Congratulations to Professor Sarah Ellis who received three Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society awards at the recent Asia Pacific Microscopy Congress.
- Fellowship of the Society
- Distinguished Service award (sole recipient this year)
- Life Membership (only 16 awardees in 35 years)
These awards were presented by the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society in recognition of Professor Ellis’ significant role and contribution to microscopy. She says: “I was thrilled to receive the awards.”
Professor Ellis is the Head of the Centre for Imaging the Tumour Environment (CITE) at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI). She is responsible for training researchers to use advanced microscopy techniques, ensuring they can effectively apply imaging technology to their cancer research, and maintaining and upgrading our state-of-the-art microscopes, ensuring they are in top condition to support cutting-edge scientific discoveries.
Professor Ellis shares more about her professional journey in microscopy.
“I never set out to have a career in microscopy—it just happened naturally. During my post-graduate studies at the University of Melbourne, electron microscopes were an essential part of my research. In 1985, I applied for a research position at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, which required expertise in electron microscopy.
In 1999, Peter Mac acquired a high-tech microscope called a confocal microscope, which was only the second of its kind in Australia at the time. That same year, Peter Mac’s Research Director, Professor David Bowtell, appointed me as the inaugural leader of the Microscopy Platform: The Centre for Advanced Histology and Microscopy (CAHM).
In 2020, I joined ONJCRI as the head of CITE.”
Professor Ellis reflects on the progress made in the field of microscopy since the start of her career:
“Microscopes, particularly optical microscopes, used in research have undergone major advancements in resolution, imaging techniques, and digital integration. These have allowed cancer researchers to better understand the interaction between immune cells and cancer cells, the sites of metastases, fast-track drug discovery, and explore cell signalling pathways responsible for cell death or growth in live cells.”
Since the 2010s, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been employed in microscopy to facilitate automated image capture, analysis and enhancement.
Overall, microscopes have evolved to provide higher resolution, better contrast, real-time imaging, and deeper integration with computational techniques, dramatically enhancing research capabilities.
This year is an especially exciting year for the CITE, with the arrival of new microscopy equipment that is set to revolutionise how ONJCRI visualises cancer at the cellular level. Congratulations to Professor Ellis for these much-deserved wins!