Seeing Is Believing Part 3, “NanoSpace Invaders: Seeing into the subcellular world”

On May 29, 2012, the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) at the University of British Columbia hosted the 10^th LSI Café Scientifique. Over 50 interested community members, students and faculty gathered for an informal and participatory dialogue with LSI experts for the third session in the “Seeing Is Believing” series. The topic of the session was “NanoSpace Invaders: Seeing into the Subcellular World”.

The Café featured members of the Cell and Developmental Biology Research Group and the Cardiovascular Research Group, Dr. Wayne Vogl and Dr. Edwin Moore. Both LSI researchers are faculty in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences. This interactive session highlighted use of sophisticated imaging approaches to visualize cell structure and function at the high resolution nanometer scale.

Dr. Wayne Vogl started with a discussion of what is meant by ‘nanospace’ and then followed with a description of how the development and use of the light and electron microscope has changed our perception of what the inside of a cell looks like. He approached the topic from a historical perspective and summarized the problems encountered by scientists in getting biological tissues into the microscope to view, and how these problems were solved. He finished his presentation by showing examples of how scientists in the LSI are using the electron microscope to visualize the ‘nanospace’ world and how these studies contribute to understanding normal cell function and disease.

Dr. Edwin Moore discussed nanospaces in heart muscle cells, and how the processes within them control the force with which the heart contracts in a coordinated rhythmic fashion. Dr. Moore explained how molecular organization within nanospaces is key to understanding their function and went on to demonstrate new optical and electron microscopy techniques, and how the images generated are revolutionizing our understanding of cellular structure and function.

A mounted image entitled “The Heart Cell”, supplied by Dr. Moore, was given away as the door prize to a member of the audience.

The LSI Café Scientifique is co-sponsored by the Life Sciences Institute (LSI), Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), Faculty of Medicine Research Office, Faculty of Science Dean’s Office, the Leica Corporation, the microscope company Systems for Research and Café Perugia (UBC Food Services).

The next Café Scientific that will continue the “Seeing is Believing” series will take place in the fall of 2012.

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