SPAIN

Madrid Advanced Microscopy Center (MAdMiC)

The Madrid Advanced Microscopy Center (MAdMiC) is the first Euro-BioImaging Node in Madrid (Spain), and it is formed through the collaboration and close work of four leading and well-established imaging facilities from two of Spain’s top research institutions: the Advanced Optical Microscopy and Preclinical Biomedicine Facilities at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM) and the Advanced Optical Microscopy and Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facilities at the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB).

MAdMiC operates as a fully integrated, co-located Node, staffed by 17 expert technicians, providing access to 26 microscopy systems and supporting over 25 microscopy techniques.

Specialties and expertise of the Node

MAdMiC aims to specialize in cross-scale imaging, offering a comprehensive portfolio of techniques and expertise that enables researchers to address their biological questions across all relevant biological scales, with a particular focus on live samples and dynamic studies.

MAdMiC’s capabilities extend from vitrification-based cryo-electron microscopy (SEM, FIB and CLEM) to intravital and in vivo optical imaging, including advanced in vivo nanoscopy techniques (TauSTEDXtend, PALM, SoRa, TIRF), a broad range of functional microscopy approaches (FLIM, FRAP, FRET, FCS/FCCS), high-speed imaging, photomanipulation and life-oriented lightsheet microscopy. 

Finally, MAdMiC brings this specialized expertise together in a single, co-located Euro-BioImaging Node, situated in one of Southern Europe’s most active innovation hubs.

Offered Technologies

• Deconvolution widefield microscopy (DWM)

• Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM/CLSM)

• Spinning disk confocal microscopy (SDCM)

• Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF)

• Increased resolution confocal microscopy/Image Scanning microscopy

• Single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM)

• Stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED)

• Light-sheet mesoscopic imaging (SPIM or dSLSM)

• Polarization microscopy (PM)

• Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)

• Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM)

• Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP)

• Fluorescence (cross)-correlation spectroscopy (FCS/FCCS)

• High-speed Imaging

• Photomanipulation

• Feedback microscopy

• Tissue Clearing(TC)

• Multiplexing imaging

• Single molecule FRET

• Live-cell CLEM

• Cryo-SEM

• Cryo-FIB

• Cryo-CLEM

• Cryo-FM

• In vivo optical imaging

• Bioimage analysis

Additional Services offered by the Node

1. Technical assistance on: 

- Methodological setup and experimental design (e.g. initial discussions, design of study protocol)

- Common (e.g. IFI, IHQ) and advanced (e.g. STORM, Clearing) sample preparation, covering a broad range of samples such as cultured cells, organoids, tissues, tissue explants, plants, bacteria among many others.

- Instrument running and image acquisition

- Image visualization, pre-processing and analysis

- Data reporting and image publication

2. Training on: 

- Sample preparation

- Systems and infrastructure use

- Image visualization, pre-processing and analysis

3. Facilities: 

- Wet lab space with glassware, common reagents, essential small lab equipment, and sample storage including fridges and freezers at -20 °C and -80 °C.

- Animal preparation (upon previous discussion and evaluation)

- Animal facilities (upon previous discussion and evaluation)

- Cell culture facilities (safety level 1)

- Seminar rooms

4. Instrumentation: 

- Laboratory instruments (beyond microscopy-related systems) include incubators, biosafety cabinets, vibratome, microfluidics systems, metabolic cages, mouse treadmill, hemocytometer, water baths, shakers, micropipettes, bath sonicators, thermomixers, and 3D printers.

5. Reagents: 

- Common microscopy reagents such as primary antibodies (organelles, functional studies, epitope tags, fluorescent proteins), secondary antibodies conjugated to fluorescent dyes from 405-800nm (Alexa Fluor®, DyLight®, Abberior®) or to biotin, other probes and dyes (e.g., DAPI, streptavidins, Mitotrackers, phalloidin), mounting media, slides/coverslips, and imaging chambers. 

- Specialized reagents for advanced techniques: tissue clearing (e.g., iDISCO, CUBIC), super-resolution (e.g., STED/STORM dyes, #1.5H coverslips and chambers), intravital microscopy (e.g., anaesthetics), and cryo-EM (e.g., grids, carbon meshes).

6. Data management: 

- Server Space (up to 100 TB)

- Data processing and analysis

- Image analysis workstations equipped with professional software (e.g. Arivis, Huygens), with optional remote access upon request.

7. Others:

- Housing facilities

Instrument highlights

Intravital microscopy: A new IVM-CMS3 system will be installed in 2026, offering state-of-the-art intravital imaging with a 920 nm multiphoton laser. Optimized for whole-animal live imaging, it will feature dedicated imaging chambers, an in vivo–adapted animal stage, and integrated anesthesia and temperature control, establishing our Node as the first European reference site for IVIM technologies. 

Lightsheet microscopy: The Lightsheet Z7 system delivers high performance for fixed samples and is particularly specialized for fast, low-phototoxic live imaging of zebrafish development, organoids, and plant roots. Environmental control, dual pco.Edge sCMOS cameras, and a wide filter selection enable rapid, flexible 3D live imaging. 

Functional microscopy: Two Leica Stellaris 8 systems provide advanced multispectral imaging with up to nine simultaneous channels, FLIM via the FALCON module, FCS/FCCS via a dedicated module, and guided FRAP and FRET workflows. High-speed photomanipulation is supported by a spinning-disk platform with 405 nm and 488 nm lasers for rapid FRAP, in vivo optogenetics, and photoconvertible dye applications. 

Nanoscopy: Two Leica Stellaris 8 systems with TauSTEDXtend enable live-cell STED imaging. These are complemented by Leica TIRF-based SMLM (STORM and PALM) and an Abbelight SAFe 360 multichannel setup for SMLM, SPT, smFRET, and PAINT reaching resolutions down to 20 nm. An Olympus SpinSR10 SoRa system provides live-cell imaging with resolutions down to 120 nm. 

Cryo-FIB-SEM: Sample vitrification preserves structures close to the native state. MAdMiC offers Cryo-EM sample preparation expertise and a ZEISS Crossbeam 550 Cryo-FIB-SEM, integrating high-resolution FE-SEM, a Ga-FIB column, and a cryogenic platform for precise milling. Applications include cryo-TEM lamella preparation, FIB-SEM tomography, and 3D structural analysis under near-native conditions.

Contact details

At CBM:

Alvaro Sahún Español, Head of the CBM Advanced Optical Microscopy Facility

Email: alvaro.sahun@cbm.csic.es

Phone: +34 91 196 46 43 

At CNB: 

Ana Oña Blanco, Head of the CNB Advanced Optical Microscopy Facility 

Email: aoblanco@cnb.csic.es

Phone: +34 91 585 46 61