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Project

Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy for dynamic 3D materials characterization at extended imaging depths.

The development of materials with improved properties is of key importance in a wide range of research fields. Rationalization of their synthesis and design strongly depends on insights into their functioning. Fluorescence microscopy is the techniques of choice for dynamic and 3D imaging of materials at relevant length scales and under realistic conditions. Details of structures residing deeper inside the material are however often obscured and the dynamic studies of larger samples are often hampered by the limited image acquisition speeds of current state-of-the-art epifluorescence microscopy. By developing a novel light-sheet optical microscopy platform, we target to enable such detailed dynamic 3D characterizations. Specifically two classes of materials have been selected: 1) angiogenic sprouts in 3D fibrous hydrogels; understanding the cell-matrix interactions is essential for understanding blood vessel formation, cancer metastasis and tissue regeneration and engineering and 2) heterogeneous catalysts assembled in large catalysts bodies and catalytic microreactors; here molecular transport and catalytic site distributions throughout the whole sample are key determinants of the overall catalytic outcome.

Date:1 Jan 2015 →  31 Dec 2018
Keywords:Fluorescentiemicroscopie
Disciplines:Analytical chemistry, Macromolecular and materials chemistry