The purpose of the NorMIC series of workshops is to teach biological researchers (PhD students, engineers, postdocs and young PIs) the principles of biological microscopes and image processing. Bioimaging is a growing scientific field and has become a popular tool for investigating various biomedicine questions. This is also reflected in the growing demand each year for the places on the workshop.
This year we had significantly more applicants than we could physically host and sadly had to reject some applicants, workshop organiser Xian Hu explains.
In the end there were 34 students from universities around Norway and Sweden and the organisers prioritised PHD students and applicants with on-going projects.
Due to the overwhelming response, the main organisers of the workshop volunteered to host an additional one day Image Processing Workshop as part of the Oslo BioInformatics Workshop Week. The workshop was successful and received 31 participants, much more than the initially estimated 25.
– It is clear that there is a growing need for Bio-Imaging and Imaging Process amongst the local researchers. As organisers, we are happy to see that our field attracts more attention. We also recognise the challenge brought by the increasing demand and will do our best to serve our community better next year, Xian Hu states.
This year also more local researchers were invited to participate in the teaching including Anna Lång from the Oslo University Hospital and NCMM Associate Investigator Rune Enger, from Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, UiO. As well as being a teaching workshop, the NorMIC workshops continue to function as social networking events for the local imaging community.
The workshop received financial support from Digital Life Norway,UiO:Life Sciences, and BNMI (NordForsk Research Infrastructure Hubs). With the success of this autumn's workshop and the ever-growing demand from early career biological researchers for this type of learning, we can look forward to the next NorMIC workshop in the spring 2023 again.
– Our main funding agency, Digital Life Norway, was very delighted with our performance and has decided to continue to fund our workshop next year, Xian Hu comments.
Local teaching staff
Rune Enger, Felix Margadant, Kay Schink, Frodel Skjeldal, Anna Lång, Øyvind Ødegaard Fougner, Ingrid Kjos, Xian Hu(Edna), Oddmund Bakke
Supporting staff
Larissa Lily, Linda Haugen, Harold Gutch, Torfinn Nome, Melaku Tadesse