Vanderbilt Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR)

We're using #FluorescenceFriday to manifest some warmth here in Nashville! Still tens of thousands of people without power, still lots of ice on the roads and trees, and still below freezing. Enjoy this little cell pseudo-colored with Inferno for the nucleus and Orange Hot for the mitochondria. 🔥🧊☀️❄️

New paper alert for #FluorescenceFriday! Full of confocal imaging from Gu, Jacobson, & Kaverina Labs. "Paracrine Hormonal Signals From Islet α-Cells Regulate Microtubule Dynamics in β-Cells to Promote Insulin Secretion in Mouse and Human Islets" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41511443/

So fun! I've been trying to figure out a way to explain this as an important part of cores - something about the breadth of samples and being available for one-off experiments on different sample types. It's very important!

First #MicroscopyMonday of 2026! Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays from the CISR! May all your days and fluorophores be BRIGHT. #MicroscopyMonday

We can't wait to continue working with all our CISR researchers in 2026! Happy Holidays! 9/9

Current CISR microscopes range from brand new to 18 years old! The average age is 8 years old. 8/9

And we held our 2nd annual "Life Is Beautiful" Image Contest! There were 27 submissions representing 7 CISR microscopes. (All images in this post are 2025 submissions.) 7/9

Which departments had the most CISR hours? 6/9

Which labs were obsessed with EM this year? 5/9

Which labs did we see in the CISR most often? 4/9

CISR staff were busy with microscope trainings! 3/9

Looks like the usual suspects for Most Popular Microscopes. 2/9

For the last (workday) #FluorescenceFriday of 2025, let's recap another amazing year in the CISR! We appreciate all our CISR labs, users, faculty, and staff! Thanks for a great 2025, and here's to a great 2026! #Wrapped #Microscopy First, you imaged for 11,082 microscope hours! 1/9

Time for the annual sharing of our favorite Christmas Microscope Joke: The Z-mas Tree! Source unknown. #Microscopy #Confocal #Volume

Oh where, oh where does my protein localize? Oh where, oh where can it be?🎵
Check out our Subcellular Localization Collection page, with fluorescent protein markers for organelles and cellular structures to help you find your way 🔬

For #FluorescenceFriday, we're adding #Football. Good luck to Vanderbilt's first ever Heisman finalist, QB Diego Pavia! High-resolution nucleus football to scale (2 microns), Pavia not to scale. #Heisman #DiegoPavia #2Turnt

Mishap with lightsheet, cleared tissue, and GLUE.

The next Special Edition #VirtualPub "Imaging Organoids" will take place on Jan. 30, 1-3 pm CET. Speakers from academia & industry will introduce a range of methods used to image organoid systems from lung buds to mini-brains.
Join us!
Register 🔽
www.eurobioimaging.eu/special-edit...

Today is #WorldDiabetesDay & #FluorescenceFriday! One example from Vanderbilt diabetes research. Image from Darian Carroll's graduate work in Gannon lab. NHP pancreas: insulin (green), mitochondria (magenta), DAPI (blue). @healthcare.nikon.com @betacellbelle.bsky.social @vubasicsciences.bsky.social

A fluorescent embryo on black text, with the words Halfway to I2K: Virtual Tutorials on Image Analysis November 17-19, 2025 Virtual Conference for beginners to developers i2kconference.org Image Credit - "Sweet Embryo",Travis D. Carney, BINA Image Contest 2024

Just 4 days until the start of I2K and its 33 totally free image analysis tutorials and events! Please share with your "home networks", especially early career researchers - the videos will be amazing and high-impact no matter how many people attend live, BUT (1/x)

I think all imaging scientists and microscopy core facility personnel already know we have the greatest jobs in the world, but it's nice to see it written. #microscopy #imaging 🔬😊💯 Vanderbilt friends, come see us to "look at random things through fancy microscopes"!

Great explanation for #MicroscopyMonday on when to use or not use a Maximum Intensity Projection during your image analysis. "Extracting 3D information from 2D projections is akin to estimating the volume, surface, and content properties form a crushed beverage can"

Happy #FluorescenceFriday and #HappyHalloween! Spider web or microtubule web? Let's check the scale bar. 5 microns. Great lesson in the importance of a #scalebar. (Microtubules to scale, spider not to scale) 🎃👻🕷️🕸️

Amy Engevik (Image of Distinction). Amy has her own lab now, but we claim her as a former CISR user and Vanderbilt postdoc! @amyengevik.bsky.social

Zach Sanchez (20th) @ento-sanchez.bsky.social

Dylan Burnette (10th) @mag2art.bsky.social

James's and Dylan's images were acquired with the CISR's Nikon SDC SoRa, funded through an NIMH S10 grant. @healthcare.nikon.com @vubasicsciences.bsky.social

We're a week behind, but excited to see so many Vanderbilt and CISR researchers with winning images in the 2025 #NikonSmallWorld contest! Congrats to James Hayes (4th, first image here), Dylan Burnette (10th), Zach Sanchez (20th), and Amy Engevik (IOD)! #FluorescenceFriday www.nikonsmallworld.com

The CISR is hosting a webinar and demonstration of the Zeiss LSM910 with Lightfield 4D microscope. Join the webinar next Thursday, Oct. 30 at 11 AM. Then contact Jenny Schafer with CISR or Cumberland Dugan with Zeiss to sign up for a demo time the week of Nov. 10. @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social