What lies beneath

22 February 2022

The dreaded question. The great conversation stopper.

“So… what are you doing your PhD on?”

Science communication to the general public is hard, and there’s no worse feeling than seeing the light drain from people’s eyes as you explain “what’s so fascinating” about your research project. This issue is further exacerbated in the molecular biosciences, where the processes we study cannot be seen with the naked eye. An inherent distrust can creep in if our scientific findings aren’t shown through a photo, screenshot, or graphic to be shared online.

We make the most of our home court advantage of course, talking science with our lab members, colleagues, researchers from other universities. It is very tempting to stay within our comfort zone, but sadly this is selling our work short.

Thankfully we have microscopy - the great equalizer. Being able to magnify microscopic organisms through powerful lenses has been a lifesaver for science communicators (and TV news producers) - instead of talking about “invisible” cells in the abstract, we can show an actual image!

The videos below walk through light and fluorescence microscopy, and cover:

• Components of a light microscope

• Focusing techniques

• Oil immersion microscopy

• Gram-staining

• Immunofluorescent visualisation of proteins

These techniques have the power to showcase the fundamental processes of life beyond the resolution of our eyes, to see what lies beneath the surface.

Jack.