Title: Light on Life: Illuminating All Things Big and Small
Date and time: Wednesday 18 June 2025
Venue: Avenue campus, University of Southampton

Conference abstract: This is a one-day in-person event organised by the Institute for Life Sciences aimed at showcasing cutting edge, interdisciplinary and translational research with the theme of ‘Light on Life: Illuminating All Things Big and Small’.

The event is designed for researchers with interests in the development of new imaging technologies or new applications of more established methods. The conference will feature sessions on Molecular and Nanoscale, Micro- and Mesoscale, as well as Macroscale including Biomedical Imaging. The focus will be on correlative workflows across scales and modalities, covering studies that span in vitro models, animals, humans, and the environment. Presentations will highlight both technological advancements and practical applications focussing on the role of correlative imaging in providing a holistic understanding of biology, physiology, and the environment.

Advancements in imaging and biophotonics have led to many step change discoveries in biosciences, medicine, and the environmental sciences. Innovations in instrumentation, techniques and analysis methods have driven the evolution of this broad discipline, enabling deeper insights across the disciplines. A key aspect of this progress is the growing importance of cross-modality correlative imaging workflows, which integrate complementary techniques to provide a more comprehensive understanding of complex systems. Despite all these, significant challenges remain. Trade-offs in resolution, speed, data quality, throughput, and penetration depth must be addressed to unlock the full potential of these technologies. The technologies themselves need to be translated through innovative methodological developments for different applications. New imaging modalities and applications, advances in hardware, the ongoing evolution of algorithms and processing methods, and the introduction of AI/ML into data acquisition and analysis are transforming the field. The conference aims to showcase these exciting developments that are helping researchers overcome long-standing challenges, driving new discoveries, and providing deeper insights into biological and natural phenomena.

The organisers would like to express their gratitude to all sponsors for their support.

The programme will include invited presentations, flash presentations and a poster session to encourage networking, discussion and sharing of information. Lunch and refreshments will be provided and there will be opportunities for collaborative discussions and networking.

Register a place to attend: To book a place at this event, and to register interest in presenting a poster or flash presentation, please complete the registration form.

Poster and flash presentation places will be confirmed by a member of the IfLS team. The programme schedule, list of speakers and joining instructions will be sent to registered attendees ahead of the meeting.

If you have any questions, please contact IfLSAdmin@soton.ac.uk.