Special Scientific Events
Pre-meeting Congress: August 4 - August 5
Full Days Starting at 8:00AM

A convergence of newly developed instrumentation and optical probes is allowing researchers to examine dynamic processes within ever more complicated biological systems. These new tools are affecting how almost all biological optical microscopy experiments are done. Studies of single cells, for instance, have dramatically changed since the introduction of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). Improvements in light sources and detectors also allow quantitative spectroscopic methods to be used in an imaging modality. These include fluorescence lifetime imaging, Raman microscopy, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, resonance energy transfer microscopy, and single molecule techniques. In addition, non-fluorescent contrast methods such as polarization and Nomarski DIC have also benefited from technical improvements. As molecular imaging methods have been perfected in single cells, they have also been rapidly applied to imaging of tissues and whole organisms. Methods such as multi-photon excitation and luminescence imaging now offer an alternative to CT, MRI, and Ultrasound for many non-invasive in vivo imaging applications. This pre-meeting congress will bring together experts in both instrumentation and probe development in a broad discussion of the field and future directions. In addition, speakers will describe latest developments in live cell imaging from isolated cells, intact tissue, and whole organisms. The congress will be both timely and exciting to a wide range of researchers.