The Centre of Biophotonics (CoB) at the University of St Andrews was established in 2019 with the mission of promoting interdisciplinary research and training at the interface between advanced optical imaging, photonics and biomedical sciences. The Centre integrates researchers across four schools (Physics and Astronomy, Medicine, Biology and Psychology and Neuroscience) and builds on existing strengths in the development and application of light based technologies to investigate biological process at molecular, cellular and tissue scales. The CoB brings together more than 20 research groups around three main themes: imaging across temporal and spatial scales, mechanobiology and neurophotonics. Thus, CoB addresses important questions to improve human health including the origins of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, neurological disorders and the advance in the fight against bacterial and viral pathogens. The CoB is also strongly committed to translational research and the dissemination of technologies emerging from the Centre in collaboration with other institutions and industrial partners.
Seeing is believing and light-based imaging technologies are, now more than ever, uniquely positioned to unveil the mechanisms of life as well as disease. Building on more than 20 years of light-based innovation for the biosciences and by collaborating across disciplines and recruiting the best talents, we aim to watch these processes unfolding in real time, from the molecular and cellular scales, to the whole-organism level.
CoB News
CoB MRC AWARD
Congratulations to Dr John Danial for the awarding of an MRC Career Development Award (£1.8M fEC) to work on the development of single-molecule imaging methods for structral fingerprinting of single amyloid fibrils in human samples. The award will contribute to connect the dots between structural biology and clinical diagnostics to understand and diagnose neurodegenerative diseases with unprecedented detail.
Excellent news John!
More information about John Danial’s research interests can be found here
MARIE CURIE FELLOWSHIPS: CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST 2025 OPEN: MSCA deadline September 2025
The CoB is looking for outstanding researchers to apply for the MSCA-2025 Postdoctoral Fellowship to join our research center
We offer cutting-edge research groups and specialized support throught the application process and selected candidates will be invited to work collaboratively with the Host PI and other CoB members to develop a competitive application.
Interested candidates should contact the CoB Director ([email protected])
More information can be found here
2025 CoB BIOPHOTONICS SUMMER SCHOOL
Following the success of the 1st St Andrews Biophotonics Summer School in June 2024, we are please to announce that the 2nd edition will be running from the 23rd to the 27th June 2025.
Examples of feedback from attendees to last year summer school include:
Experimental sessions were a great immersion into real bioimaging, very helpful to see other methods than everyday lab routine. Overall instructors were very helpful and supportive. Would definitely recommend this to colleagues.
More information about the 2025 Summer School can be found here.
CoB Biophotonics Summer School is supported by the sponsors below:
CoB publications
- Jonathan H. Booth et al “Optical mapping of ground reaction force dynamics in freely behaving Drosophila melanogaster larvae” ELife (2024) DOI: 10.7554/eLife.87746.3 [Gather group] [Pulver Group]
- irbu, A., Bathe-Peters, M., Kumar, J.L.M. et al. Cell swelling enhances ligand-driven β-adrenergic signaling. Nat Commun 15, 7822 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52191-y [Annibale group]
- Roser Montañana-Rosell et al Spinal inhibitory neurons degenerate before motor neurons and excitatory neurons in a mouse model of ALS.Sci. Adv.10,eadk3229(2024).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adk3229 [Illodo group]
- Zepernick et al, Single-molecule imaging of aquaporin-4 arrays dynamics in astrocytes. Nanoscale 16, 9576 (2024) https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2024/nr/d4nr00330f [Varela group]
- Yingtao Liu et al Synchronous multi-segmental activity between metachronal waves controls locomotion speed in Drosophila larvae. eLife 12:e83328 (2023). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83328 [Zwart group]
- Harding, C.J., Bischoff, M., Bergkessel, M. et al. An anti-biofilm cyclic peptide targets a secreted aminopeptidase from P. aeruginosa. Nat Chem Biol 19, 1158–1166 (2023). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-023-01373-8 [Bischoff group]
- Akkuratov Eet al. ATP1A3 dysfunction causes motor hyperexcitability and afterhyperpolarization loss in as dystonia model. Brain, 2024;, awae373, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae373 [Miles group]
CoB participating Schools
The School of Physics and Astronomy is internationally recognized for its research at the interface between physics and life sciences. The high visibility and the successes of the School are confirmed through top ratings in various national and international rankings: for example, the School of Physics and Astronomy in St Andrews, in a joint submission with Edinburgh, was ranked joint third in the UK in REF 2014.
Research in the School of Biology is organized in three major interdiscipinary centres: Biomedical Sciences Research Complex (BSRC), Centre of Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Scottish Ocean Institute (SOI). In the last Research Excellent Framework (2014), the school was ranked top in Scotland and second in the UK for research impact. Image courtesy of Marcus Bischoff.
Multidisciplinary and collaborative approaches have been central to the continued success of medical research in St Andrews. Research programmes in various aspects of cellular medicine, infection and global health, populations and behavioural sciences, and education are currently being promoted and extended. Image courtesy of Pitt, Schubert and Gather labs.
The School of Psychology and Neuroscience has an international reputation for the quality of its research and has consistently been ranked one of the best research departments in the UK. In the last Research Excellence Framework (2014), nearly half of the School’s activities (46%) were given the highest 4* rating as truly world class and the research environment was rated as equal first in the UK. Image courtesy of Marcel Schubert / Andrew Morton
CoB BioLight seminars
27th May 2025: Defining mechanisms of blood-brain barrier dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases using advanced organ-on-a-chip model
Speaker: Dr. Mootaz Salman – Group Leader in Cellular Neuroscience and MRC Career Development Fellow. University of Oxford.
The seminar will be on Tuesday 27th May in the BMS seminar room at 1pm.
Host: Dr Juan Varela, sponsor: Alzheimer’s Research UK Scottish Network.
Dr Mootaz Salman is a Research Fellow at Wolfson College in Oxford. His group investigates mechanisms of blood-brain barrier (dys)function in neurodegenerative diseases and brain injuries, using patient-derived stem cells. They design and build innovative dynamic 3D multicellular in vitro models including organ-on-a-chip and organoids to accurately recapitulate the brain and blood-brain barrier function under mechanobiological stimuli, neuroinflammation and other neurodegenerative-relevant conditions.
Dr Salman was awarded multiple accolades including the International Society of Neurochemistry (ISN) Young Neuroscientist Lectureship Award in 2022, the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) 2024 President’s Medal for the Cell Biology Section, Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) David Hague Early Career Investigator of the Year in 2024, and the Inaugural ALBA-Roche Research Prize for Excellence in Neuroscience 2024.
More information about the speaker can be found in: https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/research/salman-group
28th May 2025: Phenotypic inheritance drives heteroresistance to antibiotics in bacteria
Speaker: Dr. Minsu Kim – Department of Physics, Emory University, USA
The seminar will be on Wednesday 28th May in the BMS seminar room at 1pm.
Host: Dr. Paolo Annibale
Phenotype is often treated as a static reflection of genotype. A major theme in my group is to understand how phenotypes change without mutations, seeking to uncover the non-genetic rules that govern cellular behavior. In this talk, I will focus on bacterial responses to antibiotics. We previously found that antibiotics trigger population fluctuations in an antibiotic-susceptible bacterial population. Single-cell analyses of these fluctuations revealed a non-genetic (hence phenotypic), dynamically inherited form of antibiotic resistance, giving rise to an enigmatic phenomenon known as heteroresistance. We further isolate and examine heteroresistant clinical isolates to uncover their underlying molecular mechanisms and adaptive significance.
More information about the speaker: https://physics.emory.edu/people/bios/kim-minsu.html
4th June 2025: Photon-Resolved Microscopy: Laser-Scanning Microscopy with SPAD array detector.
Speaker: Dr Giuseppe Vicidomini, Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy
The Seminar will be on Wednesday 4th June, 12.00 pm, BMS Lecture Theatre
Host: Dr. Paolo Annibale
Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool for studying biological structures and functions within living systems with minimal invasiveness. However, its ability to resolve many fundamental biological processes remains limited. To tackle these challenges, our group has introduced a novel class of single-photon detector arrays—the asynchronous read-out single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array detector—which offers a new approach to pushing the boundaries of fluorescence microscopy. This detector enables a new imaging paradigm, photon-resolved microscopy, where fluorescence photons are recorded individually and assigned multiple spatiotemporal signatures that conventional detectors cannot capture.
We first demonstrate how photon-resolved microscopy enhances confocal laser-scanning microscopy, one of the most widely used fluorescence imaging techniques. We then explore its synergies with advanced methods, including super-resolution microscopy, single-molecule techniques, and spectroscopy, further expanding the capabilities of fluorescence microscopy assays.
This paradigm opens exciting new avenues for studying complex biological processes with unprecedented detail.