An Interview with Thomas Deerinck
Nikonconductedthis interview with Thomas J. Deerinck when he was chosen astheMicroscopyU Featured Microscopist for Fall 2003. Interestedvisitors whovisit the gallery and would like some additionalinformation are invitedto contact Tom directly via email with theirown questions at: deerinck@ncmir.ucsd.edu.
Meet Our Featured Microscopist
NIKON: Tell us about your background (non-scientific) and interests.
DEERINCK:I grew up in a small town called Stockton located in centralCalifornia. I went to a school (San Joaquin Delta College) in the late'70s that had a one-of-a-kind program, which specialized in trainingelectron microscopists, of all things. Then a friend of mine who was aBuddhist monk and neuroscientist told me about the University ofCalifornia, San Diego, which is actually located in La Jolla, and I'vebeen down here ever since working under the direction of Dr. MarkEllisman. Mark is a great boss and a former post doctoral researcherwith Dr. Keith Porter, one of the fathers of modern day cell biology.The location is wonderful and in my spare time I enjoy activities likesurfing and scuba diving that are made possible by living on the coast.
NIKON: You'vedone quite well in the Small World contest the past two years, despitethe heaviest levels of competition ever seen. To what do you attributeyour success?
DEERINCK:Last year was the first time I entered and I was very surprised to winfirst place. I would have to attribute my success to the fact thatworking at the National Center for Microscopy and Research gives meaccess to tremendous resources. They have all kinds of microscopes andequipment, so I have the best toys in the world to play with.
NIKON: What led you to such an intense interest in microscopy and neuroscience?
DEERINCK:I have been interested in science since I was a child. My father was anamateur astronomer who even ground his own mirrors and lenses by hand.My interest in microscopy began when I was in high school. A scientistnamed Dr. Elizabeth Mathews, who had set up a special training programin electron microscopy, came to visit and displayed these fantasticimages of things you just couldn't see before. My involvement inneuroscience developed, in part, because that was what my boss wastrained in, but I had always been intrigued by diseases likeschizophrenia and Alzheimer's. My work in neuroscience has given me achance to explore such interests.
NIKON: What's it like working with so many preeminent scientists?
DEERINCK: It has been amazing. The UCSD(University of California at San Diego) is surrounded by suchincredible resources as the Salk Institute, The Scripps ResearchInstitute, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, along with a hostof biotech companies. The region is truly a hotbed of biologicalresearch.
NIKON: What makes a great photomicrograph or digital image?
DEERINCK:The point is to communicate a concept or a finding. It should tell yousomething or talk to you. Also, an image that is pleasing to the eyetends to more easily capture one's attention. The brain is aparticularly good subject because it has such an incredible complexity.In fact, all of nature has an innate beauty that most people don'trealize, but which can be revealed with the help of a microscope.
NIKON: How difficult is specimen preparation?
DEERINCK:Where I work, we not only utilize standard specimen preparationmethods, but we specialize in develop new ones. One of the revolutionscurrently occurring in microscopy is the use of new molecular biologytechniques such as GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) to engineer certaincharacteristics into the protein being studied. These methods can bequite sophisticated and challenging, but make possible observationsthat could never be made before.
NIKON: Do you have a favorite photomicrograph or digital image?
DEERINCK:My favorite image is part of a database project we are working on thatinvolves mapping the distribution of proteins in the brain in threedimensions. We use a computer-controlled multiphoton microscope with anautomated montaging stage. This way we can record images of largeregions of the brain at near diffraction limit resolution. One data setin particular was taken with a 60x objective and was made from 36images along the X axis, 40 in the Y axis, and 10 in Z(along the microscope optical axis) using three different channels. Thefinal product is, therefore, a compilation of 43,200 images putseamlessly together. It is an astonishing sight, but needs to beenlarged to about 18 feet in size to really be appreciated. The imagethat I won the Small World contest with last year was actually one ofthe 43,200 images that comprises this larger image of the brain.
NIKON: Can you give us an example of images you particularly like?
DEERINCK: I like any image of the brain. The brain is so intricate, complex, and elaborate that it's fascinating on many levels.
NIKON: What's some of the fun stuff you do?
DEERINCK:Almost everything we do at the lab is fun. My boss has created such agreat research environment with so many different toys, from highvoltage electron microscopes to high speed multiphoton systems, andsuch great assortment of collaborators, you can't help but have fun.
