Konfokaler Imaging Reader für Mikrotiterplatten

• Subject Area: Plant Sciences
• Term: Funded in 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 197324939

The exploration of whole genomes was made possible by the advancement in sequencing technolo-gies. However, assigning functions to genomic regions remains a major challenge. Information on phenotypes now emerges as a major bottleneck for scientific progress. Robotics and automatic de-vices allowing the processing of large numbers of probes will determine the actual progress science will make in deciphering genomic information. So far, little attention has been dedicated to natural variation in cellular patterns and structure, al-though those are an essential link between gene expression and the manifestation of a phenotype. The reason for this grey zone is that microscopic analyses are not easily scalable for large sample size. The High-Throughput High Content-Screening platform lifts this hurdle and offers a fully auto-mated system to obtain three-dimensional images that can be subsequently analyzed by the powerful and sensitive algorithm implemented in the associated software package.This device will be used for three major scientific goals: the analysis of natural variation in plant cellu-lar phenotypes, the screening of mutant libraries for genotypes displaying altered protein/protein interactions in Ca2+ signalling and the analysis of bacterial infection in beetles and paramecia to elucidate the process of co-evolution.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Instrumentation Group: 5042 Mikroskope für Hochdurchsatz und Screening
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Juliette de Meaux