Kompaktes Lebendzellmikroskop

• Subject Area: Neurosciences
• Term: Funded in 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550004465

The intricate nature of the brain's microenvironment, along with the spatial distribution of its cells, highlights the importance of studying living brain sections. Preserving sections of the human brain for ongoing examination offers a unique opportunity to delve into real-time processes and interactions that may become obscured or altered post-mortem. When researchers examine living tissue maintained in cell cultures, they gain valuable insights into dynamic processes like neurotransmission, cellular metabolism, and real-time responses to stimuli. This approach is especially crucial when investigating immediate cellular and molecular responses to various conditions, treatments, or interventions. Real-time observation provides a more accurate understanding of how the brain functions under both normal and pathological conditions, compared to static snapshots obtained from dead or fixed tissues. To effectively study these living brain sections, advanced microscopic techniques are essential. Live cell imaging enables scientists to monitor cellular processes, interactions, and dynamics in real-time, under near-physiological conditions in intricate detail. This research goal will be pursued by a multidisciplinary team from University Hospital Freiburg comprising neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, neuroanatomists, and neuropathologists collaborating in the newly established Center for Advanced Surgical Tissue Analysis (CAST). Research on fresh human tissue allows the direct translation of results into diagnosis and therapies applied to human patients, without the problems that might arise from inter-species differences for results acquired in animal research. This Human-to-Human (H2H) paradigm is of utmost importance for our work at the Department of Neurosurgery Freiburg. For this application emphasis is placed on advanced microscopy with a chamber for incubating living tissue and automated tools for image processing, which are essential for leveraging the unique capabilities of the requested device and its potential applications.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Compact Live Cell Microscope
• Instrumentation Group: 5090 Spezialmikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• Leader: Professor Dr. Jürgen Beck