M&M 2027: Looking Ahead to Pittsburgh After M&M 2026

August 28, 2026

After an exciting week at M&M 2026 in Milwaukee, we’re returning home with new ideas and plenty to look forward to in the year ahead.

This year’s Microscopy & Microanalysis conference was an especially memorable one for the Dragonfly team. We connected with researchers and industry professionals working across a range of applications, hosted vendor tutorials every evening of the event, and gave attendees their first look at Dragonfly 3D World 2027, an exciting new update which will be available to download in the coming weeks.

Soon, users will be able to explore the new release for themselves and apply its capabilities to their own research and industrial workflows. We’re excited to see where they take it, and what they’ll have to share when the microscopy community comes together again for M&M 2027, taking place August 2-5, 2027, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What We Learned at M&M 2026

There’s a reason Dragonfly keeps returning to M&M year after year. It gives our team the chance to step outside our day-to-day work and hear directly from the microscopy community about their research, from emerging applications and changing workflow requirements to the ways image analysis is helping them get more from their data.

One of the biggest takeaways from M&M 2026 was the sheer variety of that work. Joscha Malin, Director Software Solutions & PM Processes, saw applications spanning very different ends of the microscopy spectrum. “One of my favorite parts was learning about the broad range of applications, from visualizing green algae cell structures to inspecting semiconductor components for miniscule defects,” he said.

Exposure to such diverse applications gives our team a better understanding of how microscopy needs vary across disciplines and industries. Scott Eckley, Technical Sales Manager, Americas, highlighted the same benefit, noting that M&M helps us “understand the breadth and depth of topics that people are exploring with Dragonfly.”

The value of these interactions can also be much more immediate. Throughout M&M 2026, Jana El Bsat, Training Product Manager, worked directly with users at the booth to troubleshoot their workflows and help work through challenges they were experiencing with Dragonfly. As Jana points out, that kind of face-to-face access can sometimes help resolve a problem a user has been struggling with for days “in under five minutes.”

These conversations work in both directions. Users can discover new approaches to their work and get direct help, while our team gains a clearer picture of where Dragonfly is already making a difference and where there are still opportunities to do more.

The insights we brought home from Milwaukee will continue to inform our work long after the conference. M&M 2026 also gave us an opportunity to share some of our own progress with the microscopy community, including the first look at Dragonfly 3D World 2027.

"It’s always a combination of learning about the research of our current users and how 3D World is helping them, and hearing what other challenges people have where 3D World can be a great solution for them."

Luke Hunter
Sales Manager, Americas and Australia

The Official Reveal of Dragonfly 3D World 2027

M&M 2026 marked an important milestone for our team, as we gave attendees the first look at Dragonfly 3D World 2027 ahead of its release in the coming weeks.
Throughout the conference, visitors to our booth were able to preview new capabilities for segmentation, measurement, reporting, visualization, automation, and other image analysis workflows. We also explored some of these developments in greater depth during our vendor tutorials.

Jana El Bsat presented Deep Learning for Segmentation, exploring how Deep Learning can support segmentation workflows in Dragonfly. For Jana, “the engagement we got from the vendor tutorials” was one of the highlights of M&M 2026.

Scott Eckley also took attendees inside the new release with Faster, Smarter, Better – Dragonfly 3D World 2027.1, offering a closer look at the capabilities and workflow improvements coming to 3D World.

The new release introduces developments across a wide range of workflows, including Grid-Based SAM, Fast Split, Subvoxel Multi-Mesh, Surface Roughness Analysis, Report Builder, expanded Mesh and CAD capabilities, and new visualization and measurement tools. With so much coming to the software, we asked our team which capabilities they’re most excited to see users experience for themselves.

For Jana, the answer was Fast Split, while Scott is most excited about Subvoxel Multi-Mesh. Joscha is particularly interested in what the release could mean for industrial workflows, highlighting the “extended macro capabilities, Report Builder and Session Viewer.”

Whether users are looking to accelerate segmentation, generate more precise measurements, streamline reporting, or improve industrial workflows, 3D World 2027 introduces new ways to approach their data. For a closer look at these capabilities and everything else coming with the release, explore our Dragonfly 3D World 2027 overview.

What Comes Next for Dragonfly 3D World 2027

Once Dragonfly 3D World 2027 becomes available, the capabilities demonstrated at M&M 2026 will move into real research and industrial workflows. Users will be able to apply them to their own data, giving us the opportunity to see how the new tools perform in practice and where users take them beyond the applications we already know.

Deep Learning is one area Scott is particularly interested in following. “I'm excited to see how users will continue to push the boundaries of Deep Learning in their work,” he says.

Joscha is excited to see how Dragonfly continues to develop for industrial applications, particularly in areas such as metrology and semiconductors. Jana, meanwhile, is eager to see the results of users' work firsthand. “I would like to see Dragonfly users show me their applications and how they used Dragonfly in their research,” she says.

The potential for users to take the software in unexpected directions is also what excites Luke. “Super stoked to see what new applications people come across where 3D World is helping them out,” he says. “Things that our team never thought of or could have imagined.”

The most interesting applications may be the ones we can’t anticipate yet. As users begin working with Dragonfly 3D World 2027, their feedback will help inform future development. By M&M 2027, we’re excited to see what users have accomplished with the new release and how their experiences have helped shape what comes next for Dragonfly.

Looking Ahead to M&M 2027 in Pittsburgh

M&M 2027 is scheduled for August 2–5, 2027, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Additional conference details are still to come, but you can expect to see the Dragonfly team there next year.

For our team, M&M 2027 will be an opportunity to reconnect with the researchers and professionals we met in Milwaukee, continue conversations that started this year, and see what’s changed in the months in between. It will also give us a new perspective on where microscopy and image analysis are heading as research priorities, technologies, and workflow needs continue to evolve.

There’s plenty to look forward to between now and Pittsburgh, starting with the release of Dragonfly 3D World 2027 in the coming weeks. We’re excited to see what the next year brings.

We’ll see you at M&M 2027 in Pittsburgh!

Ready to experience Dragonfly for yourself? Download Dragonfly 3D World for free and start exploring your own data today.