Prof Paul Verkade
Professor of Bioimaging, University of Bristol

Paul Verkade is a Professor of Bioimaging at the University of Bristol, UK. He has been working in the field of microscopy from the start of his scientific career and over the last 15 years has established himself as one of the leaders in the field of Correlative Light Electron Microscopy (CLEM). As a champion of Correlative Microscopy and a passion for training the next generation of microscopists, he has taught on and organised numerous RMS and other courses including 4 EMBO practical courses on CLEM in Bristol and edited 5 books on Correlative Microscopy.

He is a long-standing member of the Electron Microscopy section of the RMS, having served as chair and other functions. He has been involved in the set-up of the RMS mentoring scheme that started in 2022.

One of his main efforts is to bring together imaging communities and organise the funding of imaging infrastructure, Paul has been an active member of the BioImagingUK community since the beginning, set up EM-UK as an EM network together with Pippa Hawes (Pirbright institute) and in 2019 initiated the organisation of the volume EM community, together with Lucy Collinson (Crick) and Gerard Kleijwegt and Ardan Patwardhan (EMBL-EBI). He is part of 2 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awards for community building, one for volume EM (vEM) and one for Correlative Microscopy (COMULISglobe).

Abstract - Life in 3D: Volume CLEM to Provide Insight into the 3-Dimensional World of Cells and Tissues

Volume Electron Microscopy (vEM) is a collection of electron microscopy techniques that provides access to this 3-dimensional world of cells and tissues, generally with a volume thickness over 1 mm. Whereas TEM-based techniques such as serial section EM and Electron Tomography (ET) provide the highest resolution, SEM-based techniques such as Serial Block Face Scanning EM (SBF-SEM), Focused Ion Beam SEM (FIB-SEM) and Array Tomography are superior in acquiring larger volumes. As such it depends very much on the underlying question what vEM is most appropriate.

Finding the structure of interest within such large volumes is however a challenge and as such vEM is often integrated in Correlative Light Electron Microscopy (CLEM) approaches. The light microscopy will guide the researcher to the structure of interest within the volume. I will present 3 different research projects that highlight the application of 3 different volume CLEM approaches to answer the biological question. In project 1 we study the segregation pathways within endosomes using Correlative Light Electron Microscopy (CLEM) including serial section ET to provide insight into intracellular membrane connections [1]. The second project aims at identifying a single neuron within the brain, a case of the needle in the haystack. Following identification of the neuron using 2-photon fluorescence microscopy, the high power of the laser is used to brand marks for identification and correlate with EM. Finally, SBF-SEM is applied to to reconstruct the neuron and identify its connections [2]. In the last project, Titanium micros pikes were made as a possible solution to Anti-Microbial Resistance of bacteria. To show that bacteria are damaged and “pierced” by the spikes, FIB-SEM had to be applied to gain access to the interface between the spike and the bacterium [3].

Gaining access to such a variety of technologies is not trivial and the vEM community has gathered (https://www.volumeem.org) to discuss training and access to vEM technology which is currently supported by a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative award.

[1] E. Brown et al., Methods Cell Biol. 2012;111:175-201. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-416026-2.00010-8.
[2] R. Lees et al., Methods Cell Biol. 2017;140:245-276. doi: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2017.03.007.
[3] J. Jenkins et al., Nature Comms. 2020 Apr 2;11(1):1626. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15471-x.

Prof Paul VerkadeProfessor of Bioimaging, University of Bristol

Prof Paul Verkade
Professor of Bioimaging, University of Bristol