NETHERLANDS ELECTRON MICROSCOPY INFRASTRUCTURE (NEMI)

NEMI is the central point for EM infrastructure, innovation and access in The Netherlands.

The revolution in electron microscopy (EM) has greatly increased the demand for high-end EM in in both Life Sciences and Materials Sciences. The NEMI infrastructure is distributed, with multiple specialized nodes focusing on particular methodologies and expertise. The Dutch research community benefits from NEMI by sharing cross-disciplinary expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, and by coordinating funding opportunities.

MISSION AND GOALS OF NEMI

Ensuring access to the most advanced EM technologies to all in the life and materials science.
Accelerating innovations in EM, enabling novel applications of societal and economic importance.

NEMI goals:

coordinate and harmonize EM infrastructure deployment;
create a strong and innovative Dutch EM infrastructure;
differentiated investments at regional Flagship Nodes, based on local strengths and opportunities;
connect EM for the life sciences with EM for the materials sciences;
provide access, services and training to state-of-the-art EM technologies;
increase the accessibility of the EM methodology to non-EM specialists;
foster cooperation between instrumentation developers, providers, scientists, industry, national and European funding schemes and national authorities;
better use the EM capacities of the Dutch labs;
speak with one voice to (inter)national funders;
promote FAIR principles of EM data.

EM has enabled numerous scientific discoveries and industrial innovations in a range of disciplines, most notably the life and materials science.

Life sciences EM: the basic concept of life.

EM is indispensable to address biological structures both at cellular and molecular scales. It has revealed how each cell of the human body is divided into membrane compartments with specialized functions that together organize a diversity of processes. Recent developments in EM at extremely low temperatures even allow to zoom in to atomic resolution and see individual proteins or protein complexes within the native environment of the cell. This provides critical insights in the molecular processes of diseases (e.g. transformation of cancer cells, disease-causing mechanisms in the ageing brain) and human development (e.g. differentiation and renewal of stem cells). Indeed, molecular and cellular defects underlie most diseases.

Life Sciences EM. Left and middle panel: Artist impressions highlighting that EM has led to understanding the basic concept of life by revealing processes at the cellular (left) and molecular (centre) level. Individual proteins within the native environment of the cell can be imaged by EM. Right panel: EM image color coding distinct compartments in the cell.

Recent innovations in automated imaging in 2D (x,y axes; large-scale EM) and 3D (x,y,z axes; volume-EM) are creating unprecedented possibilities to reveal the architecture of cells within the context of their complex environment, such as tumors and even entire brains.
cryo-EM not only has revolutionized academic research, but pharmaceutical and biotech industry have also embraced this emerging technology. Cryo-EM covers a key resolution (sub-nanometer) and spatial range window, that allows (bio)chemistry-driven research on molecular structure and biology-driven research on cellular structure to be bridged.

MATERIAL SCIENCES EM

EM is the only technique available that can image the atomic structure of materials with (sub) nanometer resolution. Using analytical tools, also the chemical composition and electronic properties can be mapped in 2D or in 3D at the nanometer scale. These detailed characterizations are of major importance to research fields such as the geosciences, metallurgy, catalysis and semiconductors (hard matter), to polymeric materials, materials for tissue regeneration and foods (soft matter) and materials based on colloids (where soft and hard matter meet).

EM for materials science. Nanomaterials are nowadays abundantly used in displays, batteries, and solar cells, and as catalysts for efficient conversion of energy resources. Characterization and development of these nanostructured materials requires imaging at the level of individual atoms, which can be achieved with the newest generation of aberration-corrected electron microscopes.

Amsterdam

Regional contact person: Dr. Nicole van der Wel, email: n.n.vanderwel@amc.uva.nl.

Amsterdam UMC:

Delft

Regional contact person: Dr. Jacob Hoogenboom, email: j.p.hoogenboom@tudelft.nl

Delft University of Technology (TUD):

Eindhoven

Regional contact person: Dr. Heiner Friedrich, email: h.friedrich@tue.nl

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e):

Enschede

Regional contact person: Prof. Dr. Ir. Gertjan Koster, email: g.koster@utwente.nl

University Twente (UT):

MESA+ Nanolab

Groningen

Regional contact person: Dr. Cristina Paulino, email: c.paulino@rug.nl

University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG):

UMCG Microscopy and Imaging Center (UMIC)

University of Groningen (RUG):

Leiden

Regional contact person: Dr. Suzanne Roodhuijzen, email: s.a.roodhuijzen@biology.leidenuniv.nl

Maastricht

Regional contact person: Prof. dr. Ron Heeren, email: r.heeren@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Maastricht University:

Maastricht Multimodal Molecular Imaging Institute (M4I)

Nijmegen

Regional contact person: Prof. dr. Nico Sommerdijk, email: nico.sommerdijk@radboudumc.nl

Radboud University (RU) & Radboudumc:

Microscopy Imaging Center (MIC)

Utrecht (central node)

Regional contact person: Dr. ir. Marijn van Huis, email: m.a.vanhuis@uu.nl

University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU):

Cell Microscopy Core

Utrecht University (UU):

EM Square

Wageningen

Regional contact person: Dr. Marcel Giesbers, email: marcel.giesbers@wur.nl

Wageningen University (WU):

Wageningen Electron Microscopy Center

NEMI consists of regionally distributed nodes, emphasizing local specialized expertise and resources and will include the large-scale scientific infrastructures NeCEN (Netherlands Center of Electron Nanoscopy) and M4I (Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Imaging). A national plan will be developed to coordinate the acquisition of the latest generation of EM equipment and to provide access to the regional centers. NEMI will cooperate closely with Dutch and international companies and collaborate strategically with the projects NL-BioImaging AM (light microscopy), Instruct (structural biology), NanoLabNL (nanotechnology), NSEO (geoscience), and Health RI (national coordinated infrastructure for personalized medicine and health).

The Central Access Node in Utrecht is the national central entry point, providing information about the infrastructure and directing potential users to the desired imaging technology as served by the NEMI Nodes.

The Flagship Nodes (LINK) in Delft, Eindhoven, Groningen, Leiden, Maastricht, and Utrecht, concentrate highly advanced or specialized EM techniques to specific sites only. These Nodes focus on regional strengths and create optimal conditions for access from other regions. Each Flagship Node is connected to one or several excellent principal investigators (PIs), who are recognized leaders in their field, to drive innovation and application of specialized EM technology. In addition, a facility manager or support team is in place to create optimal conditions for access from other regions. Flagship Nodes can co-exist with Regional Nodes and cost-effectively share personnel and instrumentation.

As established in the Consortium Agreement that is attached to this application, and illustrated in Figure 10, the main management body of NEMI is the General Assembly (GA), in which 1-3 delegates of all Nodes are represented and which will meet at least once a year. The first meeting of the general assembly, at the same time kick-off meeting of NEMI, was on November 14, 2016. The next meeting will be integrated with the annual DutchBiophysics/Dutch society for Microscopy meeting in Veldhoven (October 2-3, 2017), a 2-day scientific meeting attracting both life science and material scientists, with focus on microscopy. A slot has been reserved in conjunction to the national assembly of NL-BioImaging AM, allowing optimal conditions for interactions and exchange.

Many of the responsibilities of NEMI are mandated to the Executive Board (EB), especially with respect to the day-to-day operation and overall scientific and strategic management of NEMI. The composition of the EB reflects the Dutch life and materials science EM communities and be career-stage and gender-balanced. We strive to have one delegate per region, to be elected by the local community and approved by the GA. Within the EB, each delegate is responsible for communication to the Regional and/or Flagship EM nodes of his/her home region. The EB meets at least 4 times a year. The main responsibility of the EB is to coordinate EM infrastructure, innovation and access at the national level and monitor progress of the workpackages (see below). The EB will repost to the general assembly on the progress of NEMI in an annual report.

The current EB members are: