Group Lab-On-Chip Technology:

• accumulation and detection of micro- and nanoparticles in suspensions of biotechnological relevance
• design and development of microfluidic systems (chips, periphery, detection) for applications in biotechnology and cell biology
• conceptualisation and set-up of chip-based microsystems for cell-compatible injection of physiological suspensions into microfluidic systems, contact-less manipulation of single or few biological objects (cells, bacteria, viruses) and controlled deposition of previously characterised particles for further cultivation
• microsystems for the controlled translation and rotation of suspended microparticles
• manual, semi-automated and fully automated sorting of microobjects (e. g. living cells) in continuous flow systems
• centrifugation-free washing and loading of living cells with e. g. pharmaceutical agents in microfluidic flow systems
• dielectric characterisation of complex particles on a single cell level
• chip-based electromanipulation (e. g. fusion) of rare cells (e. g. stem cells)
• transport of low fluid volumes with chip-integrated micropumps
• combination of dielectric field cages and optical tweezers for simultaneous manipulation of several objects and for the characterisation of interactions (binding forces) between particles
• optical microscopy on a high performance level, e. g. extremely light-sensitive fluorescence measurements
• numerical calculations and modelling using the finite-element-method
• influence of electric ac fields (10 kHz to 250 MHz) on biological objects
• time-resolved investigation of cell adhesion on functionalised surfaces by means of total reflexion microscopy (TIRFM)
• characterisation of the topographical structure of artificial and biogenous surfaces with sub-micron resolution by scanning force microscopy (SFM) and investigation of mechanical properties on the same length scale by microindentation
• microprocessing with UV laser ablation
• micromanipulation of single objects with capillary aspiration
• cultivation of animal and yeast cells on biosafety level S1 before and after their manipulation in microfluidic chips

Group Cell Assay Development:

• protein analysis with multispectral immunofluorescence microscopy and Western Blots
• Pulse-Chase assays for protein expression kinetics
• time-resolved observation of molecular translocations inside eukaryotic cells with multispectral fluorescence- and TIRF-Time-Lapse microscopy
• development of microfluidic cell carriers for high-resolution microscopy
• no-impact-examination of single cells using cell trace analysis
• design and development of surfaces
• cell assay for determination of chemotactical potential
• correlation of tumour progression stages with molecular events during cell motility (chemotaxis)
• switchable surfaces for cell adhesion control
• design of surface topographies by µ-CP-deposition of micro- and nano-particels
• nano-structured surfaces for cell adhesion control
• immobilisation of biomolecules on surfaces
• time-lapse microscopy of living cell systems
• micromanipulation, microdissection, laser microdissection
• training of external personnel

Group Extremophile Research:

• CCCryo - Culture collection of cryophilic and mesophilic snow, ice and permafrost algae from polar and alpine regions of our earth (snow algae)

• sale of clonal algal strains (online access to database via our websites)

• prospecting of new algal strains according to your requirements

• photobioreactor development for product-specific mass cultivation of snow algae

• customer-specific production of algal biomass under defined and/or differential conditions (UV-radiation, light, temperature, nutrients)

• determination of optimal growth conditions for algal strains used in your laboratory or company (culture medium, pH, temperature, light)

• production of algal biomass on kg-scale

• delivery of algal extracts for downstream experiments (DNA, RNA, cDNA, proteins)

• research on extremozymes (differential transcript and proteom analyses) as well as primary and secondary plant metabolites (freeze protectants, ice structuring proteins (ISP, AFP), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), antioxidants)

• basic research in the taxonomy and phylogeny of cryophilic freshwater microalgae (analyses of SSU-rDNA- and ITS-sequences)

• population genetics on the bipolar distribution of cryophilic algae to assist climate models

• cryopreservation of your valuable production strains and safety-backup in the cryobank at our branches in Potsdam (near Berlin) and in Sulzbach (Saarland)

• 2-day cryopreservation courses