Event Details

Dr Jonathan Nylk is an expert in Physical Sciences Education at the Open University and will deliver an insightful RSC Public Lecture.

Since the invention of the first microscope in the 17th century, biomedical microscopy has been limited to observing very thin samples – single layers of cells – but organs, animals, humans are complex 3D systems. This mismatch between biology in nature and biology in the laboratory is one of the reasons that more than 90% of drug candidates do not succeed in clinical trials. A microscope that can see 3D systems moving and functioning is needed.

Enter the new millennium, and these new microscopes are being developed, all enabled by the ability to shape and control how light enters and leaves the microscope. Dr Jonathan Nylk will discuss the workings of these newly emerging imaging techniques. Along the way, we’ll learn that light travels in straight lines, that light doesn’t in fact travel along straight lines, how to make a tractor beam, and what links advanced microscopy and guitars.