Microscopy Summer School 2026

Published on July 16, 2026

The microscopy summer school took place on May 25 and 26, 2026, in McGill, just before the annual meeting of the microscopy society of Canada. Approximately a hundred of students and professionals were there. We covered themes from basic microscopy techniques to specialized approaches, allowing participants that are new to these methods as well as more experienced users to find content for their needs.

École d’été : des formations accessibles dans des domaines variés de la microscopie

La première journée était consacrée à des cours théoriques couvrant différents niveaux d’expertise. Des formations d’introduction ont permis aux personnes qui se familiarisent avec les techniques de microscopie d’en apprendre plus sur les principes fondamentaux de la microscopie électronique à balayage couplée d’EDS (avec Raynald Gauvin) ou la microscopie électronique à transmission couplée d’EDS (avec Nadi Braidy). Anthony Smith a également donné un cours d’introduction à la microscopie à Rayons X. Des conférences plus spécialisées abordaient des développements récents comme la microscopie électronique en transmission à balayage 4D ou les systèmes FIB-SEM (avec Lothar Houben et Philippe Plamondon respectivement).

Some comments from Benjamin Rudski, student

« This May, I was honoured to participate in the Microscopy Society of Canada summer school. This summer school was very accessible, enabling attendees in a variety of fields to learn from the content that was presented.

As someone who analyses micro-computed tomography (µCT) volumes for my research, the summer school provided a great opportunity to step outside of my typical niche and learn about fluorescence microscopy techniques, including confocal and super-resolution approaches. These lectures, delivered by Dr. Joel Ryan and Dr. Tali Dadosh, were very thought-provoking and inspiring. I was pleased with the new knowledge I took away from these talks; even if the content was not directly applicable to my current work, it helped answer some questions I had and it may be of use later in my academic career.

In addition to these talks on scientific tools and techniques, I very much enjoyed the sessions on scientific soft skills. Through the lecture on image data and metadata management, delivered by Dr. Claire Brown, I learned about tools for keeping track of large imaging datasets, such as Omero. Moving forward, I’m hoping to implement these approaches to help organise and categorise the datasets that I use in my own research.

Similarly, the lectures on preparing scientific figures, delivered by Dr. Youssef Chebli, Dr. James Weaver and Elvis Branchini, will certainly benefit my work. In the few weeks since the conference, these two lectures have helped me think more about how to arrange and present my results in a clear and meaningful way without overwhelming readers and audience members.»

Shumeng Jia gave a traning on life hacks and troubleshooting for X-ray microscopy. The main message there was that an X Ray microscope is just like a camera, and like any other camera, it faithfully records the sample as well as its artefacts. "Therefore it is important to stay vigilant about the images we collect, remain skeptical during image processing, and not take manufacturer recommendations or default workflows for granted."

The second day of the microscopy summer school was for workshops in smaller groups, for an interactive learning experience, allowing participants to touch the tools and ask questions directly to the specialists.

Le workshop d’Ultra-microtomie, organisé en collaboration avec Edge Scientific, proposait une introduction complète au processus d’ultramicrotomie, depuis la préparation des échantillons jusqu’à l’obtention de coupes ultrafines. Les participantes et participants ont pu découvrir les bonnes pratiques qui permettent d’améliorer la qualité des images, et de reconnaître les principaux artefacts courants. Des approches spécialisées pour la préparation d’échantillons polymériques ou fragiles ont également été couvertes.

The ultramicrotomy workshop, organized with the collaboration of Edge Scientific, gave a complete introduction tot he ultramicrotomy process, from the sample preparation to obtaining ultrafine cuts. The participants uncovered good habits improving the quality of images and how to recognize the most popular artefacts. Specialized approaches for the preparation of polymeric or other soft materials were also covered.

Deux plages horaires étaient disponibles pour un atelier sur le traitement d’image avec Dragonfly. Les participantes et participants ont pu découvrir les principales fonctionnalités du logiciel Dragonfly à travers des pratiques guidées utilisant une banque d’images 3D hébergées dans le nuage. Les ateliers abordaient notamment le traitement d’image, la segmentation, la visualisation 3D et les premières notions d’analyse assistée par intelligence artificielle, offrant une introduction pratique à ces outils.

Un des étudiants bénévoles, Benjamin Rudski, est un utilisateur expérimenté de Dargonfly 3D World et a donc assisté Jana El Bsat, spécialiste en logiciel chez Comet Technologies Canada à donner l’atelier. Il a particulièrement apprécié l’investissement des participantes et participants lors de l’atelier, et commentait « J’aurais aimé participer à un tel atelier quand j’ai commencé à utiliser Dragonfly, il y a presque 5 ans de cela. C’était un plaisir d’aider et, en cours de route, j’ai même appris de nouveaux outils de Dragonfly que j’espère utiliser dans mes prochaines analyses d’images »

L'École de Technologie Supérieure hosted a workshop entitled X-ray Tomography Comet YXion, Shape Memory Alloys and Intelligent System Laboratory. Durig this laboratoy, two high-resolution X-ray CT systems were introduced. This workshop brought part inspection, process control enabled by AI-driven segmentation, and quantitative analysis algorithms.

This summer school combined introduction trainings, state-of-the-art presentations and practical workshop is smaller group, allowing participants to develop their electron microscopy competence, whater their level or main field. We can't wait to see you again at the next summer school, in 2027 in Sherbrooke.

Photo credits : Owen Egan and Joni Dufour