Signalling events generated at biological membranes are one of the keyways through which cells sense their environment and respond to external cues, including sources of environmental stress, mechanical inputs, endocrine cues, and signals transmitted from other cells in their proximal environment. Membrane-originating signalling cascades are regulated in time and space through very complex networks of interactions, including membrane remodelling, organelle contacts and cytoskeletal activation.

Biochemical investigations can tell us a great deal about the identity, post-translational modifications and interactions of the key players involved in these signalling cascades, however there is consensus on the fact that the localisation and spatiotemporal dynamics of signalling complexes play a very important role in signal modulation.

Advanced microscopy techniques play a very important role in unveiling the spatiotemporal dynamics and structure-function relationships underpinning the regulation of membrane-originating cascades at various scales, from the single-complex to the multicellular scale. The landscape of techniques and potential applications is ever expanding, however many of them are not as widely spread as their potential would suggest, due to their highly specialized nature.

This Methods Collection is aimed at opening some windows on these advanced techniques and their technological and theoretical underpinnings in a way that is accessible outside of the cutting-edge-microscopy community, and hopes to broaden the reach of these technologies into the membrane receptor community, fostering opportunities for new collaborations.