Aim: To introduce students from a range of different backgrounds to the latest techniques for high resolution bioimaging and image processing. In each case, a comprehensive understanding of a microscopy technique will be motivated by the theory of how an image is formed in the instrument and what determines its resolution and quality. A practical on image processing will range from everyday tasks that students encounter when working with images of different sources to more advanced techniques of quantitative imaging.

At the end of the module, the students will be able to assess the relative merits of the various microscopy techniques and understand the advantages and limitations of each. They will have acquired a solid background to independently solve more complex image processing problems and rigorously assess the quality of images in scientific publications.

• Light microscopy: Principles of light microscopy with an emphasis on fluorescence and confocal microscopy. Novel super-resolution techniques. Time-series and high-throughput techniques
• Image Processing: 6 units starting with a 1h introduction followed by a 2h practical: Introduction to digital image processing with ImageJ, Convolutions and filtering, Working with colour images, Working with time-series, Filtering in frequency space, Deconvolution
• Atomic force microscopy (AFM): Intermolecular forces, imaging techniques (contact versus tapping mode), force curve analysis: ligand-receptor binding, elasticity measurements
• Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM): Atomic level imaging, scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) and conductivity measurements, electrochemical STM.
• Electrochemical Scanned Probe Microscopy (Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM): Theory of transport and diffusion phenomena , imaging, probing surface reactivity (e.g. immobilised enzyme kinetics, membrane transport, lateral diffusion in membranes), ion channel activity, smart patch clamping., signalling in cell assemblies.
• Cryo electron microscopy: Review of electron microscopy, advantages, disadvantages, applications.

Illustrative Bibliography:

1. Atomic Force Microscopy for Biologists, VJ Morris, AR Kirby, AP Gunning, Imperial College Press. 
2. Scanning Probe Microscopy and Spectroscopy: Theory, Techniques, and Applications, D Bonnell, Wiley-VCH.
3. Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy, CJR Sheppard, DM Hotton, D Shotton, Springer-Verlag.
4. Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy, AJ Bard and MV Mirkin, Marcel Dekker
5. The Image Processing Handbook, John C. Russ, CRC Press
6. Handbook of biological confocal microscopy. 3rd edition. James Pawley (Editor). Springer, 2006.