WG 1 – Illumination power

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WG 1 – Objectives

Comparison of fluorescence intensities between images requires measurements of the illumination power and stability of the excitation light source. WG1 aims at establishing a recommended protocol for measuring the stability of a light source during both short- and long-term image acquisition sessions using calibrated external power sensors. This initial aim will be extended later to measure the absolute flux of light through the illumination path and irradiance of the sample. The initial protocol will be designed around lasers on confocal microscopy platforms (raster scanning and spinning disks). It will be later modified towards other microscopy techniques (widefield, TIRF, light-sheet, super-resolution).

WG 1 – Co-Chairs

WG 1 - Latest News

WG 1 - Illumination Power published its third version of the protocol "Illumination Power, Stability and Linearity Measurements for Confocal, Widefield and Multiphoton Microscopes". The protocol is featured on protocols.io

We are delighted to warmly welcome our first member from Thailand, Dr Tassanee Lerksuthirat from the Research Center Ramathibodi Hospital just joined Working Group 1, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 of QUAREP-LiMi.

WG 1 - Illumination Power published its second version of the protocol "Illumination Power, Stability and Linearity Measurements for Confocal and Widefield Microscopes". The protocol is featured on protocols.io

 

Upcoming meeting: 1st October 2025, 5:00 pm
Last meeting: 3rd September 2025, 5:00 pm

Release of protocol “Illumination power and illumination stability measurements for contocal, widefield and multiphoton microscopes“. 

Beside step-by-step instructions, the protocol provides:

  1. Automation
    • Aims: The QUAREP-LiMi power and stability assessment protocol requires long and repetitive measurements for each light source as other parameters are tested. The aim of this subgroup is to provide feasible means for carrying out these processes, taking advantage of the automation capabilities of modern microscopes.
    • Co-leads: Mišo Mitkovski, Nasser Darwish
    • On-going tasks:
    • Cloud storage location (can be accessed as a member) here
  2. Environment
  3. Glossary
  4. Power Meter

43rd Meeting, 1st of October 2025

Meeting date

01/10/2025 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting documentation

42nd Meeting, 3rd of September 2025

Meeting date

03/09/2025 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

The working group met to review progress on the irradiance manuscript, with Nathalie noting her main focus through Christmas will be completing the draft. While methods and devices sections are in good shape, the discussion and later topics need expansion and may be reframed as “perspectives” or “applications” to better suit a guidelines-style article. Members agreed on tailoring the writing to a broader life science audience and will add concrete biological examples, case studies, and reconstructed figures. Volunteers will continue filling content gaps asynchronously, while a subgroup will work on unifying style. The manuscript will first go to bioRxiv, with journals such as Methods and Applications in Fluorescence orPLOS ONE (Ten Simple Rules) considered for publication, and the group will reconvene next month to refine progress and strategy.

Meeting documentation

41st Meeting, 7th of May 2025

Meeting date

07/05/2025 @ 2:15 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

At our May meeting, 15 members participated in reviewing the WG3 protocol, with ongoing comments being added on protocols.io. We also reviewed the OMERO-metrics Excel file on illumination power measurements. A timeline was confirmed for the Irradiance manuscript, with a definitions meeting planned for late May and a final draft targeted for submission to the ERB by year-end. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 3rd, after which we will pause for summer and reconvene in September.

Meeting documentation

40th Meeting, 2nd of April 2025

Meeting date

02/04/2025 @ 1:01 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

Thank you to all who attended our 40th meeting this week. We had a total of 14 participants.
  1. We reviewed the slides for the updates of WG1 at the annual meeting and these were approved by the group. You can find these slides here.
  2. Julio presented a prototype of the template that could be used to record the data and metadata related to our protocol in Omero metrics. Our next step will be to test it.
  3. We briefly reviewed our goals and table of contents for the Irradiance manuscript (see below). We need to determine a reasonable timeline for the completion of our first draft. Please use this spreadsheet to indicate your intention to contribute to specific sections. Also, indicate your preferred timeline.
    1. The initial goal and scope have been defined as a guideline and review of what is known and what has been published on the different ways to measure irradiance. The target audience will be biologists.
    2. Table of Content
Introduction Topic 1: What is irradiance? Definitions Topic 2: Why should we care about irradiance? Body Topic 3: How to make the measurement Topic 4: When is this measurement needed? (include examples) Topic 5: Pitfall and issue when irradiance measurements is not performed Discussion Topic 6 (irradiance and phototoxicity): – Topic 7: Important considerations (other than phototoxicity) Topic 8: Recommendations by QUAREP-LiMi.   Conclusion: take-home message   Potential Roles: Writers Editors Reviewers Data/Figure Provider   You can find the complete minutes and recording of the meeting here.   Our next meeting will be on May 7th.

Meeting documentation

39th meeting, 5th of March 2025

Meeting date

05/03/2025 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

Thank you to all who attended our meeting last Wednesday. We had a total of 10 participants.   At the SC meeting earlier this week, the code of conduct and WG11 checklist for method reproducibility were finalized and will be shared at the annual meeting. WG1 planned a short update for the annual meeting, focusing on the third version of their protocol and future directions and including an introduction to the automation tools. Julio Mateos Langerak joined our meeting to discuss the feasibility of using Omero metrics to store power measurement data in a centralized database (see the meeting recording and YouTube link below). A combined workshop with WG2 on automation was proposed for the ELMI meeting, with Nasser Darwish and others preparing presentations. Finally, Nathalie will contact people who have signed up for the Irradiance guidance manuscript and set up a way for this subgroup to contribute asynchronously.   You can find the complete minutes and recording of the meeting here.   Our next meeting will be on April 2nd.

Meeting documentation

38th meeting, 5th of February 2025

Meeting date

05/02/2025 @ 3:29 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

Meeting documentation

37th meeting, 4th of December 2024

Meeting summary

Thank you to all who attended our meeting yesterday. We had a total of 13 participants.   At the SC meeting earlier this week, members voted in favor of the publication of  V3 of our protocol. We will make it public and get a DOI before the holiday break. We discussed and resolved the remaining comments left in protocols.io. We have two remaining items before making the protocol public: 1) Tinging will provide a video tutorial with a multi-photon Leica system and Laurent will add final comments to the protocol as per our discussion.   We also received a written endorsement from WG13 as well as WG7. These can be found here. Judith and Julio presented their proposal on behalf of WG7.  Briefly,  we will work in collaboration with WG7 to create a CSV template with all required fields of metadata and illumination power calibration data needed to be recorded and shared when performing this protocol. This template will be added to a future version of the protocol. We also hope to make it compatible with the automation scripts and power meter software used to run this protocol. This work will begin in February 2025.   You can find the minutes and recording of the meeting here.   Since the first Wednesday of January is on the 1stour next meeting will be on February 5th.

36th meeting, 6th of November 2024

Meeting date

06/11/2024 @ 3:32 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

Thank you to all who attended our meeting today. We had a total of 11 participants and one new member (Sam Stats).   David Grunwald asked us to review a manuscript from his lab (see previous agenda, containing many references to Quarep-LiMi protocols. He wanted us to ensure nothing contradicted or was not aligned with the QUAREP WG-1 protocol. We reviewed it together and discussed it with David. (please add your comments here) No major issues were found, and overall, everyone welcomed this new tool and can’t wait to be able to test it. We discussed the latest comments received on the final V3 protocol. All comments have been addressed and resolved. Other WG have until mid-November to provide their endorsement or edits. Our next step is to request permission to publish from the SC. We discuss the need to review the skeleton template for the irradiance manuscript. This should help us decide on the content. The next step will be to allocate each section to members of the group. We will set a timeline early next year for this manuscript. You can find the complete minutes of the meeting here.

35th meeting, 2nd of October 2024

Meeting date

02/10/2024 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

We had a total of 10 participants. We have finalized Version 3 of our protocol on 2P extension. We have resolved all comments and added a new disclaimer. Our next step is to align with relevant WG and ask them to review and endorse our protocol. Nathalie will prepare a short presentation and will send instructions to the relevant co-chairs. We should complete this part of the review process by the end of October. We have a draft template to structure the manuscript on Irradiance measurements. Please review it before our next meeting. Our next meeting will be on, Wednesday, November 6th, same time, same Zoom link.

Meeting documentation

34th meeting, 4th of September 2024

Meeting date

04/09/2024 @ 5:00 PM (CET/CEST)

Meeting summary

We had a total of 14 participants. Luis is now co-chairing WG1 with Nathalie. We are finalizing Version 3 of our protocol on 2P extension. Laurent has been spearheading this effort. In the second part of the meeting, we discussed and proposed to write a manuscript to educate biologists on irradiance measurements. We will start drafting a skeleton and template for the manuscript at our next meeting. Our next meeting will be on, Wednesday, October 2nd, same time, same Zoom link. The meeting calendar invite series (every first Wednesday of the month) has been sent to everyone.   You can find the complete minutes and the recording of the meeting here. Quick announcement: Laurent shared with us a new peer-reviewed journal that could be a good place for many QUAREP protocols and communications. Methods of Microscopy magazine registration, it is free. The link to the journal can be found here. The SC committee invites you to review the Update of Best Practices document (https://nextcloud.quarep.org/index.php/f/469900) and provide feedback and suggestions. There will be a panel discussion on image data sharing at ASCB 2024 in San Diego. We believe this session will be of great interest and relevant to all industry partners. If you are attending please let Nathalie know and contact her if you want more information.

Meeting documentation

Memberlist WG 1

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