Karl Landsteiner Privatuniversität, Gesundheitsuni Krems, KL Academy

Imaging nerve cells

one week compact course from September 29 – October 3, 2025 Dauer

850,- Euro Gebühren

2 ECTS

Englisch Unterrichtssprache

8 Anzahl der Plätze

Target group

Teaching and research staff in life sciences (doctors, master students, PhD students, biomedical scientists)

The Benefit

Course participants will

understand the basics of nerve cell imaging including fluorescent labeling,
understand and apply fluorescent microscopy and basic image analysis procedures, including quality control and potential pitfalls,
get insight into image quantification techniques, design and perform an experiment and compose a publication quality figure.

Imaging Nerve Cells

Application

Registration will be possible soon.

The Organization

The course consists of theory (short lectures/group discussions), practical course work, and self-study (paper reading and protocol writing).

Short lectures/group discussions

Introduction into culturing nerve cells (2 hours)
Basics of immunofluorescence microscopy with a focus on nerve cell and synapse imaging (2 hours)
Introduction into immunocytochemistry (2 hours)
Feedback meeting (2 hours)

Practical course work

Designing and performing immuno-cytochemical labelling of cultured nerve cells (10 hours)
Hands-on training in fluorescent microscopy, imaging experiments (12 hours)
Introduction into image handling and analysis (using ImageJ), composing image panels for publications (6 hours)

Self-study

Reading assignments of 2-3 papers in preparation for the course will be distributed 2 weeks prior to the course (6 hours),
Assignments/protocol: Composing publication quality image panels from the experiments, submission of assignments required (8 hours)

The Course

Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful experimental technique that is widely used in neuroscience research. However, the method and the respective experimental and technical requirements are insufficiently understood and critical aspects, such as control conditions and quantification techniques, are inconsistently applied. Cultured hippocampal neurons provide a well-established and critical tool for in vitro neuroscience experiments. Their importance is continually increasing as, following the RRR principles, the neuroscience community tries to continually reduce the use of animals in research. By employing high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, neuronal network formation, cell biological mechanisms, and particularly synaptic functions can be studied in cultured neurons. Therefore, the course promotes a comprehensive understanding of how fluorescence microscopy can contribute to unraveling complex neuronal functions. It links fixed and live cell imaging techniques to applications in neuroscience, such as studying neurodegenerative diseases, synaptic plasticity, and developmental neuroscience. The course provides in-depth knowledge of microscope configuration requirements (resolution, light source, filters, cameras, etc.), ensuring precise and high-quality imaging in neuroscience research. The course also covers processing of imaging data and analysis, including the use of ImageJ with specialized self-designed macros. The research laboratory of Gerald Obermair is a leading international laboratory in the field of cellular neurobiology and strongly contributed to developing state-of-the-art imaging applications. The imaging applications have contributed to a series of excellent publications (e.g., PMIDs 27708393, 30683685, 33782113, 39161180) and immunofluorescence images of the lab were repeatedly selected as journal cover images (e.g., for JN, JBC, EJN; please refer to our website for examples: https://www.kl.ac.at/en/university/scientific-organisational-units/division-physiology). Taken together, course participants will benefit from the laboratory’s well-established expertise in imaging nerve cells as well as from the international environment in the laboratory.