The Microscopists

The Microscopists

The Microscopists is a podcast from Bitesize Bio and ZEISS Microscopy that takes you into revealing, entertaining, and personal meetings with the great microscopists of our time. Your host is Dr Peter O’Toole. Peter will help you understand what drives great, successful scientists, what really inspires them and what they enjoy most in life. This set of candid, fun, and engaging interviews serves not only to help inspire upcoming scientists but to show how career tracks and work-life balance are managed by some of the best. Not only are they great at work, but they have some amazing stories to tell about their lives outside science. Browse all The Microscopists episodes here: http://bit.ly/the-microscopists-pds

Episodes

October 3, 2024 64 mins

#84 — Louise Cole is MIF Director and Associate Professor of the Australian Institute for Microbiology and Infection at the University of Technology Sydney. In this episode of The Microscopists, Louise joins Peter O’Toole to discuss trashy TV, travel, and microscopy-themed bake-offs. She also shares her experience of hitting the glass ceiling, how it affected her, and what she did about it.

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#83 — Anna Schueth is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences at Maastricht University.

In this episode of The Microscopists, Anna joins Peter O'Toole to discuss starting her academic group despite personal and financial setbacks.

They chat about championing women in STEM, how she expresses herself with cool tattoos, and finding a path through serious mental health challenges by taking ...

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#82 — In this special episode, our host, Peter O'Toole, and a panel of guests discuss mental health and its impact by sharing their struggles and victories.

Beth Cimini opens up about her struggle with guilt and making peace with seeking help, even turning to medication to be the best version of herself

Kedar Narayan shares his battle with depression stemming from childhood pressures and academic competition.

And Jason Rodge...

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#81 — Ilaria Testa is an Associate Professor in the Science for Life Laboratory at Karolinska Institutet Science Park. In this episode of The Microscopists, Ilaria joins Peter O'Toole for a candid chat about the challenges and triumphs of grant writing and balancing family life with groundbreaking science.

She also talks about her love for Magritte's paintings because they challenge our perceptions and her lab's award-winni...

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#80 — Ammasi Periasamy is a Professor and Director of Keck Center for Cellular Imaging at the University of Virginia.

In this episode of The Microscopists, Ammasi joins Peter O’Toole to discuss pioneering metabolic imaging techniques and growing up in a small farming village. They also chat about Ammasi's transition from India to the US, the foundations of the Keck Center, cooking, and cheering on the Lakers.

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#79 — Michael Dustin is a Kennedy Trust Professor of Molecular Immunology and Director of Research at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford. In this episode of The Microscopists, Michael joins Peter O’Toole to discuss how changing the way you pitch grant applications influences how well they are received and how antibodies got their naming convention. They also chat about patent funding and netw...

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#78 — Erin Tranfield is Head of the VIB Bioimaging Core, Ghent. In this episode of The Microscopists, Erin joins Peter O’Toole to discuss her inspirational contribution to microscopy despite enormous personal challenges. She also chats about her time at NASA, her mum's career advice, the exotic countries she has worked in, and lunar dust.

Watch or listen to all episodes of The Microscopists: http://themicroscopists.bitesize...

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June 27, 2024 59 mins

#77 — Kelly Vere is the University Director of Technical Strategy at the University of Nottingham. In this episode of The Microscopists, Kelly joins Peter O’Toole to discuss funding her degree by working as a Junior Medical Technician with no science A Levels. They also chat about the amazing work Kelly has done to champion the work of technicians in education and get their contributions internationally recognized.

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#75 — In this episode, Peter O'Toole hosts an entertaining panel discussion with former members of his lab group who have gone on to pursue non-academic science careers. His guests are:

Lotta Katriina Räty, Senior Marketing Manager at Miltenyi Biotec.
Rakesh Suman, Innovation Development Officer at the University of Leeds.
Richard Kasprowicz, Investigator and GSK Associate Fellow at GlaxoSmithKline Pharma GmbH.

T...

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#75 — Graham Wright is the Director of the Research Support Centre at A*STAR Agency for Science, Technology and Research. In this episode of The Microscopists, Graham joins Peter O’Toole to discuss his motives for switching from research to running a core facility. They also chat about his exciting move from the UK to Singapore and how he manages his hobbies and family between the two countries.

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#74 — Julia Fernandez-Rodriguez is the Head of the Centre for Cellular Imaging Core Facility, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and President of the Core Technologies for Life Sciences (CTLS) Association. In this episode of The Microscopists, Julia joins Peter O’Toole to discuss the role of the CTLS. They also chat about why you shouldn't let the doubters get in the way of how you want to work, wild science parties, and se...

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May 2, 2024 61 mins

#73 — John Eriksson is the Director General of Euro-BioImaging. In this episode of The Microscopists, John joins Peter O’Toole to discuss how he fell in love with microscopy and shares some beautiful images from his early career. They also chat about his favorite cities, his liter of tea in the mornings, and Finnish hamburgers.

Watch or listen to all episodes of The Microscopists: http://themicroscopists.bitesizebio.com/

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November 30, 2023 64 mins

#72 — Paul Verkade is a Professor of Bioimaging in the School of Biochemistry at the University of Bristol. In this episode of The Microscopists, Paul joins Peter O’Toole to discuss his inspirations and involvement in developing correlative light and electron micropy (CLEM). He also chats about co-establishing the Wolfson Bioimaging Facility and his favorite Christmas movies.

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November 16, 2023 68 mins

#71 — Timo Zimmermann is Team Leader in Light and Microscopy Service and Development at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Imaging Centre. In this episode of The Microscopists, Timo joins Peter O’Toole to discuss how the microscopy courses they have attended changed their career paths. They also chat about Timo's stunning recent 3D renderings using data he collected in 1996 and how Star Trek helped him learn ...

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#70 — In this special panel discussion, Peter O'Toole is joined by members of the Network of European Bioimage Analysts (NEUBIAS), including:

Elnaz Fazeli, Imaging Specialist in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Helsinki.
• Kota Miura, freelance image analyst and Vice Chair of NEUBIAS.
Robert Haase, Group Leader in Bio-image Analysis Technology Development in the DFG Cluster of Excellence "Physics of ...

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#69 — In this special technology focus episode, Peter O'Toole is joined by experts in Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), including:

Thorsten Wohland, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore.
• Annette Bergter, Marketing Manager, Business Sector Life Sciences at ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions.
Chris MacDonald, Researcher and Senior Lecturer in the ...

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#68 — Beth Cimini is a Senior Group Leader at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In this episode of The Microscopists, Beth joins Peter O’Toole to discuss the challenges of developing popular software tools like CellProfiler in academia and why harsh peer review leads to user-friendly software.

They also chat about why someone on Twitter got mad when Beth shared a picture of pasta.

Discover the research carried out by ...

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#67 — In this special episode, Peter O'Toole is joined by Executive Board Members of BioImaging North America (BINA), including:

Alison North, Research Associate Professor and Senior Director at The Rockefeller University.
Claire Brown, Associate Professor & Director, Advanced BioImaging Facility at McGill University.
Nikki Bialy, BINA Program Coordinator at the Morgridge Institute for Research.

In this epis...

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#66 — In this special episode, Peter O'Toole is joined by researchers from the Latin American community, including:

Andres Kamaid, Researcher at the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo.
Leonel Malacrida, Associate Professor and Head of the Advanced Bioimaging Unit at the Universidad de la República & Institut Pasteur de Montevideo.
Mariana De Niz, Research Assistant Professor and Manager of the Nikon Imaging Cen...

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#65 — Ronald Germain, M.D. is a Distinguished Investigator and Lab Chief of the Lymphocyte Biology Section at the National Institutes of Health. In this episode of The Microscopists, Ron joins Peter O’Toole to discuss why you need to think like a surfer in science. They also chat about what he does to entertain himself when he gets bored in meetings and why he let go of being a control freak.

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