Meet Ana Agostinho – a Super-resolution Microscopy Specialist from the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility in SciLifeLab, Stockholm!

In this edition of our Meet the Nodes interview series, our Scientific Ambassador Bruno Stojcic, sat down with Ana Agostinho, Staff Scientist and super-resolution microscopy specialist at the Advanced Light Microscopy (ALM) facility in SciLifeLab, Stockholm, Sweden. Since joining the facility in 2019, Ana has supported researchers across a broad range of super-resolution microscopy approaches, including SIM, SMLM, MINFLUX, and expansion microscopy.

With a background spanning different model organisms, sample types, and super-resolution technologies, Ana plays an important role in helping users choose the right imaging strategy for their biological question. Her work combines technical expertise, sample preparation guidance, hands-on imaging support, and a strong commitment to collaborative research.

Article contributed by our Scientific Ambassador, Bruno Stojcic, KTH Royal Institute of Technology/ SciLifeLab.

Supporting researchers from question to image

Ana has been part of the ALM facility since 2019, where she works as a Staff Scientist and super-resolution microscopy specialist. Her work often begins long before a user sits down at the microscope.

For each new project, she begins by discussing the biological question with the researcher and identifying the imaging modality that would best address it. From there, she advises on sample preparation, labelling strategy, image acquisition, and, where needed, data analysis.

“The first step is always to understand the question,” she explains. “Then we can decide which modality is most suitable and what the limitations might be.”

This guidance is especially important in super-resolution microscopy, where increased resolution often comes with practical constraints. For example, imaging multiple targets at once can become increasingly challenging as resolution improves, and not every technique is suitable for every sample or experimental design.

A key part of her work is ensuring users understand both the advantages and limitations of each method. When a project is better suited to another platform or expertise, she helps direct researchers to neighbouring institutes, other facilities, or collaborators within the wider imaging community.

A broad super-resolution toolbox

At the ALM, Ana works with a wide range of super-resolution technologies, including SIM, SMLM, MINFLUX, and expansion microscopy. She supports users across different stages of the workflow, from experimental planning and sample preparation to acquisition and troubleshooting.

Among these technologies, structured illumination microscopy holds a special place for her.

“SIM was my first contact with super-resolution microscopy. It was my first love.”

She enjoys SIM not only because of this personal connection, but also because of the balance it offers between resolution, control, and biological applicability. While DNA-PAINT and other single-molecule approaches can achieve higher resolution, SIM remains a powerful and versatile method for many samples.

“SIM can be challenging both in acquisition and processing, and that pushes me a bit more. But when it works well, it gives beautiful results, from broad structural information to very subtle details.”

In recent years, she has also become increasingly interested in DNA-PAINT application because of its versatility and ability to reach resolution levels beyond SIM and STED.

The challenges of sample handling

When asked about the most technically challenging samples she has worked with, Ana points not to one specific biological sample, but to the practical realities of sample handling.

Mounting expanded samples, for example, can be particularly demanding. Expanded gels and hydrogel-based samples are delicate, and keeping them stable during imaging can be difficult.

“The challenge is often not the sample itself, but the handling of it,” she says. “With expanded gels, you need to make sure they do not slide or ‘shrink’ during acquisition.”

Having once been a facility user herself, Ana was not aware of the behind-the-scenes expertise required to make advanced imaging work. Today, she makes a point of involving users in the troubleshooting process rather than giving them a finished product.

“I want users to see when things do not go according to plan. I want them to understand the hurdles of sample preparation and mounting, and to troubleshoot with us along the way.”

For her, this is an important part of training and scientific support. It helps users become more independent and gives them a more realistic understanding of what advanced microscopy involves.

What makes facility work rewarding

One of the aspects Ana enjoys most about her role is the opportunity to remain closely involved in research while contributing to many different scientific questions.

“I like that I am still involved in research, but I am not limited to one research topic,” she says. “One day it might be neurons cultured from the mouse brain, another day mammalian cells, blood platelets, or something completely different.”

She also values the strong network of facility staff and microscopy experts around her. Many of the most useful tips, she notes, are often not found in the methods section of a paper, but come from shared practical experience.

A career shaped by curiosity and microscopy

Ana’s interest in microscopy began early. As a child, she received a simple battery-powered microscope from her father and used it to look at fish scales, insect wings, and anything else she could place under the lens.

“That was my introduction to science,” she recalls. “Funny enough, my colleague has recently gifted a lovely old light-microscope that belonged to his children, to my daughters, and so the tradition lives on!”

She went on to study Biology at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, an agricultural university where supportive internship supervisors gave her the opportunity to work with different biological systems. Her early research journey took her from plants to nematodes, which she remembers as a key transition which would later inform her choice of PhD topic.

She later completed her PhD at the University of Dundee, in Scotland, investigating the combined role of key DNA repair genes for meiotic development in C. elegans. This was where she first encountered super-resolution microscopy. After that, she moved to Sweden for a postdoctoral position at the Karolinska Institutet,  focusing on meiotic recombination using mice as model organisms, with dedicated work in super-resolution microscopy at SciLifeLab.

Her relationship with the facility began long before she joined the staff. She had been a user of the same facility since 2013, before becoming part of the team in 2019.

“I had gained enough experience in super-resolution microscopy, and I wanted to try working in the facility environment. Since I had been a user there myself, I already knew how valuable that support could be.”

Following the future of microscopy

Looking ahead, Ana sees the ALM continuing to follow and adopt the latest developments in advanced microscopy. She highlights the facility’s ability to test new kits, dyes, fluorophores, and labelling strategies as one of its major strengths.

“The resolution is already there in many ways,” she says. “Now the question is often about labelling — how do you prepare the sample so that it can be imaged in the best possible way?”

She expects continued development in correlative light and electron microscopy, while noting that the facility’s current strength remains in advanced light microscopy and super-resolution. The team brings together expertise in light-sheet microscopy, STED, SMLM, FCS, MINFLUX, optics, cell biology, and sample preparation.

“We are lucky to have people with different expertise — optics, biology, cell biology, and advanced microscopy. That combination is what makes our facility strong and an exciting workplace”

Advice for future imaging specialists

For young scientists or technicians considering a career in imaging, Ana strongly recommends gaining broad research experience. Her own background across plants, nematodes, mammalian cells, mice, different sample types, labelling strategies, and super-resolution techniques has been highly valuable in her facility role.

She believes that understanding the strengths of different techniques is important, but understanding their limitations is even more essential.

“It helped me to have experience with different samples and different types of labelling, and to know the advantages and, more importantly, the limitations of the techniques.”

With her broad technical expertise, collaborative approach, and deep understanding of the practical realities of super-resolution microscopy, Ana continues to help researchers turn complex biological questions into high-quality imaging experiments.