Abstract

What a fantastic time to be a microscopist! A great enabling technology to help to understand how molecules regulate life or are dysregulated leading to diseases such as Type 1 diabetes (T1D). I will focus on our latest data from a living zebrafish larval model as well as ultrastructural and large-scale ‘ColorEM’examination of human biobanked tissue addressing the potential role of the exocrine pancreas in triggering T1D. The approaches include advanced and novel microscopic approaches that allows probe-free analysis of macromolecules and organelles in living system and/or with macromolecular resolution to aim to understand why the Islets of Langerhans are destroyed in T1D.

Short Bio

Ben Giepmans is intrigued by how biomolecules act together to control cell fate in health and disease. He is a cell biologist and molecular biochemist/ microscopist. His PhD research at The Netherlands Cancer Institute (2001) and related work in The Scripps Research Institute (CA, USA) have led to a better molecular understanding of gap junctions. In his second post-doc he implemented several new advanced imaging techniques and probes to study protein dynamics in live cells and protein localization at high resolution. These studies have given unexpected new insights in Golgi apparatus reformation during mitosis (NCMIR, University of California, San Diego).

Innovative microscopy is the spearpoint of Giepmans’ research group at UMC Groningen where he also is the architect and director of the advanced microscopy & imaging center (UMIC). The team develops and/or implements new imaging techniques with and without probes for large-scale and multimodal microscopy. Particular focus is on Islets of Langerhans to help to understand trigger(s) and potential new therapies for Type 1 diabetes.