The Cremer Lab

Head: Prof. Dr. Christoph Cremer
Lab Manager: Shih-Ya Chen

IPMB Heidelberg

IMB Mainz

Cooperation Unit Biophysics of the Genome Structure

Superresolution Microscopy

www.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/AG_Cremer/
www.optics.imb-mainz.de

Welcome to eXtreme resolution microscopy

Our group at the Institute of Molecular Biology GmbH - an Excellence Centre for Life Sciences funded by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation - and at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics focusses on development and application of novel far field fluorescence microscopy techniques. We set up LASER microscopes i.e., work on optical setups and on image analysis tools for quantitative (fluorescence) microscopy with a detection sensitivity down to the single molecule level.

Conventional epifluorescence microscopy is limited in resolution (to about 200 nm laterally, 600 nm axially) by the shere nature of light (by diffraction), and is hence insufficient to study the nanostructure of subcellular components. At IMB-Mainz, we have established a variety of superresolution microscopy ("nanoscopy") methods. Our present spectrum for 'nanoimaging' of nuclear structures comprises confocal laser scanning 4Pi-microscopy, Spatially Modulated Illumination (SMI) and Patterned Excitation Microscopy (PEM) devices, as well as Spectrally Assigned Localization Microscopy (SALM). Our microscope systems can and have been applied to study the composition, function and metabolism of many biomolecular structures. Few other fields of biology benefit as much from the revolutionary developments in light microscopy as the study of the architecture of the cell nucleus and of its functional layout.

In the multi-disciplinary environment here at IMB-Mainz we also offer Masters and PhD theses at the utmost forefront of what is currently possible in far field light microscopical analyses of the cell. Depending on the background and interest of the candidate, the focus of the PhD will be shifted either towards biophysics/optics or towards biology.

A brief overview of our work - in particular of the (mainly biological) applications of these eXtreme resolution microscopes - can also be found on the IMB-website of our group.

Our latest work

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Advanced Imaging
Conventional vs. localization microscopy.
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RPE
The retinal pigment epithelial layer of a human eye.
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Cell nucleus
Distribution of H2B (green) and Pol II (red).
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TMV
Tobacco Mosaic Viruses: Widefield vs. SPDM.
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Lampbrush
Confocal image and SPDM insert of DNA (green) and RNA (red).
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OND
Chromatin structural changes upon oxygen nutrients depletion.

News

15.11.19
Perspectives of Cremer-Lab
At the end of 2019, the Cremer-Lab at IMB will close. From 2020 onwards,the research topics of the Cremer-Lab will be continued through collaborations by Christoph Cremer with IMB’s Microscopy Core Facility; the Max Planck Institutes for Polymer Research and for Chemistry; Mainz University Medicine; and Heidelberg University, in particular at the Institute of Pharmacy & Molecular Biotechnology/IPMB, the Institute of Physical Chemistry/PCI, and the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR). The instrumentation (super-resolution microscopy) will remain accessible in the context of the Mainz Microscopy Connection (MMC). In addition, Christoph Cremer will remain a member of Mainz University (Honorary Professor of Physics).
28.10.19
Dr. Udo Birk
We congratulate our long term group member Dr. Udo Birk for the appointment as professor (photonics) at the University of Applied Sciences in Chur, Switzerland
17.10.18
Jan Neumann
has succesfully completed his Ph.D. CONGRATULATIONS
01.05.18
Dr. Marton Gelleri
Has joined our group. Marton has a PhD in the field of microscopy at MPI Molecular Physiology Dortmund.
more …

Contact

Prof. C. Cremer
Dr. M. Gelleri
Institute of Molecular Biology
Ackermannweg 4
D-55128 Mainz, Germany

M.Gelleri@imb-mainz.de
Fax: ++49-6131-39-21421
Tel.: ++49-6131-39-21439