Gail McConnell

Early life and education McConnell credits her high school physics teacher with her inspiration to study science. She studied optoelectronics and laser physics at the University of Strathclyde, where she was taught by Carol Trager-Cowan. She remained there for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in laser technology under the supervision of Allister Ferguson in 2002.

Career and research McConnell almost worked in telecommunications, but was convinced by Ferguson to join Strathclyde's new Centre for Biophotonics. She became interested in biomedical research and increasingly aware of the limitations of commercial imaging. She attended the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Practical Course in Advanced Optical Microscopy in Plymouth, which she has continued to support throughout her academic career. working on nonlinear and linear optical instrumentation for biomedical imaging. Nonlinear optics allows physicists precise control of excitation parameters, including the chance to tune the duration of laser pules.

In 2009, McConnell began working with William Bradshaw Amos and built a new lens, Mesolens, that can allow 3D imaging with a depth resolution of a few microns for objects up to 6 mm wide and 3 mm thick. The Mesolens is a giant optical microscope objective supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC). The lens has 260 megapixel effective camera and a magic ratio of 8:1, which can even resolve individual bacteria. As the photometric volume can sample such a large area with sub-cellular detail, the Mesolens may allow for the imaging of rare events. She discussed the Mesolens on the podcast Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Alongside the Mesolens, McConnell has explored how laser sources can be used to open voltage-gated ion channels, such as Calcium-activated potassium channels. She has developed a fast-acquisition version of two-photon excitation microscopy that can be used to image at rates of 100 frames/second. She created polymer hydrogel beads that are responsive to enzymes. She is working with the Medical Research Scotland to create high brightness light-emitting diodes.

In May 2012, she was appointed Professor and Director of the Centre for Biophotonics at the University of Strathclyde.

Awards and honours In recognition of her work, McConnell was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2010, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2019 and a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society (FRMS).