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Microscopy Tools for Automation and Feedback


Award Imaging Scientist

Funding Cycle Cycle 2

Investigator

Robert Hauschild, PhD

Institute of Science and Technology Austria (BioImaging Facility)

Bio

Dr. Hauschild is a staff scientist of the BioImaging Facility at IST Austria, where he develops innovative solutions for microscopy problems by designing and building optical setups and writing software for image acquisition and analysis. His main goal is to provide robust, user-friendly, comprehensible workflows from sample preparation to the final figure. He received his PhD in physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, where he studied light matter interactions in semiconductors and artificial light-harvesting complexes with a self-built time-resolved microscope. Before joining IST Austria to establish the imaging core facility, he worked as an engineer at Carl Zeiss MicroImaging for several years, developing a number of light sheet, confocal, and multiphoton microscopes.

Project Description

Dr. Hauschild’s work supports the broader microscopy community by offering enhanced resources to imaging facilities and by openly sharing information. He will develop user-friendly tools in order to provide improved, automated image acquisition tools and feedback microscopy for the generation of condensed, information-rich data. These tools will automate common and routine tasks such as sample tracking and realignment, details-in-context imaging, and adaptive adjustment of imaging parameters to minimize image degradation. Dr. Hauschild will also contribute devices for environmental control, microscope performance testing, and especially sample manipulation. In addition, he aims to openly share these well-documented and tested hardware and software microscopy tools by providing part lists, 3D models ready for printing, assembly instructions, and manuals. In order to maximize utility, he will place emphasis on simplicity, reliability, and affordability by using only off-the-shelf components and avoiding machined parts and special electronics.