Imaging in living cells

The student will acquire the cultural and methodological tools to properly design and carry out in vivo imaging experiments by using the state of the art molecular and technological tools to answer fundamental biological questions. The description of the current methodological approaches will provide the student with the cultural tools to understand the diverse approaches that can be exploited in cellular and molecular biology research projects and to understand which scientific questions can be answered with modern imaging technologies as well as understand their limitations. The student will also gain a deep insight into how to translate images into quantitative data. To reach the goal of this teaching the student will attend traditional classes followed by practical sessions with the different available microscopy tools and imaging software.

Students will have a knowledge - comprising the understanding of the technical foundations and a hands-on experience - of the most advanced solutions in optical imaging available to the study of cellular phenomena. They will thus become able to (i) appreciate the accuracy and relevance of the results obtained with the various techniques (ii) select the most appropriate imaging techniques for the topics of their future activities and (iii) critically evaluate the best imaging approach to use to answer a given biological question.