Integrated Calendar

Super-resolution Conical Diffraction Microscopy (CoDiM) packaged in an easy-to-use add-on accessory to confocal microscopes unveils molecular mechanisms in live samples below 90nm resolution.
Gabriel Y. SIRAT and Louis-P. BRAITBART
Bioaxial, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014 Paris, France
gabriel.sirat@bioaxial.com; philippe.braitbart@bioaxial.com
Recent progress in sub-diffraction light microscopy has allowed researchers to look into cells with an unrivalled level of detail and specificity. Still current advanced imaging techniques too often remain plagued by overwhelming complexity, cost and high photo-toxicity which dramatically restrict their range of application and scientific output. Here we present a super-resolution technique based on cutting-edge conical diffraction optics and advanced emitter localization opening up a range of life science applications yet unexplored by high-performance super-resolution imaging.
BioAxial’s user-friendly super-resolution CODIM100 add-on module has been specifically designed to perform live cell imaging at resolutions exceeding 90 nm. Our system does not require any specific sample preparation, is compatible with all standard immunostaining and fluorescent proteins such as GFP, produces very limited phototoxicity and bleaching and integrates seamlessly in regular confocal microscopy workflows. Minimization of photo damage ensures the biological fidelity of the experimental paradigm and the biological relevance of functional measurements.
In this presentation we will discuss the underlying principle of the BioAxial optical technology, image formation and analysis processes with attendees. We will also show the latest applications that BioAxial has developed together with its different academic partners.
For more information on BioAxial, Conical Diffraction Microscopy and the CODIM100, please visit www.bioaxial.com

When matter is placed in the confined field of electromagnetic radiation, it can lead to modified and even new properties. This is of great interest from both the fundamental point of view as well as for many radiation engineering applications. For instance, the field confinement can lead to effects such as extraordinary optical transmission, enhanced absorption and emission of light, high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging. Under certain conditions, the light-matter interaction can become so strong that it enters the so-called strong coupling regime where new hybrid light-matter states are formed, offering a vast potential for chemistry and biology that has hardly been explored.
In this talk, an introduction to strong coupling of optically-active substances with confined optical modes will be presented. Strong coupling of molecular vibrational transitions in the infra-red region will be particularly elaborated with new prospects to modify molecular and structural processes. The hybridization of molecular vibrational transitions by the confined electromagnetic field of an optical cavity, leading to the formation of vibro-polariton states, should have direct consequences on the properties of the material. Probing nonlinear properties of the coupled system to understand the character of the hybrid states will be addressed. In addition, new directions for exploiting strong light-matter interactions for (bio) molecular spectroscopy and other practical applications will be discussed.

Abstract:
The pion polarizability is of fundamental interest in the low-energy sector of quantum chromodynamics. It is directly linked to the quark-gluon substructure and dynamics of the pion, the lightest bound system of the strong interaction. For more than a decade, COMPASS has been tackling the measurement of the electromagnetic polarizability of the charged pion, which describes the stiffness of the pion against deformation in electromagnetic fields. Previous experiments date back to the 1980's in Serpheukhov (Russia), where the Primakoff method for realizing interactions of charged pions with quasi-real photons was first employed. Later, other measurements based on photon-nucleon and photon-photon collisions were also carried out at different laboratories.
The COMPASS measurement demonstrates that the charged-pion polarizability is significantly smaller than the previous results, roughly by a factor two, with the smallest uncertainties realized so far.