Bioimaging Unit
The Bioimaging Unit provides an invaluable microscopy service for high resolution light microscopy and electrophysiology.
Our technical services provide conventional imaging techniques, whole slide scanning, super-resolution confocal laser scanning microscopy as well as functional imaging.
The core staff, services and facilities serve a wide user base from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the wider university, other universities, research institutes and industry - anyone with a need for high quality and high-resolution microscopy.
Available services
We have a wide range of microscope systems that offer advanced imaging capabilities.
Imaging
- Conventional brightfield microscopy
- Phase Contrast / DIC microscopy
- Widefield Fluorescence microscopy
- Confocal-microscopy including two-photon microscopy
- Super resolution microscopy (STED, iSIM, Airyscan)
- Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS)
- High-content widefield screening and Slide scanning
This allows us to cover a wide range of imaging techniques:
- Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP)
- Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)
- time lapse (live-cell)
- volume (z-stack) imaging
Functional Imaging
FLAME (Functional and Light-Activatable Multi-dimensional Electrophysiology) Facility
- Multi-Electrode Array
- Calcium Imaging
- Optogenetics
- Patch-clamp
Workflow
The BioImaging Unit provides access, training and support for widefield, confocal and high-content live cell imaging.
We give support throughout your imaging project from experiment design through to image acquisition, processing and data analysis. We encourage new users to discuss their microscopy projects with us before initiating work. This allows us to advise on experiment design, sample preparation and to discuss the various imaging options. Once we have agreed on the best system/s to use we provide full and ongoing user training. This ensures that all our users can use the systems independently and to their full potential.
External access
Although primarily focused on supporting research at Newcastle University, we provide access and/or training to all our microscope systems and slide scanning services to users from any academic institution and industry. Our facility is a proud member of ImagiNE, a regional imaging network connecting imaging facilities across the North East to promote shared infrastructure, training, and skills development for students, technical professionals, and early career researchers.
Please contact our Facility for further details if you are interested in accessing the Bioimaging unit. E-mail: bioimaging@ncl.ac.uk.
Bookings
To gain access to our booking system, you will need to register for an account. Once registered, you will only be able to view the online calendars of the systems that you have been trained on. The ppms user guide will take you through the registration process and the use of the booking system. Please contact us or complete the training request form within the system to discuss your training requirements.
Staff
- Dr Alex Laude - Senior Experimental Scientific Officer
- Dr Glyn Nelson- Specialist Experimental Scientific Officer
- Dr Rolando Berlinguer Palmini - Experimental Scientific Officer
- Dr Veronika Boczonadi - Experimental Scientific Officer
- George Merces - Experimental Scientific Officer
- Emma Foster - Scientific Officer
- James Grimshaw - Research Assistant
- Dr Nick Bailey- Scientific Officer
Publications
We are an essential resource that contributes to numerous high impact publications every year. Here are some of the recent highlights.
- Nicole Kattner, Yan Hang, Nicole A J Krentz, Lydia A Russell, Matthew Palmer, Christine Flaxman, Nadine Plett, Rowan Coulthard, Yara Al-Selwi, Nicola Dyson, Minna Honkanen-Scott, Seung K Kim, Dina Tiniakos, Günter Klöppel, Sarah J Richardson, James A M Shaw. Identification of a vimentin-expressing α-cell phenotype in CF and normal pancreas. J Endocrinol. 2025 Feb 17;264(3):e240190. doi: 10.1530/JOE-24-0190. Print 2025 Mar 1.
- Robin A Pelle , Michel Ram , Peter Hemmerich , Amy L Bottomley , Louise Cole , Rolando Berlinguer-Palmini , Hans T M van der Voort , Nicolaas T M van der Voort , Vincent T G Schoonderwoert. The Impact of Image Quality on Reliable and Specific Colocalization Analysis. Microscopy Today, Volume 32, Issue 6, November 2024, Pages 20–29, doi.org/10.1093/mictod/qaae091.
- Nicole Kattner, Yan Hang, Lydia A Russell, Christine Flaxman, Nadine Plett, Rowan Coulthard. Identification of a vimentin-expressing α-cell phenotype in CF and normal pancreas. Journal of Endocrinolog. Volume 264: Issue 3, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-24-0190.
- Caroline Dalgliesh, Saad Aldalaqan, Christian Atallah, Andrew Best, Emma Scott, Ingrid Ehrmann, George Merces, Joel Mannion, Barbora Badurova, Raveen Sandher, Ylva Illing, Brunhilde Wirth, Sara Wells, Gemma Codner, Lydia Teboul, Graham R Smith, Ann Hedley Mary Herbert, Dirk G de Rooij, Colin Miles, Louise N Reynard, and David J Elliott. An ultra-conserved poison exon in the Tra2b gene encoding a splicing activator is essential for male fertility and meiotic cell division. EMBO J (2025), 44: 877 – 902, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44318-024-00344-6
- David J. Koss, Olivia Todd, Hariharan Menon, Zoe Anderson, Tamsin Yang, Lucas Findlay, Ben Graham, Pawel Palmowski, Andrew Porter, Nicola Morrice, Lauren Walker, Johannes Attems, Simona S. Ghanem, Omar El-Agnaf, Fiona EN. LeBeau, Daniel Erskine & Tiago F. Outeiro. A reciprocal relationship between markers of genomic DNA damage and alpha-synuclein pathology in dementia with Lewy bodies. Molecular Neurodegeneration volume 20, Article number: 34.
- Lina Gliaudelytė, Steven P. Rushton, Rolando Berlinguer-Palmini, Alan J. Thomas & Christopher M. Morris. Dopaminergic changes in the subgenual cingulate cortex in dementia with lewy bodies associates with presence of depression. Translational Psychiatry volume 15, Article number: 89 (2025).
- Maria Teresa Borrello, Dusan Ruzic, Hannah Paish, Eleanor Graham, Amy L. Collins, Rebecca Scott, Sam Higginbotham, Branko Radovic, Glyn Nelson, David Bulmer. Pharmacological manipulation of liver fibrosis progression using novel HDAC6 inhibitors. The FEBS Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.70062.
- Benjamin Wetherall,David Bulmer,Alexandra Sarginson,Christopher Thomas, Suzanne Madgwick. SGO2 does not play an essential role in separase inhibition during meiosis I in mouse oocytes. PLOS Biology. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003131.
- Thomas Wareing, Alexander Stokes, Katrina E. Crompton, Koren Murphy, Jack Dawson, Yusuf Furkan Ugurluoglu, Connor Richardson, Hongquan Li, Manu Prakash & Adam J. M. Wollman. Microscopy with microfluidics in microgravity using FlightScope. npj Microgravity volume 11, Article number: 13 (2025).
- Laura A. Smith, Elizaveta A. Olkhova, Nichola Z. Lax, Yi Shiau Ng, Robert W. Taylor, Grainne S. Gorman, Daniel Erskine & Robert McFarland. Delineating the mechanisms of cerebellar degeneration in paediatric and adult primary mitochondrial disease. Acta Neuropathologica. Volume 149, article number 53, (2025).
- Collins, Amy, Kirkness, Keara, Ramon-Gil, Erik, Tzortzopoulou, Eleni, Geh, Daniel, Dishington, Jack, Graham, Eleanor, Muir, Rhys, Cameron, Rainie, Luli, Saimir, Khurram, Eman, Storey, Daniel, Paish, Hannah L., Nelson, Glyn, McDonald, David, Filby, Andrew, Borthwick, Lee A., Oakley, Fiona, Mann, Derek A., Leslie, Jack. Precision-cut tumor slices for modeling hepatocellular carcinoma enable at-scale drug screening. Hepatology Communications 9(6):e0706, June 2025.
- Emily K. Glover, Rolando Berlinguer-Palmini, Emily R. Thompson, Colin Wilson, Laura Denby, Gary Reynolds, Simi Ali, Martin Lowe, Rachel Lennon & Neil S. Sheerin. AntimiR uptake by human proximal tubule epithelial cells is predominantly by micropinocytosis. Scientific Reports volume 15, Article number: 31799, August 2025.
- Fengyi Wang, George Merces, Dominic Alderson, Adam J. M. Wollman, Mark Geoghegan & Chien-Yi Chang. Lipopolysaccharide clustering in colistin persistent and resistant bacteria. Antimicrobials and Resistance volume 3, Article number: 88 , October 2025.
- Alana Mullins, Xuefei Yu, Anna L M Smith, James A M Shaw, George Merces, Laura C Greaves, Mark Walker, Catherine Arden. Single-cell analysis of oxidative phosphorylation protein expression in pancreatic islets in type 2 diabetes. Journal of Endocrinolog. Volume/Issue: Volume 267: Issue 1. Article ID: e250253.
- Laura Alberio, Amy Marshall, Robert T. Graham, Connie MacKenzie-Gray Scott, Luciano Saieva, Sarah E. Gartside, Gian Michele Ratto and Andrew J. Trevelyan. Intrinsic Cell-Class–Specific Modulation of Intracellular Chloride Levels and Inhibitory Function, in Cortical Networks, between Day and Night. eNeuro 2 December 2025, 12 (12) ENEURO.0325-25.2025.
Contact us
Please feel free to contact us to discuss your imaging requirements.
E-mail: bioimaging@ncl.ac.uk
Address
Bio-Imaging Unit
William Leech Building
Second Floor, Room M2.154
The Medical School
Framlington Place
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE2 4HH
UK