Gail McConnell

Gail McConnell FRSE FInstP FRMS (born 25 August 1976[3][4]) is a Scottish physicist who is Professor of Physics and director of the Centre for Biophotonics at the University of Strathclyde.[5] She is interested in optical microscopy and novel imaging techniques, and leads the Mesolens microscope facility where her research investigates linear and non-linear optics.[6][7]

Gail McConnell

FRSE FInstP FRMS
Born (1976-08-25) 25 August 1976
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde (BSc, PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsBiophotonics
Microscopy
InstitutionsUniversity of Strathclyde
ThesisNonlinear optical frequency conversion of mode-locked all-solid-state lasers (2001)
Doctoral advisorAllister Ferguson[1]
InfluencesCarol Trager-Cowan[2]
Websitestrathclydemesolab.com

Early life and education

McConnell credits her high school physics teacher with her inspiration to study science.[8] She studied optoelectronics and laser physics at the University of Strathclyde, where she was taught by Carol Trager-Cowan.[9][2] She remained there for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in laser technology under the supervision of Allister Ferguson in 2002.[1][9] She was the first member of her family to go to university.[10]

Career and research

McConnell almost worked in telecommunications, but was convinced by Ferguson to join Strathclyde's new Centre for Biophotonics.[10][11] She became interested in biomedical research and increasingly aware of the limitations of commercial imaging.[11] Here she worked with Alison Gurney on the development of confocal, multi-photon wide-field microscopes.[10] Gurney encouraged McConnell to apply for fellowships, and she was a Royal Society of Edinburgh and Research Councils UK (RCUK) postdoctoral fellow.[9] She developed the world's first white light supercontinuum laser that could be used for confocal microscopy, as well as laser scanning fluorescence microscopy.[12][13] She attended the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Practical Course in Advanced Optical Microscopy in Plymouth, which she has continued to support throughout her academic career.[10]

McConnell directs the Centre for Biophotonics and Mesolens laboratory at the University of Strathclyde,[14] working on nonlinear and linear optical instrumentation for biomedical imaging.[15] Nonlinear optics allows physicists precise control of excitation parameters, including the chance to tune the duration of laser pules.[16]

In 2009, McConnell began working with William Bradshaw Amos and built a new lens, Mesolens, that can allow 3D imaging with a depth resolution of a few microns for objects up to 6 mm wide and 3 mm thick.[17][18] The Mesolens is a giant optical microscope objective supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC).[14] It can be used to image large biomedical specimens, including embryos, tumours and areas in brain, as well as scanning large areas of samples in a short amount of time.[17][18][19] The lens has 260 megapixal effective camera and a magic ratio of 8:1, which can even resolve individual bacteria.[11][20] As the photometric volume can sample such a large area with sub-cellular detail, the Mesolens may allow for the imaging of rare events.[20] Mesolens became a University spin-off, but McConnell decided to stay in academia to explore the physics of biomedical processes.[11] The Mesolens generates such large amounts of data that McConnell became interested in computational biology.[11] The Mesolens was selected by Physics World as one of the top achievements of 2016.[21] She discussed the Mesolens on the podcast Not Exactly Rocket Science.[22]

Alongside the Mesolens, McConnell has explored how laser sources can be used to open voltage-gated ion channels, such as Calcium-activated potassium channels.[23] She has developed a fast-acquisition version of two-photon excitation microscopy that can be used to image at rates of 100 frames/second.[24] She created polymer hydrogel beads that are responsive to enzymes.[25] She is working with the Medical Research Scotland to create high brightness light-emitting diodes.[26]

In May 2012, she was appointed Professor and Director of the Centre for Biophotonics at the University of Strathclyde.[10] She leads the Strathclyde Theme of Physics and Life Sciences and is part of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Optical Medical Imaging.[27]

Awards and honours

In recognition of her work, McConnell was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2010,[28] a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2019[29] and a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society (FRMS).[30][31][32][33]

References
  1. McConnell, Gail (2002). Nonlinear optical frequency conversion of mode-locked all-solid-state lasers. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Strathclyde. OCLC 59348545. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.248368.
  2. "Tributes". osa.org. Optical Society of America. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  3. Gail McConnell [@gailmcconnell] (30 Aug 2016). "Nothing says 'happy birthday, valued friend & colleague' like a poo cushion & a bottle of gin. They know me well .pic.twitter.com/PnZqUtw7Ay" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. Gail McConnell [@gailmcconnell] (25 Aug 2016). "Thanks a'body for your birthday wishes and messages. Had a great day!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. McConnell, Gail (2004). "Confocal laser scanning fluorescence microscopy with a visible continuum source". Optics Express. 12 (13): 2844–50. doi:10.1364/OPEX.12.002844. ISSN 1094-4087. PMID 19483798.
  6. Gail McConnell publications from Europe PubMed Central
  7. Gail McConnell publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  8. Pettorelli, Nathalie (2015-06-06). "A different kind of cool: Meet Gail McConnell". SoapboxScience. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  9. "Gail McConnell". Oxford Biomedical Imaging Network. Archived from the original on 2008-05-05. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  10. "#Womeninscience: Professor Gail McConnell". scientifica.uk.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  11. "» A gateway to the biological world". live.iop-pp01.agh.sleek.net. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  12. McConnell, Gail (2004). "Confocal laser scanning fluorescence microscopy with a visible continuum source". Optics Express. 12 (13): 2844–50. doi:10.1364/opex.12.002844. ISSN 1094-4087. PMID 19483798.
  13. Riis, Erling; McConnell, Gail (2004). "Two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy using photonic crystal fiber" (PDF). Journal of Biomedical Optics. 9 (5): 922–928. doi:10.1117/1.1778734. ISSN 1083-3668. PMID 15447012.
  14. "Mesolab | Optical Mesoscopy at the University of Strathclyde". strathclydemesolab.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  15. "Programme :: elmi2018". elmi2018.eu. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  16. "Lasers in medicine and biophotonics: Gail McConnell - The Association of Industrial Laser Users". ailu.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  17. McConnell, Gail; Trägårdh, Johanna; Amor, Rumelo; Dempster, John; Reid, Es; Amos, William Bradshaw (2016). Bronner, Marianne E (ed.). "A novel optical microscope for imaging large embryos and tissue volumes with sub-cellular resolution throughout". eLife. 5: e18659. doi:10.7554/eLife.18659. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 5035146. PMID 27661778.
  18. "Mesolens Ltd | Mesolens microscope". mesolens.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  19. "Mesoscope: a novel instrument for imaging microscopic detail in a huge volume of tissue" (PDF). BPS. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
  20. Society, Microbiology. "Can the Mesolens help the microbiologist?". microbiologysociety.org. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  21. Woollaston, Victoria (2016-12-12). "Gravitational waves discovery wins Breakthrough of the Year award". wired.co.uk. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  22. "Gail McConnell". spreaker.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  23. "The lighter touch: minimally-invasive optical modulation of Ca2+-activated K+ ion channels". ukri.org. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  24. "Multi-photon microscopy without scanning for faster than video-rate fluorescence imaging of live cells". ukri.org. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  25. Ulijn, Rein V.; McConnell, Gail; Thornton, Paul D. (2005). "Enzyme responsive polymer hydrogel beads". Chemical Communications. 0 (47): 5913–5915. doi:10.1039/B511005J. ISSN 1364-548X. PMID 16317473.
  26. "Applications of high-brightness 280nm light emitting diodes in biomedical optical imaging". pureportal.strath.ac.uk. University of Strathclyde. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  27. "Supervisors OPTIMA". optima-cdt.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  28. "Interactions" (PDF). Institute of Physics. February 2010. p. 3. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  29. "Professor Gail McConnell FRSE". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2019-03-15. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  30. "Interactions: The Newspaper of the Physics Community" (PDF). iop.org. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  31. "Light Microscopy". rms.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  32. "Seven new Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows for Strathclyde | University of Strathclyde". strath.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  33. Katasha. "Seven new RSE fellows for Strathclyde". glasgowcityofscienceandinnovation.com. Glasgow City of Science and Innovation. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
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