We are happy to announce that 2026 OMS Spring meeting will be hold on Friday, May 1st, 2026 at the National Weather Center located on the University of Oklahoma, Norman research campus. Our spring meeting is the largest gathering of microscopy professionals from both academic and industry in the Great State of Oklahoma. Please mark your calendar. We look forward to meeting all of you May!
Theme and Keynote
The meeting theme is centered around providing workshops for our two new advanced transmission electron microscopes at OU (A Thermofisher FEI Tundra cryo-TEM and a JEOL JEMF200 “NEOARM” aberration corrected STEM). We have two tracks during the lunch hour, one for Cryo-TEM sponsored by ThermoFisher FEI, and the other on materials STEM sponsored by JEOL. After meeting registration, please select the session to let us know which you plan to attend!
We currently have two keynote speakers, one for each of our workshop thrusts.
Biological Keynote Speaker
Dr. Priyamvada Archarya is a Professor in the Department of Surgery in the Duke University Medical Center and the Director of the Division of Structural Biology at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI). Dr. Acharya is the Director of the NIH-funded Duke Center for HIV Structural Biology (DCHSB).
Dr. Acharya’s research uses cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and x-ray crystallography for visualizing the HIV-1 Envelope (Env) and its complexes with the host immune system. The major directions of her research include understanding the structural and mechanistic details of HIV-1 entry and to visualize interactions of the HIV-1 Env with antibodies elicited during natural infection or by vaccination. Combining these two intersecting areas of basic research, in the Division of Structural Biology at DHVI and in this Duke Center for HIV Structural Biology, Dr. Acharya promotes a highly collaborative research environment to leverage atomic level findings for rational development of interventions for HIV-1 treatment and prevention.
Archarya Lab Twitter
Materials Keynote Speaker
Yongtao Liu is a staff scientist at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Dr. Liu’s current work focuses on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with physics to develop autonomous experimentation platforms, especially autonomous microscopy, that accelerate progress in materials science. He is engaged in interdisciplinary projects and is committed to fostering synergy between human expertise and AI, he strives to develop innovative tools and methods that empower researchers worldwide. Dr. Liu’s research interests also include functional materials, including ferroelectric, optoelectronic, and photovoltaic materials. His contributions to the field have been recognized with multiple awards / honors, such as the Microscopy Society of America Postdoctoral Scholar Award, the Joseph E. Spruiell Award for Excellence in Research, ORNL Outstanding Scholarly Output Award, Microscopy Today Innovation Award, R&D 100 Award, and Rising Star in Nanoscience.
Sponsors
Special thanks to our many Sponsors, who made this meeting possible:
Our major sponsors responsible for the lunch and learn event and securing our venue: JEOL USA, ThermoFisher Scientific, The University of Oklahoma COBRE in Structural Biology, and The University of Oklahoma Department of Materials Science and Engineering!
Our special coffee sponsorship vendors giving vendor talks: Tomocube
And the rest of our corporate sponsors: Nikon USA
Microscopy Society of America (MSA) Grant-In-Aid and Tour Speaker programs provide critical support. OMS is a ‘local affiliate society’ of MSA.
The Samuel Roberts Noble Microscopy Laboratory for providing resources and leadership to organize the event.
Meeting registration
Registration fees include continental breakfast and lunch. There are no additional fees for abstract submission.
- Student registration: FREE!
- Member registration: $15.00
- Non-member registration: $30.00
- Corporate standard registration: $400.00
- Corporate special coffee break sponsorship (Includes 15-minute presentation slot): $600.00
Register here: https://okmicroscopy.org/event/2026-oms-spring-meeting-registration/
Opportunities for students
Students are warmly invited to participate in the 2026 Oklahoma Microscopy Society (OMS) Spring Meeting. This event provides an excellent opportunity to present your research, gain recognition, and engage with researchers, vendors, and industry professionals.
Student Opportunities & Awards
- Best Student Talk
- 1st place: $1,100 (Timpano Award)
- 2nd place: $100
- Best Student Poster Presentation
- 1st place: $200
- 2nd place: $100
- 3rd place: $50
- Best Student Micrograph Award
- 1st place: $100
- 2nd place: $50
Why Participate?
- Free registration for all students
- Opportunity to present your research
- Direct interaction with vendors and industry professionals
- Networking and career exploration opportunities
OMS Student Membership (Required for Awards Eligibility)
We encourage students to join OMS. Student membership is $5. Financial support is available if needed. Please email Dr. Tingting Gu [email protected] to request assistance.
Only OMS student members are eligible to compete for the Best Student Awards.
Membership link: https://okmicroscopy.org/membership/
Travel Support
Students traveling more than 50 miles (one-way) from the meeting location (National Weather Center 120 David L. Boren Blvd. Suite 2400. Norman, OK) are eligible for travel support. Reimbursement will be provided as $50 or based on standard round-trip mileage rates. Presenting students will be automatically considered. Please note that travel support funding is limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Additional Information & Registration
- Timpano Award details:
https://okmicroscopy.org/oms-best-student-paper-award-the-timpano-award/ - Meeting registration:
https://okmicroscopy.org/2026-spring-oms-meeting/
We strongly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to showcase your work and engage with the broader microscopy community.
Please feel free to reach out ([email protected] or [email protected]) if you have any questions.
We look forward to your participation.
- Submit an abstract to enter the Timpano Award contest or present a poster. Students competing for the Timpano will present a 15 minute talk. The winner will receive funding to send them to the national Microscopy Society of America annual meeting. There is also a cash prize for second place. There are also cash prizes for student poster awards!
link to submit abstract - Submit an image to the Best Micrograph contest
link to instructions
Tentative Program
| Time | Description / Who | Title / notes |
| 8:00 AM | Room open for setup (food, vendors, and posters etc) | Coffee & Light Breakfast provided. |
| 9:00 AM | Opening Remarks | Dr. Tingting Gu (OU, SRNML, OMS), Dr. Ann West (OU, OVPRP) |
| 9:05 – 10:05 AM | Biology Keynote: Dr. Priyamvada Acharya | Structural virology with a 100 keV cryo-TEM |
| 10:05 AM – 10:30 AM | TomoCube Sponsored Coffee Break and Vendor Showcase | Includes student micrograph contest viewing time. |
| 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM | Faculty Presentation – Dr. Jian Zhao | Computational chemical microscopy imaging |
| 10:45 AM – 11:00 AM | Student Presentation – Kole Long | Determining the structure of CRISPR type II-A spacer acquisition |
| 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM | Student Presentation – Rose Johnson | Quadruple imaging modalities of Chlamydomonas illuminate TOGARAM1’s role governing ciliary microtubules |
| 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM | Lunch and Learn Please Register! | Here the event will split into two sessions dependent on registrant’s choice. |
| 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM | Cryo-TEM Presentations – Natalie Young, Ph.D, Themofisher Scientific Dr. Len Thomas, OU | Thermofisher Presentation: Discover Cryo-EM at the University of Oklahoma OU Discussion: University of Oklahoma Tundra Cryo-TEM Present and Future |
| 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM | Materials TEM Presentations – Tim Eldred, Ph.D JEOL USA Inc. | NEOARM Presentation: The Modern TEM: JEOL’s Solutions for Control and Imaging FIB/SEM Presentation: Topics in FIB/SEM Technology and Workflows |
| 1:45 PM – 2:00 PM | Vendor Talk – Brian Templin, Tomocube, Inc. | Holotomography: Label-free 3D Live Cell Imaging |
| 2:00 PM – 2:15 PM | Student Presentation – Nagarajan Anna Ramesh Babu | Thickness-dependent high-entropy-alloy nanoparticle formation via pulsed laser-induced dewetting |
| 2:15 PM – 2:30 PM | Student Presentation – Ramji Subedi | Machine learning-enhanced atomic insights into strain accommodation and epitaxial stabilization of Ba(ZrSnTiHfNb)O3 high-entropy oxide thin films |
| 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM | Materials Keynote: Dr. Yongtao Liu – ORN | Self-Driving Scanning Probe Microscopy via Programmatic Control and Real-Time Machine Learning |
| 3:30 – 4:30 PM | Poster Session | Includes student micrograph contest viewing time. |
| 4:30 – 5:00 PM | Closing Remarks and Cleanup |