Advanced optical microscope for long-term live cell imaging and tracking

• Subject Area: Biological Chemistry and Food Chemistry
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 557216993

Live cell imaging and tracking on single-cell level has evolved to a highly demanded tool in biomedical and biotechnological research. The increasing progress in biomaterial engineering to construct new 3D biomimetic in vitro cell culture models of pathological and physiological situations in human tissues as well new the design of engineered living materials and scaffold systems of productive biofilms have expanded the application range, the technological demands and the versatility of scientific questions. Long-term in-depth investigation of various living cell systems in 3D microenvironments comprise studies of wound healing situations at various disease states, cancer progression and metastasis of different tissue types, fundamental questions on mechanotransduction of physical network states of the extracellular matrix environment and communication within multi-species microbial consortia in structured biofilms and engineered living materials. For those studies stable environmental conditions in terms of gaseous partial pressure and temperature, precise 3D position control, multi-photonic readout options for labeled and non-labeled primary cells and cell lines at low phototoxicity, and fast and comprehensive analysis at the single-cell level of large datasets are pivotal to perform state-of-the-art research in this field. With this goal and our long-standing expertise in the field of long-term live cell microscopy and tracking, we plan to bring the technical instruments of the BioImaging Core Facility at Leipzig University to current advanced standards and update an existing outdated long-term live cell microscope. Therefore, we request a new advanced optical microscope, which facilitates the needs of modern live cell imaging and tracking. The requested device should enable: long-term (over days) stability of environmental cell culture conditions including temperature (heating and cooling), CO2 and O2 partial pressures, sterile working conditions; long-term (over days) XYZ positioning stability at sub-micron reproducibility; a broad range of magnifications at high resolution, high numerical apertur, and large working distance (also with water immersion); various optical microscopy modes including broad range of fluorescence signals, brightfield and phase contrast mode; a highly sensitive and fast camera to allow low phototoxicity measurements; versatile sample holders to use well plates, thin and thick bottom slides; large data handling capacity including integrated image analysis of 2D and 3D time-resolved stacks from various contrast modes. Such a requested advanced optical microscope will be key for running planned experiments of several research projects and groups at Leipzig University. Furthermore, the integration in the BioImaging Core Facility and the versatile, state-of-the-art handling of the new device will facilitate the usage of long-term live cell imaging and tracking by other research groups of Leipzig University.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: High-end optisches Mikroskop für Langzeit-Lebendzellmikroskopie und -verfolgung
• Instrumentation Group: 5042 Mikroskope für Hochdurchsatz und Screening
• Applicant Institution: Universität Leipzig
• Leader: Professor Dr. Tilo Pompe