Speaker: Prof. Byung-Kook Ham (University of Saskatchewan)
Date and time: Monday, June 15, 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (heure de l'Est)
Title
Seeing Through Plants: Synergizing Optical Microscopy and X-Ray Technology to Resolve Cellular and Structural Complexity in Modern Plant Biology
Abstract
Understanding the internal dynamic transport networks and physiological processes of plants is critical for driving agricultural sustainability and crop resilience. Living plants rely on complex, deep-seated internal pathways to continuously distribute molecular signals, water, and essential elements across tissues to maintain organism-wide homeostasis. While mapping these real-time, long-distance physiological dynamics is crucial, capturing them inside living systems presents a severe physical challenge: the thick, highly heterogeneous nature of biological tissue causes intense light scattering and refractive index mismatches. These physical barriers drastically limit the depth penetration and resolution of traditional optical microscopy, leaving the deep structural and chemical interior of intact plants largely hidden from view. To overcome these precise optical barriers, an interdisciplinary framework can pair plant biological research with a forward-looking roadmap for multi-modal imaging. Recently, advanced applications of high-penetration X-ray methodologies have emerged as powerful tools to resolve deep internal architectures. Here, we discuss how a complementary imaging strategy, combining surface optical clarity with deep X-ray structural and elemental profiling, can bridge the physical gaps of light microscopy in plant biology.
Pour assister au séminaire ou pour avoir accès à son enregistrement, contactez la coordonnatrice du programme (genevieve.boudreau@inrs.ca).
Pour la série complète des séminaires, visitez : ultrafast-coast-to-coast.ca.
Au plaisir de vous y voir!
