Critical point drying of brain tissue for X-ray phase-contrast imaging X-ray phase contrast tomography can efficiently image brain tissue at subcellular resolution. Critical point drying allows a gentle replacement of interstitial material by air, enhancing X-ray phase c...

This work is the product of an outstanding multidisciplinary team operating across multiple countries.

Special congrats to Safe Khan, lead author of the study. And congrats to all authors and supporting institutions!

doi.org/10.1107/S160...

@safekhan.bsky.social @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social

#paper:
Drying tissue samples enhances contrast in X-ray phase contrast imaging while largely preserving ultrastructure. 🧠🔬

doi.org/10.1107/S160...

@safekhan.bsky.social @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social
@crick.ac.uk @embl.org @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @esrf.fr @uclnpp.bsky.social

This is who runs this account

Imaging spotlight: Revealing mouse brain ultrastructure using non-destructive X-ray tomography - FocalPlane Imaging spotlight: Revealing mouse brain ultrastructure using non-destructive X-ray tomography - News

Read the spotlight here: focalplane.biologists.com/2026/01/13/i...
Read the whole paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@crick.ac.uk @psich.bsky.social

Here's a spotlight article on our recent study!

Tissue ultrastructure can be resolved with X-rays, which impacts not only how we can study neuronal circuits but soft tissues more generally.

Kudos to Ana Diaz, @adrianawanner.bsky.social, @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social and all authors.

A Crash Course in Psychosis – with Katharina Schmack YouTube video by The Francis Crick Institute

What is psychosis and how can we treat it?

Crick group leader @kathaschmack.bsky.social explains how her lab is working to uncover new ways to treat psychosis by finding its biological roots.

youtu.be/EUb3_5ecatU

Optimism for abundant whole-brain connectomes and connectomic screening - Nature Methods Connectomics has so far outpaced the Moore’s law predictions about technological progress. At this pace, many whole-brain connectomes and connectomic screening will soon be realistic.

Method of the Year 2025: In his Comment, Moritz Helmstaedter looks into the future of connectomics and the feasibility of scaling up to larger brains.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Connectomics is Method of the Year 2025!!
@natmethods.nature.com
just released the news nature.com/articles/s41... In my perspective piece, I afford some predictions into the future and compare how we are doing vs. genomics www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Method of the Year 2025: electron microscopy-based connectomics - Nature Methods A large network of interconnected neurons serves as the basis of brain function and of behavior. Methodological advances have enabled the reconstruction of large-scale and even whole-brain connectomes...

Our Method of the Year 2025 is...drumroll please...EM-based connectomics!!

Our Editorial introduces our choice and highlights six Comments and other related content in this special issue. Please join us in celebrating EM-based connectomics! 🎉🧠🔬

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Unlocking the potential of X-rays to scale up tissue ultrastructure mapping - Nature Methods Nondestructively mapping biological tissues in 3D with nanoscale detail is essential to scale up the study of how cells interact in their environment, such as in neuronal circuits. We resolved such ul...

And read the associated Research Briefing here:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nondestructive X-ray tomography of brain tissue ultrastructure - Nature Methods Optimizations of X-ray nanotomography including the choice of resin allows high-resolution imaging of mouse brain tissue, approaching the resolution of volume electron microscopy. Since it does not re...

An optimized X-ray nanotomography method offers an attractive alternative to volume EM for connectomics. @crick.ac.uk @psich.bsky.social psich.bsky.social @adrianawanner.bsky.social @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @uclnpp.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

From aerospace to neuroscience: new imaging tech captures the brain’s intricate connections Inspired by technologies used in aerospace engineering, scientists have developed a way to capture the brain’s intricate structures using X-rays without destroying the samples.

Researchers at the Crick, @psich.bsky.social and @esrf.fr have developed a new way to look deeper into brain cell connections by using a particle accelerator and a kind of resin borrowed from the aerospace industry.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-11...

X-rays bring high-resolution brain mapping within reach A new imaging breakthrough could reveal brain connectivity in 3D detail never before accessible.

Scientists at the Swiss Light Source #SLS and @crick.ac.uk have succeeded in mapping a piece of brain tissue 🧠 in 3D at unprecedented resolution using X-rays – non-destructively. The breakthrough overcomes a long-standing technological barrier that had limited the use of X-rays for such studies.

Happy to share the first paper from my journey at @psich.bsky.social towards X-ray connectomics, now out in @natmethods.nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I was glad to receive a Science Achievement Award from @crick.ac.uk! Thanks!!

Cheers to all co-authors of our study showing that tissue ultrastructure can be resolved by X-rays.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

And congrats as well to all the other awardees - such a pleasure to be in this lot!

Toward better 2D - 3D registration in BigWarp BigWarp has so far focused on 2D-2D or 3D-3D registration, and not on 2D-3D registration. After a conversation with @Christian_Tischer , we thought some simple UI changes could make the support for 2...

Do you have 2D-to-3D image registration challenges? Let me know about them here
forum.image.sc/t/toward-bet...

Big kudos to all authors of this broad collaborative approach.

And cheers to a bright future for hard X-ray nanoimaging of biological soft tissues.

@crick.ac.uk @psich.bsky.social @esrf.fr
Ana Diaz, @adrianawanner.bsky.social, @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

From aerospace to neuroscience: new imaging tech captures the brain’s intricate connections Inspired by technologies used in aerospace engineering, scientists have developed a way to capture the brain’s intricate structures using X-rays without destroying the samples.

This milestone unfolds the capacity of X-rays for mapping tissue ultrastructure without having to slice, which can have an impact on how we find answers in systems neuroscience and in the study of biological tissues more broadly.
tinyurl.com/XRnanocrick

We brought together a set of solutions tackling sample preparation, imaging algorithms and data processing and analysis that ultimately allowed obtaining <40nm resolution on brain tissue using X-ray ptychographic tomography. We could detect dendrites, mitochondria, myelinated axons... and synapses.

#paper!
X-rays can resolve #ultrastructure in tissues non-destructively.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Shoutout to key collaborators at @crick.ac.uk and @psich.bsky.social Ana Diaz, @adrianawanner.bsky.social and @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social, and to the whole team that made this possible.

Check these positions at @crick.ac.uk! It’s an outstanding opportunity to shape the way we can map neuronal circuits - and more broadly biological tissues.

Hard X-ray imaging of biological soft tissues symposium 2025

Organised by

@andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social, @em-stp.bsky.social, @carlesbosch.bsky.social, @safekhan.bsky.social, @jkbrmn.bsky.social, @yuxinzhang.bsky.social & Anika Tailor

Register here:
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25

Join us *next Monday*!
#CrickXrays25
X-ray #nanoimaging of biological tissues

🇬🇧🌐 @crick.ac.uk & online
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25

Sponsored by @dectris.bsky.social, @webknossos.org and @biologists.bsky.social and backed by @brukercorporation.bsky.social and Histomography

Hard X-ray imaging of biological soft tissues symposium 2025

#CrickXrays25 is organised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social, @em-stp.bsky.social, @carlesbosch.bsky.social, @safekhan.bsky.social, @jkbrmn.bsky.social & @yuxinzhang.bsky.social with the assistance of Anika Tailor.

Hard X-ray imaging of biological soft tissues.
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25

Join us!

With invited speakers from @esrf.fr, Northwestern U, ALBA, DESY-@embl.org, @psich.bsky.social, Argonne National Lab, @uni-goettingen.de, TU Denmark, @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social, @crick.ac.uk, @ucl.ac.uk and from industry partners @dectris.bsky.social and @webknossos.org.

tinyurl.com/crickxrays25

Hard X-ray imaging of biological soft tissues symposium 2025

#Nanoimaging symposium @crick.ac.uk!

At #CrickXrays25 we'll tackle:
💫synchrotron upgrades
📈current limits in throughput, volume, resolution
🧪sample preparation for X-ray PC imaging
🧠♥️applications in neuroscience and tissue life science

🗓️13th October 2025
🇬🇧🌐 London & online
tinyurl.com/crickxrays25

Kudos to all authors involved and thanks to all the institutions that have hosted and supported this research, including the #synchrotrons DESY and @esrf.fr.

@crick.ac.uk @embl.org @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @uclnpp.bsky.social

#preprint:

We optimised the preparation of tissues for #X-ray phase contrast imaging.

Drying tissue samples (instead of embedding them) brings more signal in #X-ray phase contrast images.

The process largely preserves #ultrastructure.

@safekhan.bsky.social @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social

Wouldn't it be great if we could not only image large connectomic volumes but also completely reconstruct them? And if a whole mouse brain project didn't cost billions?

With the PATHFINDER preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...), we preview a future where it doesn't have to.

And to the whole team: Alfred Laugros, Jayde Livingstone, Manuel Berning, Sina Tootoonian, Mihaly Kollo, Andrea Nathansen and @normanrz.com

@crick.ac.uk @uclnpp.bsky.social @esrf.fr @psich.bsky.social @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social @webknossos.org @mpibrain.bsky.social

Enjoy the read!