Microscopy 63(1): 1 (2014) doi: 10.1093/jmicro/dfu004 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Editorial
Life Science and Microscopy in 2014
Shigeo Okabe Co-Editor-in-Chief, Microscopy Cellular Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved.For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]
Downloaded from http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of California, Santa Barbara on July 28, 2015
In 2013, the Journal of Electron Microscopy changed its name to Microscopy. By removing the word “electron” from the title, we intended to extend the fields covered by the journal. This change should largely affect the Biological Sciences section in the journal, as modern biology now heavily relies on light microscopy technology. Therefore, it will be critical for Microscopy to attract researchers performing cutting-edge studies in the fields of both light and electron microscopy and to facilitate the exchange of new ideas and findings related to the two imaging technologies, which have traditionally been considered independent methods. Already in 2013, we observed new trends in the subjects of the manuscripts submitted to Microscopy. Accordingly, in the first year of the change, we published several papers reporting improvements in modern light microscopic techniques, such as two-photon excitation laser scanning microscopy, and also applications of two-photon imaging in neuroscience in 6 issues of Microscopy. In 2014, we expect more articles related to biologic light microscopy, especially in the fields of cell biology, neuroscience, developmental biology, cancer biology, immunology, virology, bacteriology, and plant biology. Advances in life science are often driven by technological advancements, and thus the development and role of imaging technology are becoming increasingly important. Microscopy is keen to publish papers reporting new principles and technologies related to light microscopy, including super-resolution microscopy, such as photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, and the development of new fluorescent probes and its application to life sciences, such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)–based imaging. In addition to increasing the number of submissions of high-quality papers related to light and electron microscopy, Microscopy has as its long-term goal the facilitation of interactions between scientists involved in different disciplines of microscopy and imaging sciences. We would therefore like to stress the importance of developing new strategies and technologies related to correlative microscopy, which aims at seamless analyses of both optical and electron microscopy, including cryo-electron microscopy, with high precision and throughput. There should be multiple pathways of achieving correlative microscopy, and the ideal imaging system may differ between various types of biological samples and related questions. Cell biologists may prefer high-precision imaging of intracellular structures, possibly by the rapid freezing of cells after live optical microscopy, combined with cryo-electron tomography to allocate protein molecules into higher-order cellular structures. Neuroscientists, on the other hand, may select serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SB-SEM), which enables the reconstruction of a large volume of brain tissue with automated sample sectioning and repeated scanning electron microscopic imaging, in combination with prior recording of threedimensional neuronal structures with two-photon laser scanning microscopy. Correlative microscopy is an exciting and rapidly growing field in imaging sciences, with many possible future applications open to diverse fields of life sciences. In 2014, Microscopy will focus on facilitating the exchange of ideas related to correlative microscopy by inviting special reviews or commentaries. The editors of Microscopy will also attempt to minimize the time required for the review process of submitted papers and encourage researchers in various fields using microscopic techniques to submit their papers. We expect to read many new exciting stories about life illuminated by Microscopy in 2014.
Editorial
Life Science and Microscopy in 2014
Shigeo Okabe Co-Editor-in-Chief, Microscopy Cellular Neurobiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy. All rights reserved.For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]
Downloaded from http://jmicro.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of California, Santa Barbara on July 28, 2015
In 2013, the Journal of Electron Microscopy changed its name to Microscopy. By removing the word “electron” from the title, we intended to extend the fields covered by the journal. This change should largely affect the Biological Sciences section in the journal, as modern biology now heavily relies on light microscopy technology. Therefore, it will be critical for Microscopy to attract researchers performing cutting-edge studies in the fields of both light and electron microscopy and to facilitate the exchange of new ideas and findings related to the two imaging technologies, which have traditionally been considered independent methods. Already in 2013, we observed new trends in the subjects of the manuscripts submitted to Microscopy. Accordingly, in the first year of the change, we published several papers reporting improvements in modern light microscopic techniques, such as two-photon excitation laser scanning microscopy, and also applications of two-photon imaging in neuroscience in 6 issues of Microscopy. In 2014, we expect more articles related to biologic light microscopy, especially in the fields of cell biology, neuroscience, developmental biology, cancer biology, immunology, virology, bacteriology, and plant biology. Advances in life science are often driven by technological advancements, and thus the development and role of imaging technology are becoming increasingly important. Microscopy is keen to publish papers reporting new principles and technologies related to light microscopy, including super-resolution microscopy, such as photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, and the development of new fluorescent probes and its application to life sciences, such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)–based imaging. In addition to increasing the number of submissions of high-quality papers related to light and electron microscopy, Microscopy has as its long-term goal the facilitation of interactions between scientists involved in different disciplines of microscopy and imaging sciences. We would therefore like to stress the importance of developing new strategies and technologies related to correlative microscopy, which aims at seamless analyses of both optical and electron microscopy, including cryo-electron microscopy, with high precision and throughput. There should be multiple pathways of achieving correlative microscopy, and the ideal imaging system may differ between various types of biological samples and related questions. Cell biologists may prefer high-precision imaging of intracellular structures, possibly by the rapid freezing of cells after live optical microscopy, combined with cryo-electron tomography to allocate protein molecules into higher-order cellular structures. Neuroscientists, on the other hand, may select serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SB-SEM), which enables the reconstruction of a large volume of brain tissue with automated sample sectioning and repeated scanning electron microscopic imaging, in combination with prior recording of threedimensional neuronal structures with two-photon laser scanning microscopy. Correlative microscopy is an exciting and rapidly growing field in imaging sciences, with many possible future applications open to diverse fields of life sciences. In 2014, Microscopy will focus on facilitating the exchange of ideas related to correlative microscopy by inviting special reviews or commentaries. The editors of Microscopy will also attempt to minimize the time required for the review process of submitted papers and encourage researchers in various fields using microscopic techniques to submit their papers. We expect to read many new exciting stories about life illuminated by Microscopy in 2014.
