Fully automated fluorescence zoom microscope

• Subject Area: Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics
• Term: Funded in 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 448589955

The Technical University of Munich is here applying for an upright fluorescence zoom research microscope to study the interaction between flow and network architecture in living and artificial flow networks. Under the direction of the newly appointed physics professor Prof. Dr. Karen Alim, the microscope will complement the existing infrastructure at the Research Building “Center for Functional Protein Assemblies” on the Garching campus with a microscope designed for large sample fields.Modern fluorescence zoom microscopy enables the resolution of large sample fields at high fluorescence brightness. Independent transmitted light illumination and automated shutters allow the combination of fluorescence and brightfield images in parallel, thus resolving orthogonal properties of a sample over time. The latest technical developments even allow optical sections through macroscopic fluorescence samples by structured illumination and thus a three-dimensional resolution of samples. Fluorescence zoom microscopes are tailored to the investigation of multicellular samples and provide unique insights into the morphology of multicellular organisms. In the model organism Physarum polycephalum, this technique will be used to investigate how flows in living flow networks feed back on their network architecture. The aim is to identify how the network architecture determines the flows and its transport properties and how flow-related shear forces and pressures as well as the transport of soluble messengers feed back on the network architecture. The physical principles of this interaction will be tested on artificial flow networks for technical applications in controllable porous media and for smart materials.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Fluoreszenz-Zoommikroskop
• Instrumentation Group: 5040 Spezielle Mikroskope (außer 500-503)
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Karen Alim