MIC Symposium 2021

Finally, after a missing year 2020 due to covid pandemic, the traditional MIC Symposium took place in UniS on November 19, 2021. The topic of this year was 3D electron microscopy.  The scientific committee represented by Wanda Kukulski, Michael Stoffel, Benoît Zuber (University of Bern) and Dimitri Vanhecke (University of Fribourg), prepared an interesting program, which attracted more than 110 participants.

Zoltan Balogh, the dean of the Faculty of Science and Britta Engelhardt, the president of the MIC, welcomed the participants at the beginning. During the day, six scientific speakers from Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland covered most recent achievements in electron microscopy of molecular structures, virus-cell interactions, ciliary morphology and contact sites between intracellular lipid droplets.  The representatives from industry discussed with the audience latest equipment for protein purification and automatic sample preparation for cryo imaging.

The symposium took place in presence mode, which provided numerous opportunities for personal exchange. Participants had a chance to look at newest technical developments at three company booths during coffee breaks.  The lunch in the restaurant the Flow provided an additional possibility for active discussions and productive networking.

We thank the scientific committee for preparing the interesting program, the organizing team, the speakers for sharing their research results and enthusiasm for electron microscopy, the students of the PhD program Cutting Edge Microscopy for help in the organization, all the participants for their interest in microscopy and the sponsors for the generous financial support of the symposium.