WG 2 – Objectives
WG2 focuses on the detection system, comprising the detection path and its detector(s), and how it measures the signal from the sample.
Members of WG2 aim to standardize the characterization of the detection system performance and create standard procedures for monitoring it over time, thereby revealing performance issues that could affect data reproducibility. Therefore, WG2 will define universal, externally measurable parameters applicable to any type of detector (e.g., photons, linearity, noise), together with measurement tools and protocols for measuring these parameters from common detector types. These universal parameters will be specified according to each distinct type of detector’s internal parameters, which have already been defined by the community. They will enable the evaluation and comparison of different detection systems, thus pinpointing the most suitable technology for given applications.
WG 2 – Co-Chairs

Valeria Berno
Co-Chair of WG 2
Call: +39-022643-4663
Email: berno.valeria@hsr.it

Britta Schroth-Diez
Call: +49-351-210-2522
Email: schroth@mpi-cbg.de
WG 2 - Latest News
We welcome our first member from the United Arab Emirates. Rachid Rezgui of NYU Abu Dhabi joined the Working Groups 1-7, 9, 10 and 13. Change the Quality of Light Microscopy Imaging as member of QUAREP-LiMi join us here.
The WG 1 released its first protocol “Illumination Power and Illumination Stability“. The protocol is featured on
Beside step-by-step instructions, the protocol provides:
- A link to a public database with measurements made by members of our group and to which you can contribute by uploading your own measurements.
- A link to a GitHub repository with scripts to automatize the measurements with some scopes and power meters
- A link to tutorial videos which are available on the QUAREP-LiMi YouTube Channel
We welcome our first member from the Ecuador. William Narvaez joined the Working Groups 1, 3, 5, 9 and 11. Change the Quality of Light Microscopy Imaging as member of QUAREP-LiMi join us here.
Upcoming meeting: 8th September 2025, 5:00 pm
Upcoming meeting: 23rd June 2025, 5:00 pm
Last meeting: 12th May 2025, 5:00 pm
Release of protocols collection:
2. Sample Preparation – An Easy-to-Prepare Sample Slide
- Subgroup: Area detector
- Aims: Establish protocols for characterization of detection systems with an area detector.
- Co-leads: Britta Schroth, David McFadden
- Contact information: schroth@mpi-cbg.de
- On-going tasks:
- Move measurement protocol to protocols.io
- Test measurement protocol with marker pen as sample
- Evaluate measurement and analysis parameters written down in Airtable
- Cloud storage location (can be accessed as a member) → here
- Subgroup: Point detector
- Aims: Establish protocols for characterization of detection systems with a point detector.
- Co-leads: Gert-Jan Bakker, Andre Zeug
- Contact information: gert-jan.bakker@radboudumc.nl
- On-going tasks:
- Insert measurement protocol to protocols.io
- Generate comments and hints for protocol
- Evaluate measurement and analysis parameters written down in Airtable
- Cloud storage location (can be accessed as a member) → here
- Subgroup: Test sample
- Aims: investigate and define standardized samples for characterization of detection systems.
- Co-leads: Valeria Berno, David McFadden
- Contact information: berno.valeria@hsr.it
- On-going tasks:
- Test and characterize standardized light sources for characterization of microscope’s detection systems.
- Cloud storage location (can be accessed as a member) → here
44th meeting, 9th of September 2024
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43rd meeting, 8th of July 2024
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Since we had previously decided to skip our regular WG2 August meeting, we agreed to use August for finalising our protocols. On August 19th we will meet at our usual WG2 time (5:00 – 6:30PM CEST) for a protocols collection hackathon. This discussion was followed by short reports from the QUAREP-LiMi SC meeting, from the Dutch microscopy association, and about a new QC white paper by evident. During the subsequent agenda point we talked about the next steps towards finalising the NBO-Q camera model and glossary. First final revision meetings by the stakeholder groups were planned for July.
The main agenda point of our 43rd meeting was discussing the next steps towards finalising our protocols for publication. We agreed on the following timeline: until August 19th finalise separate protocols, put them into one collection during the hackathon on August 19th, get the protocols collection tested theoretically and practically and collect example measurements until October 14th. Implement comments and example measurements until November 11th (our WG2 meeting) and present the final protocols collection to the QUAREP-LiMi steering committee on November 12th. To finalise our separate protocols, we formed four small teams who will organise respective discussion meetings. For this version of the protocols collection we decided to keep separate protocols for point and area detectors, respectively. We plan to add protocols based on the French QC paper in the next version of our protocols collection.
42nd meeting, 10th of June 2024
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After agreeing to take a summer break and skip our August meeting, we discussed the QUAREP-LiMi workshop contributions to ELMI. One workshop was held by WG5 and the other one jointly by WG2 and WG13 members. Both workshops were well received. Several questions were raised during our joined WG2-WG13 workshop and also during discussions afterwards. These need to be addressed when finalising our protocols. Discussing the steps and the timeline towards publishing our protocols was the next point on our meeting agenda. Participants reported from the meeting with Emma Ganley from protocols.io. Based on that we decided to best publish our protocols in form of a protocols collection. Smaller subgroups will work on the protocols until the July meeting. If need be, we will use the August meeting date for a dedicated protocols hackathon. We aim to present the finished collection to the QUAREP-LiMi steering committee in early fall.
41st meeting, 13th of May 2024
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40th meeting, 8th of April 2024
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39th meeting, 11th of March 2024
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38th meeting, 12th of February 2024
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37th meeting, 11th of December 2023
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In short, the main topic of this meeting was to discuss a potential collaboration with the MetrologyJ_QC group. For that, Orestis and Julien joined us as guests.
We found that both our efforts are complementary and thus can nicely be combined. The MetrologyJ_QC analysis tool focusses on calculating camera read noise, DSNU (dark signal non-uniformity), and hot and cold pixels. Our WG2 analysis tool focusses on calculating the photon-conversion factor. In addition, we as WG2 aim to combine our analysis with an easy to use (automated) acquisition protocol.
Generally, QUAREP-LiMi needs to develop a nice overarching framework for running all our quality control scripts automatically together easily in one tool. Someone needs to take the lead for this endeavour. There is already great groundwork being done, thanks to Kees, for WG1 and also for WG2.
In addition to this main topic there was the report from the last WG9 and WG7 meetings as well as a short review of the next steps to be done toward our paper.
36th meeting, 13th of November 2023
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After a short session of QUAREP-LiMi news and updates on our other running projects, we mainly focussed on our planned paper which should accompany the publishing of our protocols. We discussed main aspects, determined topics which need to be addressed and members who our responsible for working on the topics. To be able to have time to do so, we decide to skip the meeting in January 2024.
Memberlist WG 2
Last name | First Name | Town | Organisation Affiliation | Lab Affiliation | Country | Time Zone |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acevedo | Luis | Overland Park | thya | Industry | US | UTC-6 |
Alshafie | Walaa | Ashburn | Janelia research campus | Univ. | US | UTC-4 |
Avilov | Sergiy | Freiburg | Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics | MPG | DE | UTC+2 |
Bakker | Gert-Jan | Nijmegen | NVvM | Univ. | NL | UTC+2 |
Bammann | Rodrigo | Uckfield | Scientifica | Industry | GB | UTC+1 |
Banerjee | Priyam | New York | Rockefeller University | Univ. | US | UTC-5 |
Barna | Laszlo | Bloomington | Indiana University Bloomington | Gov. | HU | UTC+1 |
Beer | Sebastian | Hersching | Hamamatsu | Industry | DE | UTC+2 |
Bennett | Sarah | Coventry | University of Warwick | Univ. | GB | UTC+1 |
Bergles | Eric | San Jose | Pavilion Integration Corporation | Industry | US | UTC-8 |
Berno | Valeria | Milano | Ospedale San Raffaele- ALEMBIC | Gov. | IT | UTC+2 |
Bierwagen | Jakob | Tuebingen | AHF | Industry | DE | UTC+2 |
Boczonadi | Veronika | Newcastle | Newcastle University | Univ. | GB | UTC+-0 |
Bosch | Manel | Barcelona | University of Barcelona CCITUB | Univ. | ES | UTC+2 |
Cadby | Ashley | Sheffield | University of Sheffield | Univ. | GB | UTC+-0 |
Cappellaro | Markus | München | Carl Zeiss Microscopy | Industry | DE | UTC+1 |
Carvalho | Mariana | Braga | INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory | EU-Org | PT | UTC+-0 |
Catrina | Irina | New York | Yeshiva University | Univ. | US | UTC-5 |
Ceccarelli | Raino | Rome | CrestOptics S.p.A. | Industry | IT | UTC+1 |
Cesbron | Yann | Klosterneuburg | Institute of Science and Technology Austria | Gov. | AT | UTC+1 |
Chacko | Jenu | Madison | University of Wisconsin-Madison | Univ. | US | UTC-6 |
Chen | Lily | Hayward | Eikon Therapeutics | Industry | US | UTC-8 |
Chiritescu | Catalin | Champaign | Phi Optics, Inc. | Industry | US | UTC-6 |
Christensen | Nynne | Copenhagen | University of Copenhagen, Center for Advanced Bioimaging | Univ. | DK | UTC+1 |
Clements | Darran | Cambridge | University of Cambridge | Univ. | GB | UTC+1 |
Cole | Louise | Sydney | University of Technology | Univ. | AU | UTC+11 |
Cortes | Luisa | Coimbra | Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology | Univ. | PT | UTC+0 |
Dencevski | Aleksa | Belgrade | Institute of physics Belgrade | Univ. | CS | UTC+1 |
Dervish | Suat | Westmead | Westmead Institute for Medical Research | Gov. | AU | UTC+10 |
Diez-Guerra | F. Javier | Madrid | CBMSO (CSIC-UAM) | Univ. | ES | UTC+2 |
Doherty | Glen | New York | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | Univ. | US | UTC-4 |
Drent | Peter | Amsterdam | ONI | Industry | NL | UTC+1 |
Duong | Cao Nguyen | Saarbrücken | Leibniz Institute for New Materials | Leibniz | DE | UTC+1 |
Egron | Audrey | Pessac | Argolight | Industry | FR | UTC+1 |
Eismann | Frank | Jena | Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH | Industry | DE | UTC+2 |
Eseola | Alice | Norwich | The Sainsbury Laboratory | Univ. | GB | UTC+1 |
Esner | Milan | Brno | Ceitec Masaryk University | Univ. | CZ | UTC+1 |
Faklaris | Orestis | Montpellier | RTmfm | Univ. | FR | UTC+2 |
Fu | Yangting | Bonn | Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen e. V. (DZNE) | Helmholtz | DE | UTC+1 |
Fujimori | Toshihiko | Okazaki | JP BioImaging | Gov. | JP | UTC+9 |
Garcia Gonzalez | Esther | Didcot | STFC, UKRI | Gov. | GB | UTC+1 |
Gaudreault | Nathalie | Seattle | Allen Institute | Private lab | US | UTC-7 |
Gauthier | Pascal | Jonquiere | RioTinto | Private lab | CA | UTC+5 |
Gharagozlou | Shadi | Klosterneuburg | Institute of science and technology Austria | Univ. | AT | UTC+1 |
Giles | Patrick | Uckfield | Scientifica | Industry | GB | UTC+-0 |
Girard | Philippe | Paris | Institut Jacques Monod – Université de Paris | Univ. | FR | UTC+1 |
Graaff | Anko | Utrecht | Hubrecht Institute | Univ. | NL | UTC+1 |
Grunwald | David | Worcester | University of Massachusetts | Univ. | US | UTC-4 |
Gunkel | Manuel | Heidelberg | EMBL Heidelberg | EU-Org | DE | UTC+2 |
Halter | Michael | Gaithersburg | NIST | Gov. | US | UTC-4 |