Rob joined the Octopus group in 2022 as a Link Scientist responsible for
multiphoton and lightsheet microscopy (Leica SP8 Digital Lightsheet and 3i
Cleared Tissue Lightsheet). He provides scientific and technical expertise and
support to academic and industrial partners for all aspects of their microscopy
experiments (design, acquisition and analysis). Rob is a biochemist by training
(MSci from University of Birmingham), transitioning to cellular biology (PhD
from University of Bristol) and then systems neuroscience (Postdoc at Oxford
University) while gaining skills in various microscopy techniques, particularly
in vivo multiphoton microscopy.
His current interests are in live lightsheet imaging of 3D biological models such as organoids and spheroids, but he has taken his hand to imaging small developing organisms, plants and cell bioprinting. He is also interested in taking advantage of fixed cleared tissue imaging of whole tissues ranging from human biopsies, mouse organs and bones, human skin models, and cellularised biomaterials. Rob is also interested in utilising multiphoton microscopy for deep imaging in thick samples, or specific utilisation of properties such as plasmon resonance (gold nanoparticles in cells) and second harmonic generation (collagen in biomaterials and tissue).
Lees, R.M., Bianco, I.H., Campbell, R.A.A. et al. Standardized measurements for monitoring and comparing multiphoton microscope systems. Nat Protoc (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-024-01120-w
Lees, R.M., Pichler, B. and Packer, A.M. Contribution of optical resolution to the spatial precision of two-photon optogenetic photostimulation in vivo. Neurophotonics (2024) Vol 11 (1) https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.11.1.015006
Lees R.M., Johnson, J.D. and Ashby M.C. Presynaptic Boutons That Contain Mitochondria Are More Stable. Front. Synaptic Neurosci. (2020) Vol 11 https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsyn.2019.00037
Lees, R.M., Peddie, C.J., Collinson, L.M., Ashby, M.C. and Verkade, P. Correlative two-photon and serial block face scanning electron microscopy in neuronal tissue using 3D near-infrared branding maps. Methods in Cell Biology (2017) Vol 140, pp245-276 https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.mcb.2017.03.007
