IMAGINE!

Gravitation Project: IMAGINE! (Innovative Microscopy And Guidance of cells In their Native Environment) Seeing and steering cells in our tissues Cells, life’s basic building blocks, have been extensively studied, but how cells self-organise into tissues and how molecular processes inside cells enable tissue formation is poorly understood. IMAGINE! will bring together biology and technology experts to address this major challenge by studying and manipulating cells at the molecular level in their native tissue environment. The programme will provide essential knowledge and tools for regenerative medicine, optimising therapies and repurposing existing drugs. The consortium is made up of 21 leading scientists in their field, and their respective PhDs and postdocs contributing to the IMAGINE! project, based at 8 different Dutch institutes (UU, NKI, Hubrecht Institute, PMC, TU/e, TUD, RUMC). Together they form an expert team with a diverse and extensive knowledge background including optogenetics, organoid research, cellular dynamics, oncology, DNA-segregation, drug delivery, biosensor development, organic chemistry, engineering of optical microscopes, data visualisation and analysis. For the realisation of the project the consortium was awarded a Gravitation grant (“zwaartekracht” in Dutch), funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Dutch government via the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for 10 years (October 2022 – September 2032).