Research Program

The BIN’s research program is made up of five main research areas:

• Structural protein analysis
• Development of small chemical sensors and markers
• Spectroscopical and fluorescence microscopy imaging
• Functional analysis in vivo
• Translation to clinical therapeutic applications

These research areas are currently headed by Professors Alexander Flügel (UMG), Silvio O. Rizzoli (UMG), Ulf Diederichsen (Georg-August University), Christian Griesinger und Stefan Jakobs (MPI bpC). The following research groups were given the task of carrying out the research tasks:

• Molecular Probe Synthesis
  Prof. Dr. Ulf Diederichsen
• NMR Signal Enhancement
  Dr. Stefan Glöggler
• High Resolution Microscopy in Neurodegenerative Diseases
  Prof. Dr. Stefan Jakobs
• Molecular Probes for Quantitative Neurosciences
  Dr. Felipe Opazo

The goal of the BIN research groups is to develop and make available methods and procedures that, through observation of normal and disease-related cellular activities, make it possible to assess the efficacy of new potential therapeutic approaches.

In order to reach this goal, a close cooperation will be established between biophysics, chemistry and clinical pathology groups with the following specific aims:

• to research and/or verify newly identified signaling paths and protein activities relating to neurodegenerative processes;
• to establish optical techniques that yield the highest possible amount of information, so that new multi-component biomarkers can be defined;
• to implement new optical and spectroscopical microscopy techniques. Here the research will have a two-pronged approach, one being below the diffraction limit (“high resolution”) with technologies such as RESOLFT and STED and the other being the the field of isotopic analysis using nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS).