Dreidimensional superhochauflösendes Fluoreszenzmikroskop

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 236957734

Our research is driven by the observation that many, if not all, diseases have their origin at the single cell level. The initial viral and bacterial infection of a cell, spontaneous or induced genetic modifications, even interactions of vascular cells with lipids represent the fundamental initial events leading to diseases such as AIDS, cancer, or atherosclerosis. The processes are typically defined biochemically, but in many cases we are lacking a very fundamental understanding of their timing and their dynamics; basically the how’s and when’s that can only come from direct observation. A perfect example is HIV infection: for the last decade the initial infection of CD4+ T cells was described as a fusion event of the virus with the cell’s plasma membrane. Only now, 25+ years after the discovery of HIV, and after single virus tracking experiments, do we know that the fusion event is preceded by endocytosis of the virus. To this end, in my research group we are utilizing and developing state-of-the-art and emerging biophysical methods and tools to directly observe these events at the cellular and subcellular level and determine how they spread from there. We now request a system that enables the full three-dimensional imaging of fluorescently labeled samples of living cells at 100 nm resolution in X,Y, and 200 nm resolution at the high speed required to image living samples.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Dreidimensional superhochauflösendes Fluoreszenzmikroskop
• Instrumentation Group: 5090 Spezialmikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Universität Bielefeld
• Leader: Professor Dr. Thomas Huser