Dynamic super-resolution microscopy: a gateway for cell biologists to understand molecular machines at work in living cells during homeostasis & disease

Super-resolution, including single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), is revolutionizing molecular cell biology. This application installs a state-of-the-art multicolor PALM/dSTORM instrument making such single molecule imaging more easily accessible. By breaking the diffraction limit, life scientists at the biomedical campus will be able to study protein diffusion within lipid bilayers, protein and lipid scaffolding, nanodomain architecture of organelles as well as communication between organelles and cells at resolutions below 20-30nm. PALM/dSTORM will be applied in the fields of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, to decipher how mutations in risk genes impact on molecular functions of their protein products at the cell surface, in narrow contact sites between organelles, or how organelle biogenesis and fate are affected. The consortium will explore new applications in viral protein-DNA interactions and omics analysis of single cells, expanding the scope of SMLM.

Keywords:Single molecule localization microscopy, PALM/dSTORM, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, membrane contact sites, plasma membrane, lysosome, viral protein-DNA interactions, multiplex omics, spatial omics, exosomes, cancer biology, protein scaffolding, membrane biology

Disciplines:Intracellular compartments and transport, Membrane structure and transport, Transcription and translation, Animal cell and molecular biology