Microscopy/Microscopy Education

Education ... Not just training

"Education...Not just microscopy training." 
In the micro lab, there is a difference between learning how to push a button or turn a dial and developing the hand-eye-brain coordination which is so critical to good microscopy.  That's the difference between routine training and the MME approach to microscopy courses:  Microscopy/Microscopy Education is dedicated to helping you build both a strong skills base as well as a clear understanding of how your microscope works and how to interpret the images it produces. 

MME is America's first national consortium of microscopy experts specializing in customized, on-site microscopy courses in all areas of microscopy, sample preparation, spectroscopy and image analysis .  [Learn more]
"May we have your input?"   (Current User Studies)
New Survey: "20 Really Quick Questions"  (June 6 - July 10)
For the past 3 years, MME has been tracking the impact of Social Media in microscopy & spectroscopy as well as how the manufacturers in the industry can better serve you.  While Summer Studies are rare for MME, we’d love to hear what you think on this topic. 

We’ve designed this study to move very quickly so that it will only take a few minutes of your time. As always, to protect your privacy, all data will be de-identified prior to processing.  

Deadline for input: Wednesday, July 10.  (Only 1 survey per person please.) 

To say "Thanks," all completed studies will be entered into a drawing for one of FIVE $100 Amazon.com gift cards.   The winner will be announced on Friday, July 12th here at MicroscopyEducation.com. 

Also, our CFO, Ken Piel, has come up with a special gift.  He noticed that a number of you (we have over 7000 now on our list!) have taken part in 4 or more MME studies over the past 5 years.  We REALLY appreciate that sort of loyalty, so Ken is throwing in an extra drawing for another $100 Amazon gift card for those of you who, with this study, cross the “Magic 4” boundary.  (Note: taking one study multiple times does not qualify for this loyalty program).  

Click here to access the survey or cut and paste this URL into your browser:
http://MicroscopyEducation.7f0c4803b79e.sgizmo.com/s3/


And the winner is...

New Directions in Live Cell & Tissue Imaging
MME invited only 3000 microscopists to take part in this select survey, but over 340 of you responded!  Many thanks for your valuable input on this intriguing new technology (description below)!

And the winner of the Bose Wave III Radio and iPod docking station is...Scott Russell of the Noble Microscopy Lab at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.  Congratulations, Scott!

Don't miss our next survey, beginning May 1.  Details to follow shortly.

Proposed new technology:  Measuring topography and changes in thickness in sensitive, living cells and tissues provides important but difficult-to-obtain information.  Current methods either require fixed material, perturb the cell in living material, and/or can only measure small areas at a time.  New technology has been developed that rapidly maps topography and quantifies optical thickness (OT) due to small variations in refractive index and geometric thickness.  

Past winners... 

Microscopy-Analysis.com  new website study

Thanks to the 1613 of you who completed our the User-based study for Microscopy-Analysis.com!  Your input really helped define important directions for the proposed new website.  Here are the winners of the $100 Amazon gift cards:
The Americas

Marcelo Viana,  a graduate student in Nanotechnology at The Microscopy Center in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Joanne Marzowski, a scientist at the  Washington State Patrol Crime Lab in Tulalip, Washington
Eu/ME/Africa

Ross Birney, a researcher in material science at the University of West Scotland, Paisley, Scotland

Pekyi Kofi,  a technologist at the Centre for Global Health Research in Juaben-Kumasi, Ghana
Rest of World

Hilary Holloway, a technologist at the  Biomedical Imaging Research Unit at the University of Auckland in New Zealand

Manoj Raje, a biological researchers at the Institute of Microbial Technology in CHandigarh, India

Innovative new microscopy+spectroscopy tools

With over 840 of you taking part in this important study on the microscopy/spectroscopy interface, our congratulations to Xiang Yang, who works in the Materials Science labs at St. Mary's University in Halifax Nova Scotia.

Benchtop SEMs
With over 1500 of you taking part in this insightful study into the benchtop SEM arena, our congratulations go to Brad Bergman, Metallography Supervisor at Laboratory Testing Inc in Hatfield,PA.
Interested in taking part in MME studies but not on our "invitation" list?  Just email me (bfoster@mme1.com) with your name, the name of your facility, and a short list of the instrumentation you use (Ex: Light microscopy, fluorescence, SEM, TEM, AFM, etc.).  We'll add you to the very next study.

 Social Media in Microscopy & Spectroscopy 2011
Over 700 of you took part in this all-important comparative study to show how we use Social Media!  Every data point is important and we thank you so much for your input!

The winners of the $100 Amazon gift certificates were (in no special order):
Christopher Duncan of Honeywell Aerospace/Torrance
Jon Holan of Trelleborg Coated Systems US
Melissa Jurica of UCSC
Patrick Pfaffle of Carthage College
Tom Blackwood of Healthsite Associates.
Our congratulations to you all!

Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) in Image Analysis
With 663 of you taking part in this study, the winner is John Chandler of the Colorado School of Mines!  John will receive an amazing Bose SoundLink(R) wireless mobile speaker in elegant leather case. 
Again, we want to thank each and every one of you who took the time to complete this important User Study.  When we say that "Every data point counts," we really mean it.  Case in point:  Those of you who attended the recent M&M meeting (Nashville, Aug 2-7), might have seen XEI's new CombiCleaner and Attolight's new LM/SEM/Time-resolved CL system.  Both benefitted from your input on recent MME studies, coming to market much sooner, and with the technical features folks like you specified!  

Simultaneous Optical & Electron imaging - With over 1000 microscopists participating, Ian Drucker of Applied Materials and Kevin Roberts of the University of Minnesota!  Each won a $500 gift certificate to Amazon.com for their participation in this important User Study.  
 
New methods in materials characterization - Our congratulations to Dr. Carol Trager-Cowan of the Physics Department at Strathclyde University.  She won a $500 git certificate to Amazon.com for her participation in this important User Study.  When we sent our congratulations, she wrote back to say that she will probably spend the money on microscopy books for her department.  Lucky staff and kids at Strathclyde!

Color Calibration and measurement
Physicists seem to be having all the luck in our recent random drawings!  Congratulations to Mohammad Alrubaiee of CCNY's Physics Department.  A Bose Wave II radio with iPod docking station is on its way to him, to say "Thanks" for his participation in this important study. 
What's New?
Microscopy Courses
Need an on-site microscopy course?  Microscopy/Microscopy Education will build one to your specifications.  Just tell us what you need.  From light microscopy to EM, Pol and Fluorescence to AFM to image processing and analysis.  And ask about our new FT-IR courses . 



Need help setting up Koehler? Here's an article that will help. 


New articles in the library:
In 2008, Nature voted Superresolution as it's "Method of the Year."  A mere two years later, the show floor at the Society for Neuroscience boasted nearly a dozen companies providing commercialized instruments to probe the rarefied world of nano structures and processes.  Here'a  quick update on four key superresolution techniques.  

Confocal microscopy has aggressively jumped the fence from bio to the industrial world, becoming a major tool-of-choice for characterizing surfaces and wear as well as evaluting thin film thickness and counting, sizing, and defining distribution of particles in epitaxial films.
Nanotechnology is having a big impact on the direction of microscopy and imaging, driving those technologies to be faster, smaller, and more economical

Barbara  Foster invited to present paper at M&M
MME's founder, Barbara Foster was invited to give a paper on the impact of nanotechnology on microscopy and imaging. 

The presentation reviews both the new desktop SEMs as well as the proliferation of hybrid Raman- and FTIR-microscopy systems.  



Fluorescence Reference Slides
How evenly is your fluorescence illuminator filling your field of view?  Is it centered?  Are you monitoring the laser output and PMT settings for your confocal microscope? 

FluorRef? fluorescence reference slides provide a quick easy-to-use solution.  Made of durable plastic, they generate a continuous fluorescent field.  No hunting for microspheres, no cellular photobleaching.  [Read more...]