Cell biology is in the midst of a remarkable “resolution revolution” in which the invention of new optical microscope techniques is allowing visualisation of the dynamics of intra-cellular structures at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. We are requesting a Lattice Light Sheet Microscope (LLSM) as developed by Eric Betzig (Janelia) - recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize for his earlier work on super-resolution microscopy - and a dedicated microscope technician. The LLSM enables simultaneous illumination of the entire field of view with an ultrathin sheet of excitation light permitting imaging at hundreds of planes per second with high axial resolution (~230-nm xy and ~370-nm z), negligible out-of-focus background and a dramatic reduction in photobleaching/toxicity/damage. The LLSM thus opens up a completely new horizon, enabling long-term interrogation of the mechanisms of cell biological machines, inside live cells. Our aim is to make this technology available to Warwick’s expanding cell and developmental biological community - nucleated by four Wellcome Investigators (McAinsh, Straube, Balasubramanian & Cross) based in the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology. We will also establish a visitor programme - inspired by the advanced imaging centre at Janelia - to make this technology accessible to the wider community.

Physical contact with dirt in the natural world poses a risk of infection. But does our concern to be hygienic limit our familiarity with, and therefore our respect for, the outdoor environment? Do we as a result persist with practices that threaten both our health and that of the planet? Working with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust (WkWT), based at their Brandon Nature Reserve, I will investigate how concerns about hygiene affect interaction between humans and the natural world. I will evaluate practices in this regard at Brandon, to establish how far this location can be held up as a model in terms of the ways institutions safeguard members of the public whilst having minimal impact on the environment. I will interview WkWT’s partner organizations such as schools, and report on how they minimize risks whilst promoting respect for nature. I will talk to staff and visitors at WkWT about balancing hygiene with a love of nature. Building on these conversations, I will formulate a questionnaire with which to approach the wider public. Working with WkWT’s schools team, I will devise a range of curriculum- linked workshops exploring how animals keep clean in the wild in comparison with human practice. The Wildlife Trusts’ website states that ‘We want children to go home with … dirt on their hands and a little bit of nature in their heart.’ But is getting muddy just something for children on a trip? Working with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, I will talk to both institutions and the public about how concerns about hygiene impact on the way we view the natural world. I will also work to get school children thinking about how wild animals keep clean and find clean food. This project will lay the foundations for my future career, in which I aim to share the twentieth century history of dirt, health and our relationship with nature to get people thinking about how we keep clean, and whether those choices put up physical and mental barriers to the natural world, barriers that might be preventing us from tackling climate change.