The Etch A Cell Team

The Francis Crick Institute

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Lucy Collinson - Head of Electron Microscopy

Lucy Collinson realised that she was fascinated by the nano-world when she did her final year science project in microbiology at school and watched milk turn sour for a month. This inspired her to apply for a degree and then a PhD in microbiology, followed by post-doctoral research using massive, complicated microscopes to image tiny fascinating cells. During her post-doc, she realised that she was much more interested in developing microscopy techniques than in understanding the samples she was imaging, and she soon switched from studying the cells themselves to running electron microscopy facilities. She now runs a large imaging facility at the Francis Crick Institute, which houses many cutting edge light, X-ray and electron microscopes. Her primary role is to image a huge range of cell and tissue samples for other researchers with a team of ten biological electron microscopists, and she also collaborates with engineers, physical and computational scientists to design new microscopes and imaging workflows.

 

Martin Jones - Deputy Head of Microscopy Prototyping

Martin is Deputy Head of Microscopy Prototyping at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Originally an experimental physicist, with an interest in evolutionary and adaptive computation, he switched to biological research at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute. After initially working in a vascular biology lab, Martin joined the Electron Microscopy Science Technology Platform where he now works on developing new hardware and software solutions to help acquire and efficiently interpret image data.

 

Helen Spiers - Zooniverse Biomedical Research Lead

Dr Helen Spiers is Biomedical Research Lead of the Zooniverse and a CZI Imaging Scientist Fellow. Based at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Helen works with many research teams around the world to develop novel citizen science projects tackling a range of biomedical research questions. Helen also studies the phenomenon of citizen science, and is currently examining multiple aspects of volunteer experience across the Zooniverse. Prior to her current position, Helen completed a PhD in developmental epigenetics at King’s College London, worked as a Medical Writer for two years, and obtained a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.

 

Matouš Elphick - Sandwich Placement Laboratory Research Assistant

Matouš is a Laboratory Research Assistant within the Electron Microscopy Science Technology Platform at the Francis Crick Institute in London. He is an undergraduate student studying Computer Science at Newcastle University and is currently on a year long placement at the Francis Crick Institute. At the Francis Crick Institute he is currently working on creating new techniques for automating the segmentation of the internal structures of organelles in volume electron microscopy datasets.

 

Anne Weston - Senior Laboratory Research Scientist

Anne is a Senior Laboratory Research Scientist within the Electron Microscopy Science Technology Platform at the Francis Crick Institute in London. She has a background in Zoology and Bioinformatics. She first began working in the field of electron microscopy during her undergraduate degree in 1996 and her work involves the use of scanning and transmission electron microscopes and microCT systems studying a variety of cellular and biological systems.

 

Christopher Peddie- Principal Laboratory Research Scientist

Chris is a Principal Laboratory Research Scientist within the Electron Microscopy Science Technology Platform at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Originally a biochemist, he has a background in light and electron microscopy of central and peripheral nervous systems, and in cell biology. At the Francis Crick Institute, his work focuses on the development and application of complex 3D imaging techniques and technologies to answer the biological questions from research groups within the institute.

 

Amy Strange - Head of Software Engineering and AI

Amy Strange leads a team of software and machine learning engineers working on finding computational solutions for bio-medical data problems in collaboration with research groups at the Crick.