Regensburg 2004 – scientific programme

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SYLS: Life Sciences on the Nanometer Scale - Physics Meets Biology

SYLS 3: Symposium "Life Sciences on the Nanometer Scale - Physics Meets Biology"

SYLS 3.58: Poster

Wednesday, March 10, 2004, 16:00–18:30, B

Evaluation of Laser Scanning Microscopic Methods on Biological Molecules in Membranes — •Micha Kölbach, Dominic Zerulla, Kerstin Elfrink, Gereon Isfort, and Klaus Schierbaum — Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, IPkM, Materialwissenschaften, AG Physikalische Methoden für Biologie und Medizin, Universitätsstr. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

As of today the infection mechanisms of the prion proteins are still not completely understood.
In order to investigate these infectious biological molecules in membranes, we have tested a multitude of different microscopic approaches, basing on fluorescence as well as Raman spectroscopy. We have decided to pursue this goal by building two different high sensitive microscopes for low light detection.
The first one uses only reflecting light and offers, through the use of a high precision xyz micropositioning table, a scanning mode. This system is able to supply a large quantity of information from each single sample by providing a full spectrum for each scanned point. Since the scanning mode is a long lasting process, the second microscope makes use of a multichannel detector in conjunction with dispersive components or optical filters, and therefore offers a faster recording of fluorescence or Raman images. It also features the use of both reflecting light and see-through mode. In connection with the use of photoncounting equipment we strive to detect single molecule fluorescence of labelled Acetylcholinesterase molecules bound via GPI-anchors in a lipid bilayer, a system already close to prion proteins in the same membrane.