| Regional Biophysics Meeting 2005, March 16-20, Zreče, Slovenia | [CellBiophys] |
Current scientific research throughout the natural sciences aims at the exploration of the Nanocosm, the collectivity of structures with dimensions between 1 and 100nm. There is a strong demand for technologies offering access to these dimensions, for structuring, manipulating, or measuring at high resolution. In the life sciences, the diversity of this Nanocosm attracts more and more researchers and investors to the emerging field of Nanobiotechnology – biotechnology at or for the nanoscopic dimension. An ultra-sensitive fluorescence microscope capable of studying single biomolecules provides one methodological prerequisite to enter this Nanocosm. In this seminar, I will present in several examples, how we can access the cellular Nanocosm and what we can learn about it by looking on single molecules. In particular, we followed the motion of individual molecules during different phases of T-cell stimulation in the area of the immunological synapse. The mobility of proteins and lipids, as they pass the synapse, reveals information upon the microstructure of these cell-to-cell contact areas. The fluorescence signal indicates formation of small aggregates, even in non-stimulated T cells.
Email: gerhard.schuetz@jku.at
Address: Biophysics Institute, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstr.69, A-4040 Linz, Austria