The University hosted Electron Microscopy Frontiers, its first international symposium on state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques and instrumentation, on December 9-11. The symposium commemorated the first five years of electron microscopy (EM) activities at KAUST and celebrated progress in EM research in the wider Middle East region.

Featuring over 20 speakers in EM from world-renowned universities and research institutions, the conference enabled the KAUST research community to interact and promote scientific collaborations with the participants.

Participant and speaker Rafal Dunin-Borkowski, Director of the Institute for Microstructure Research in Jülich, Germany, noted the conference “brought together leading international researchers who showcased the latest methodological developments and applications of state-of-the-art electron microscopy. The participants benefited from a collaborative atmosphere that stimulated interesting discussions about future scientific directions offered by the most modern instrumentation.”

Conference organizer KAUST Associate Professor of Bioscience Andrea Falqui said the symposium was “an important and fruitful event from several points of view: It allowed KAUST’s electron microscopists to meet and interact with others who share their passion for electron microscopy and its wide applications, and it enabled us to show how KAUST is becoming a reference electron microscopy laboratory, not just for the Middle East area, but also for the international scientific community working in the field.”

“The Electron Microscopy Frontiers event was the first fully-fledged international conference of this kind in the Arabian Peninsula,” added Pedro Da Costa, KAUST Assistant Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, who was also an organizer of the event. “The conference succeeded in gathering experts from various international and regional academic institutions to discuss progress and future strategies for this field in the Middle East.”

By Caitlin Clark, KAUST News