REMBI: Recommended Metadata for Biological Images-enabling reuse of microscopy data in biology.

Bioimaging data have significant potential for reuse, but unlocking this potential requires systematic archiving of data and metadata in public databases. We propose draft metadata guidelines to begin addressing the needs of diverse communities within light and electron microscopy. We hope this publication and the proposed Recommended Metadata for Biological Images (REMBI) will stimulate discussions about their implementation and future extension.

An international survey of Training Needs and Career Paths of Core Facility Staff.

Core facilities (CFs) provide a centralised access to costly equipment, scientific expertise, experimental design, day-to-day technical support and training of users. CFs have a tremendous impact on research outputs, skills and educational agendas, increasing the competencies of staff, researchers and students. However, the rapid development of new technologies and methodologies for the life sciences requires fast adaptation and development of existing core facilities and their technical and scientific staff.

Advanced light microscopy core facilities: Balancing service, science and career.

Core Facilities (CF) for advanced light microscopy (ALM) have become indispensable support units for research in the life sciences. Their organizational structure and technical characteristics are quite diverse, although the tasks they pursue and the services they offer are similar. Therefore, throughout Europe, scientists from ALM-CFs are forming networks to promote interactions and discuss best practice models.

Protein displacements under external forces: An atomistic Langevin dynamics approach.

We present a fully atomistic Langevin dynamics approach as a method to simulate biopolymers under external forces. In the harmonic regime, this approach permits the computation of the long-term dynamics using only the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix of second derivatives. We apply this scheme to identify polymorphs of model proteins by their mechanical response fingerprint, and we relate the averaged dynamics of proteins to their biological functionality, with the ion channel gramicidin A, a phosphorylase, and neuropeptide Y as examples.

Charge transfer through a protein-nano junction.

We address the problem of charge transfer (CT) between a nanosized inorganic system and a protein from a theoretical and numerical perspective. The CT process is described on an atomistic level by applying an electronic Hamiltonian that takes into account the chemical bond, vibronic coupling effects, and polarization degrees of freedom. As a structurally well-characterized example, we consider a complex of C60 and its antibody.