Euro-BioImaging at the Congress of the Brazilian Society of Microscopy and Microanalysis

Euro-BioImaging at the Congress of the Brazilian Society of Microscopy and Microanalysis

Through our participation in Global BioImaging, Euro-BioImaging has built strong collaborations with Latin American BioImaging and the national imaging networks in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Through these connections, Euro-BioImaging was very happy to be invited to contribute to a Global BioImaging-organised pre-congress workshop and shared booth at 29th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Microscopy and Microanalysis (CSBMM) and the XVII Interamerican Congress on Microscopy (CIASEM) in Olinda, Brazil. 

The pre-congress workshop was organised by Global BioImaging, together with Latin America BioImaging (LABI), Brazilian Society for Microscopy and Microanalysis (SBMM), Centro de Biología Estructural del Mercosur (CEBEM) and Euro-BioImaging. The workshop focused on Bridging Borders in BioImaging and introduced the attendees to the national, regional and global imaging networks and what they have to offer.

More than 70 attendees of the workshop actively engaged in discussions around the role of imaging core facilities in their institutional and national research contexts and shared challenges and perspectives for career paths for imaging core facility staff, aligning with the Global BioImaging International Recommendation on this topic. 

The discussions at the workshop - and over the course of the congress (at the shared GBI communities booth, for example) - highlighted the importance of global collaboration and networking to advance knowledge transfer, training, and making technology developments accessible for researchers. The imaging communities - both local, national, regional as well as in their global networks – clearly form important platforms for synergies, e.g. to share training resources, co-organize events, and drive policy change through a unified voice. At the same time, the connections and collaborations built through such networking efforts allow the sharing of experiences and support - particularly critical under difficult political circumstances in different countries.

For Euro-BioImaging, this congress and the workshop represented exciting opportunities to:

• Share our experience of building a cross-national research infrastructure;

• Advertise our services and opportunities to the Latin American research community;

• Learn about the latest developments particularly in the Electron Microscopy field;

• Support our partners in Global BioImaging and Latin America BioImaging.

We warmly thank the CSBMM organizers and our workshop co-organizers – Yara Reis (GBI), Karina Alleva (CEBEM), Andres Oliver (LABI), Kildare Miranda, Rodrigo Portugal and Marco Guimarães (SBMM & Brazilian Microscopy Network)!