EMBL Australia Group Leader Dr Senthil Arumugam, along with Dr Toby Bell and Dr Kate McArthur, recently launched the Monash BDI Advanced Bioimaging (MAB) platform – a researcher-led, global collaboration hub designed to bring innovative microscopy technologies directly to the researchers who need them.
From light-sheet imaging to custom-built microscopes and large-scale data visualisation, MAB integrates experimental instrumentation, advanced analysis, and biological insight to break through the technical barriers that often limit the power of bioimaging.
“MAB brings experimental instrumentation, biology, applied mathematics and modelling, and computational data analysis together under one roof,” says Dr Arumugam.
“Advanced imaging generates massive, complex datasets – from terabytes to petabytes – and working with these requires more than just technical tools. It demands an integrated approach, with expertise at every stage of the imaging pipeline.”
A major motivation for establishing MAB was to address critical gaps in imaging access and capability. For example, imaging rare biological events – like immune cell–tissue interactions – requires microscopy across both spatial and temporal scales. Meanwhile, techniques like lattice light-sheet microscopy produce dynamic, exquisitely detailed but extremely large datasets, which can be difficult to analyse without specialist tools.
“These kinds of challenges can only be solved by combining expertise in instrumentation, data handling and biological interpretation,” Dr Arumugam says.
“Our goal is to bring that complete workflow support to researchers and enable high-impact discoveries.”
What sets MAB apart, he says, is its focus on research-driven, interdisciplinary collaboration. Rather than simply providing access to equipment, MAB’s team – including physicists, engineers, chemists, mathematicians, and biologists – works closely with collaborators to design experiments, develop sample preparations and tailor analysis pipelines.
MAB aims to capitalise on the expertise of its directors to push innovation and build bespoke systems to address specific research demands. The Arumugam Group recently developed the first high-resolution Airy beam light-sheet microscope, offering a unique balance of resolution, field-of-view and resistance to optical obstacles. This technology enabled whole-embryo imaging of Drosophila development and the tracking of organelle dynamics in large tissue volumes – advancing the field of live imaging at both cellular and tissue scales. MAB will adopt such innovations and make it accessible for broader research groups through collaborations.
Collaboration with researchers, therefore, is at the heart of MAB’s mission. At the same time, MAB partners with leading international centres, such as the Advanced Bioimaging Center at UC Berkeley, with industry partners like SyGlass (USA) and Toptica Photonics (Germany), and with Monash eResearch to enable technology transfer or develop advanced data visualisation and analysis tools. At the local level, MAB collaborates with researchers across disciplines to identify pressing biological questions and match them with the right imaging solutions.
“Every stage of the journey – from data acquisition to scientific discovery, publications, supporting movies and visualisations – requires support,” says Dr Arumugam. “That’s what we aim to provide.”
To sustain and scale its capabilities, MAB is now seeking further investment. Continued funding will ensure the platform can maintain specialised hardware, expand data infrastructure, and retain highly trained staff, who often take years to develop the expertise needed to support this work.
“MAB’s vision is to make transformative microscopy accessible to all, enabling researchers to ask new questions and push the boundaries of biological discovery.”