Alex Ball Email & Phone Number

Manager of the Electron Microscope Unit at The Natural History Museum 2004-2015Electron Microscopist at The Natural History Museum 1997-2004Departmental Health and safety liaison officer from 2004-2010Specialties: Scanning Electron Microscopy, Variable Pressure SEM, confocal microscopy - especially in the context of the non-destructive examination of cultural heritage specimens.Royal Microscopical Society Training Focused Interest Group ChairRMS Council Member since 2017Society of Electron Microscope Technology Secretary since 2015RMS Education and Outreach Committee Member since 2015RMS Electron Microscope Committee Member since 2014Research backgroundMy PhD and subsequent post-doctoral experience concentrated on the ontogeny of the foregut of neogastropod molluscs. I still have an interest in this area, but no longer have the time to continue to carry out research in this subject.Molluscs are fascinating creatures and offer great opportunities as model organisms. My research investigated the link between ontogeny and phylogeny. At the time, the only way to investigate morphology of embryonic specimens was through serial-sections and light microscopy. I used fairly primitive computer-aided 3D reconstruction software to model internal anatomy.I used SEM to examine the external features and to compare different developmental stages and TEM filled in the last gaps in the puzzle, allowing me to positively identify tissue types in developing embryos and to compare the histology between different organs.Modern techniques, such as micro CT, have only just caught up to the demanding challenge of preparing serial sections of specimens. However, the detailed effort of reconstructing anatomy in 3D (particularly through segmentation) is still a challenge.My current research interests are methodology-driven towards trying to get the best out of the wide range of instrumentation that we have available in the labs at the Natural History Museum.

Listed skills include Scanning Electron Microscopy, Electron Microscopy, Science, Microscopy, and 9 others.

• 

  Royal Holloway, University Of London

  Zoology