See the Hidden at Micron | Visualizing Organoid Complexity Through Advanced Imaging

Lothar joined the Department of Biochemistry in 2011 as a Micron Senior Research Fellow and PI, leading the development of computational QC analysis tools and improved fluorescence labelling for super-resolution 3D structured illumination microscopy. His research uses advanced optical imaging to study 3D nuclear organisation, chromatin, and genome function. He became the Academic Director of Micron in 2020, an Associate Professor the same year, and a Professor in 2024.

Dr Pablo Cespedes is a Group Leader and Career Development Fellow at the CAMS Oxford Institute, University of Oxford. Trained in molecular genetics, microbiology and immunology, his research explores how lymphocytes communicate and coordinate responses across scales—linking fast molecular events at the immunological synapse to longer-term multicellular organization in tissues. His group’s current focus is molecular and cellular immunology, with particular interest in how immune receptors and extracellular vesicles help build and remodel lymphocyte networks.

Dr Cespedes completed his PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, graduating with the highest honours, and then carried out postdoctoral research supported by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship, followed by translational research fellowships at the University of Oxford. With transformative support from the NC3Rs, his lab now develops next-generation ex vivo models—including synthetic cells and lymphoid organoids—to identify novel regulators of lymphocyte communication at scale across time and length scales, from minutes to weeks and from extracellular particles to tissues.

Dr Ricardo Marquez Gomez studied Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology in Mexico, where his research focused on finding novel GPCR heterodimers in the striatum and their molecular fingerprint. In 2019, he obtained funding from the Royal Society to join the Department of Pharmacology at The University of Oxford as a Newton International Fellow, studying how histamine regulates cortico-striatal development, using optogenetics and electrophysiology. He is interested in the development of optical readouts to investigate functional neuronal connectivity in microfluidic systems using human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hIPSCs). With a background in mouse neurophysiology/neuropharmacology, he now applies knowledge from animal-based research to human-relevant cell models. The current focus of his research is to to recreate the cortico-striatal-dopamine circuit to support dementia studies.

Colin Chu is a Wellcome Trust CRCDF, a research group leader at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and an honorary consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. He undertook his PhD at UCL, was an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the University of Bristol and a post-doctoral Fulbright Scholar at NIH. His research employs spatial biology and intravital imaging technologies to improve the understanding of retinal diseases.

Tom is the application workflow specialist covering lightsheet microscopy across Europe at Leica Microsystems. Prior to this, Tom was a Wellcome LEAP-funded post-doctoral research associate with Maddy Parsons at King's College London, working on imaging of patient-derived breast cancer organoids with lightsheet microscopy and FLIM, as well as spatial characterisation of chromatin state and the proteome in a large patient TNBC tissue panel.

Emmanuelle currently works as an Advanced Workflow Specialist in Confocal Microscopy at Leica Microsystems. She was formerly an MSCA fellow at Imperial College London (UK), and has a PhD in Life Science from the University of Geneva (CH) and PharmD from the University of Strasbourg (FR).

In May 2021, Deirdre joined the Department of Biochemistry as the Facility Manager for Micron. An interdisciplinary scientist specialising in super-resolution microscopy, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and light-sheet technologies, she holds a PhD in Engineering and Physical Sciences. Deirdre is primarily responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Micron facility. During her postdoctoral research, she applied advanced super-resolution microscopy to study the protein interactions, organisation, and dynamics that govern cell communication. In addition to managing the facility, she is actively involved in organising and developing microscopy workshops, training courses, and public engagement initiatives. She serves on several microscopy committees, including the Royal Microscopical Society Light Microscopy Committee.

Niloufer joined Micron in 2021 from the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford with research interests in the molecular mechanistics of endomembrane organisation, transport, and its links to signalling. Taking up the opportunity to work at the multi-million-pound facility at Micron, she brings out-of-the box thinking to experimental questions that are considered throughout the world.. An independent scientist, she has studied and worked globally in India, the USA, Belgium and the UK. Niloufer is involved in all aspects of management of the facility, teaching, training, consulting, sample preparation and maintenance of the instruments. She actively organises Leica workshops with the Leica application specialists to share microscopy best practice to all users.