Introduction: Modern Imaging in Biology and Medicine: Papers from the Seventh Omaha Imaging Symposium, April 2011

The ability to see, or visualize, a phenomenon is an essential tool of modern biological research. Our ability to create static and dynamic images has grown exponentially in the 25 or so years since confocal microscopy became readily available. The ingenious and energetic application of insights from optical physics to biological imaging in recent years has brought us far-reaching extensions of simple imaging, including nonlinear (or multiphoton) excitation, total internal reflection imaging, and even single molecule counting techniques. The annual Omaha Imaging Symposium has since 2003 brought together experts in advanced biological imaging techniques for a one-day exposition of how these techniques help move biological science forward. The seventh iteration of the series was held Friday, April 8, 2011, at the Harper Student Life Center of Creighton University, in Omaha, Nebraska. This special section of Microscopy and Micronanalysis consists of papers from speakers at the symposium.