Early Career Symposium
The Early Career Symposium is an interdisciplinary event aimed at students, postdocs and early career professionals working in the field of microscopy. This will be a great opportunity for you to network ahead of the main mmc2025 conference, as well as to showcase your research with peers.
This symposium is free to attend and can be added to your booking during the registration process.
Provisional Programme
1515 – 1520 Welcome
1520 – 1530 RMS Early Career Committee Annual General Meeting
1530 – 1550 Abstract Talk
Integrating AI and imaging for stromal analysis in colorectal cancer, clinical applications
Ross Walsh (University of Galway, Galway, Ireland)
1550 – 1610 Abstract Talk
The Imaging Resource Facility Research Excellence Award: Benefitting the research community through utilisation of underused core equipment
Emily Woodcock (City St George's, University of London, UK)
1610 – 1625 Early Career Award Flash Talks: Niamh Burke, Anthoula Chatzimpinou, and Alessandro Zunino
1625 – 1650 Break
1650 – 1710 Abstract Talk
Microwave-assisted Rapid Sample Processing (MARSP) for ultrastructural preservation of Magnaporthe oryzae infected rice and barley
Kokila K. Wickramanayake (School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, UK)
1710 – 1740 Invited Speaker
Adventures in nano-land: A journey from single-molecules to leadership in microscopy
Lisa-Maria Needham (University of Cambridge, UK)
1740 – 1750 Announcement of Early Career Award Winner
More information about the Early Career Award can be found on the RMS website.
The 2025 award is kindly sponsored by the Journal of Microscopy.
1750 – 1800 mmc2025 Preview
BioImagingUK / Early Career Networking Event - Monday 30 June, 1800 onwards. Manchester Central
Join us in celebrating the opening of mmc2025 with an informal BioImagingUK / Early Career Networking Reception in the foyer of Manchester Central.
Scientific Organisers
Katherine Paine
Katherine completed her PhD in Chris MacDonald’s lab at the University of York using yeast as a model organism to study membrane trafficking. This project involved using a wide range of microscopical techniques such as SIM and FRET study the regulation of cell surface membrane proteins. She is now a postdoc in Simon Wilkinson’s group at the University of Edinburgh in the field of autophagy where she continues to use a variety of microscopical techniques to answer biological questions.
Alex Payne-Dwyer
Alex is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of York. He specializes in studying biomolecular condensates, and their capillary and single-molecule physics, using fluorescence coupled with optical tweezers. These condensates have diverse functions, underpinning antimicrobial resistance, managing biological memory, and even contributing to carbon fixation.
His background is in physical chemistry and optics, but during his PhD at Durham University, he developed into a multidisciplinary light microscopist and image analyst. He has subsequently designed and delivered projects ranging from a clinical trial on human fertility, to postdoctoral work in cardiac imaging, and a JSPS Fellowship focused on molecular cell signalling in cancer. He constantly seeks new models, organisms, and condensates to investigate and finds ways to measure their behavior on the smallest scales possible with light.
He is a leader for the representation of ECR scientists at York and informs strategy for improved Research Culture. He also advocates for Open Research standards in light microscopy through the QUAREP-LiMi network.
Liam Rooney
Liam is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Liam has a background in mammalian cell and molecular biology but developed his skillset as an optical microscopist and microbiologist during his PhD. Since 2016, Liam has focussed his research on the development and application of optical microscopy methods to study how bacteria interact with each other and their environment. His research involves various bacteriological phenomena; from understanding bacterial gliding motility, visualising colonisation behaviours using transparent soil, observing nutrient transport channels in bacterial biofilms, and super-resolution imaging of bacterial and fungal cell-to-cell interactions. Liam’s current research focuses on developing open microscopy solutions for the life sciences. He is the current Vice-Chair of the RMS Early Career Section and has sat on the RMS Life Sciences Section Committee since 2018, and is also heavily involved in the Microbiology Society.
Tim Young
I qualified as a Biomedical Scientist in 2012 after completing my bachelor’s degree at The University of Essex but never entered practise. Instead I moved towards research; my first job was a technician with the MRC Epidemiology Unit, here I used a variety of methods to perform batch analysis of large cohorts of samples.
After this I moved towards cancer research and worked as a research assistant for Prof. Bruce Ponder in conjunction with the NHS Papworth Histology team. The research was directed towards the investigation of DNA repair dysfunction which can cause a genetic predisposition to lung cancer, particularly in smokers.
Then, in 2016, I joined the lab of Christian Frezza at Uni. Of Cambridge as part of the mass spectrometry team before becoming the lab manager and microscopist. When the lab moved out of the country I joined Prof. Paul Lehner’s team in CITIID and am continuing my RMS diploma here.
Invited Speaker
Lisa-Maria Needham
Lisa-Maria Needham is the Director of Microscopy Bioscience Platform in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Cambridge. As Director of the Platform, she contributes to broad experimental problem solving, research and technology development and wider management of the Platform and its strategic direction.
She was previously a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) and completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in the design and application of novel fluorophores for single-molecule and super-resolution imaging. Her research focus is novel technology that allows ultra-sensitive, label-free measurements of single biomolecules in the solution-phase towards developing early diagnostic tools for neurodegenerative diseases.