P28 JKU

Email: Gerhard Schütz

with 6 permanent scientists. Several subgroups are established focusing for instance on single molecule fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy, surface- and biochemistry, electrophysiology, and theory. The single molecule fluorescence microscopy group lead by Prof. Schütz will be mainly involved in this project; it currently consists of 3 Post-Docs and 9 PhD students. A key competence of the group is technology development, as demonstrated by the first realization of a set of experimental strategies including the measurement of single molecule mobility, orientation, stoichiometry, anisotropy, 3D imaging, and the combination of single molecule fluorescence and ion current measurements. For genomics research, a microarray scanner operating with single molecule sensitivity was developed. In addition, the group was the first to apply single molecule observations for live cell studies. In the meantime, live cell investigations have become the major field of research. Three systems for single molecule microscopy are established in the laboratory. Two of them are designed for single molecule microscopy on living cells (Laser lines: 450, 488, 514, 528, 532, 647 nm). They allow for TIR (Total Internal Reflection) excitation, high speed tracking, and TOCCSL (Thinning Out Clusters while Conserving Stoichiometry of Labeling); furthermore they are equipped with scanning stages for rapid imaging of large areas. To maintain cell viability during the experiment, both systems are placed in a box for temperature control. The third system is optimized for biochip readout at single molecule sensitivity (Laser lines: 350, 405, 488, 514, 647 nm). In addition, atomic force microscopes for high resolution imaging and recognition microscopy are available in the group of Peter Hinterdorfer. One combined system which allows for AFM and fluorescence imaging simultaneously has been established. The Biophysics Institute is well equipped with infrastructure to perform molecular biology (generation of transfected cell lines), standard

is essential to establish this technique for analysis of mobility of lipids and lipid-related