The grant will be used to help researchers understand how proteins behave within cells by developing a more user-friendly, affordable correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) workflow.

For years Dr. Collinson and her team have been working on optimizing correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) techniques, specializing particularly in high accuracy CLEM and volume CLEM imaging of cells and tissues. Interested in their CLEM research? 

The aim of this project is to combine high accuracy and volume CLEM, and to make this new field of visual proteomics accessible to more researchers, rather than being siloed in well-resourced specialist centers. The team is planning to achieve this ambitious goal by developing a toolkit that will include open-source software and robust automated hardware, whilst providing guidance at every stage of the process through state-of-the-art and standardized protocols. The main goal is to eventually find new, simpler ways to visualize proteins within whole cells and tissues.

We are excited about collaborating with Dr. Collinson and her team to achieve the democratization of electron microscopy by making CLEM workflows more accessible.

Dr. Lucy Collinson:

We are really excited to be funded by CZI to further develop high resolution volume CLEM and expand access to new communities who have not traditionally held the advanced expertise and expensive instrumentation required. As part of this project, we will be continuing our fruitful collaboration with Delmic on the integration of super-resolution light microscopy with electron microscopy and will bring in new academic and commercial partners who together will build a CLEM pipeline that can be housed and operated in a research lab or light microscopy facility. Open and equitable science will be top of our agenda.

Dr. Guido Ridolfi, Business Unit Owner Fast Imaging, Delmic:

“Our technology combined with the experience and leadership of Dr. Collinson will enable countless laboratories to contribute to answering important scientific questions by having access to CLEM techniques. We are very excited to collaborate with Dr. Collinson and looking forward to helping to turn her ambitious vision into reality.

Visit the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative website here. Learn more about the research of Dr. Collinson on the Francis Crick Institute website.