Gail McConnell

McConnell credits her high school physics teacher with her inspiration to study science.[7] She studied optoelectronics and laser physics at the University of Strathclyde, where she was taught by Carol Trager-Cowan.[8][9] She remained there for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in laser technology under the supervision of Allister Ferguson in 2002.[1][8] She was the first member of her family to go to university.[10]

McConnell almost worked in telecommunications, but was convinced by Ferguson to join Strathclyde's new Centre for Biophotonics.[10][11] She became interested in biomedical research and increasingly aware of the limitations of commercial imaging.[11] Here she worked with Alison Gurney on the development of confocal, multi-photon wide-field microscopes.[10] Gurney encouraged McConnell to apply for fellowships, and she was a Royal Society of Edinburgh and Research Councils UK (RCUK) postdoctoral fellow.[8] She developed the world's first white light supercontinuum laser that could be used for confocal microscopy, as well as laser scanning fluorescence microscopy.[12][13] 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.[10]

McConnell directs the Centre for Biophotonics and Mesolens laboratory at the University of Strathclyde,[14] working on nonlinear and linear optical instrumentation for biomedical imaging.[15] Nonlinear optics allows physicists precise control of excitation parameters, including the chance to tune the duration of laser pules.[16]

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.[17][18] The Mesolens is a giant optical microscope objective supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC).[14] It can be used to image large biomedical specimens, including embryos, tumours and areas in brain, as well as scanning large areas of samples in a short amount of time.[17][18][19] The lens has 260 megapixal effective camera and a magic ratio of 8:1, which can even resolve individual bacteria.[11][20] As the photometric volume can sample such a large area with sub-cellular detail, the Mesolens may allow for the imaging of rare events.[20] Mesolens became a University spin-off, but McConnell decided to stay in academia to explore the physics of biomedical processes.[11] The Mesolens generates such large amounts of data that McConnell became interested in computational biology.[11] The Mesolens was selected by Physics World as one of the top achievements of 2016.[21] She discussed the Mesolens on the podcast Not Exactly Rocket Science.[22]

Alongside the Mesolens, McConnell has explored how laser sources can be used to open voltage-gated ion channels, such as Calcium-activated potassium channels.[23] She has developed a fast-acquisition version of two-photon excitation microscopy that can be used to image at rates of 100 frames/second.[24] She created polymer hydrogel beads that are responsive to enzymes.[25] She is working with the Medical Research Scotland to create high brightness light-emitting diodes.[26]

In May 2012, she was appointed Professor and Director of the Centre for Biophotonics at the University of Strathclyde.[10] She leads the Strathclyde Theme of Physics and Life Sciences and is part of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Optical Medical Imaging.[27]