame, USA

Infrared photothermal heterodyne imaging (IR-PHI) is a new approach for
conducting midinfrared imaging and spectroscopy with a spatial resolution an
order of magnitude better than the infrared diffraction limit. The technique has a
wide range of applications, ranging from the basic to the applied. Recently, IR-
PHI has been applied to study organic cation distributions in mixed cation hybrid
perovskite active layers. It has also monitored their bias instabilities, thought to be
responsible for hysteretic behavior in perovskite solar cells. Of note are IR-PHI
measurements showing cation migration and accumulation at device negative
electrodes under bias. IR-PHI has also been used to spatially image the mid-
infrared plasmon resonances of gold nanostripes and has revealed their length
dependencies. From an environmental perspective, IR-PHI has been applied to
study the leaching of plastics from teabags and also chemically complex samples
such as road dust.

Bio: Professor at the University of Notre Dame. Concurrent Professor in the Department of
Physics, University of Notre Dame. In 2006, Cottrell Teacher Scholar Fellowship. In 2005,
NSF CAREER Award. In 1998, National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Coherent Raman Microscopy: a powerful
label-free imaging modality for biological
applications
 Dario Polli
 Politecnico di Milano, Italy
 Optical microscopy represents an extremely powerful investigation tool for life sciences, thanks to its
 ability of visualizing morphological details in cells and tissues on the sub-micrometer scale on
 unprocessed specimens or in vivo. In particular, fluorescence microscopy offers a superb sensitivity,
 down to the single molecule limit. However, the addition of fluorescent markers can hardly be
 implemented within certain cells or tissues, and in many cases, it gives a strong perturbation to the
 investigated system. Finally, cells are susceptible to phototoxicity, particularly with short-wavelength
 light excitation, thus calling for intrinsic, label-free imaging methods that do not require the addition of
 any fluorescent molecule. The solution could come from Spontaneous Raman (SR) microscopy. SR
 measures the vibrational spectrum that characterizes every component of a biological specimen,
 reflecting its molecular structure and providing an endogenous and chemically specific signature that can
 be exploited for its identification. The main drawback of SR microscopy is its very low scattering cross
 section, making it difficult to probe diluted species and unacceptably increasing the image acquisition
 times, thus preventing real-time imaging of dynamical processes in living cells or tissues. These
 limitations can be overcome by the use of coherent Raman scattering (CRS) techniques. CRS is a class
 of third-order nonlinear optical spectroscopies that employ a sequence of light pulses to set up and detect
 a vibrational coherence within the ensemble of molecules inside the laser focus. This vibrational
 coherence enhances the Raman response by many orders of magnitude with respect to the incoherent SR
 process, thus allowing for much higher imaging speeds with 3D sectioning capability. In addition, the
 CRS signal is emitted in a coherent beam, propagating in a direction satisfying a phase-matching
 condition for the CRS process, and can be easily collected by the detector.

 The two most widely employed CRS techniques are coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and
 stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). Current implementations of CRS, while achieving extremely high
 acquisition speeds up to the video rate, mostly work at a “single frequency”, i.e. targeting a single
 vibrational transition. In this talk, I will review recent advances made by my group and others aiming at
 pushing CRS into the broadband regime, either in the hyperspectral (single-frequency configuration with
 rapid tuning of the Raman frequency) or in the multiplex modality (in which one pulse is broadband,
 covering the entire vibrational spectrum at once).

Bio:  Associate Professor at the Physics Department at the Politecnico di Milano (Italy).
Coordinator of the CRIMSON project, a pan-european H2020 project to develop the next-
generation microscopy and endoscopy platform to study the cellular origin of diseases. Co-
founder of NIREOS and Specto Photonics startups.

Organization: Prof. Gabriele Ferrini, Interdisciplinary Laboratories for Advanced
Materials Physics (I-LAMP) and Department of Mathematics and Physics,
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy)

Organization support: Dr. Iuliia Ruzankina, Dr. Ali Mermoul, Interdisciplinary
Laboratories for Advanced Materials Physics (I-LAMP) and Department of
Mathematics and Physics, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy)

                         Useful links:
             Facoltà di Scienze matematiche, fisiche e naturali

          Dipartimento di Matematica e fisica "Niccolò Tartaglia"

                  International Doctoral Program in Science

    Interdisciplinary Laboratories for Advanced Materials Physics (I-
                                  LAMP)

               Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Brescia
                             Sede del Buon Pastore
                     Via Musei 41 - 25121 Brescia - Italy