5-Laser cell sorter with imaging technology

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567878841

Synthetic biology combines principles from biology, engineering, and computer science to design and construct new biological systems or reprogram existing ones for useful purposes. The field is broadly divided into two branches: Top-down and bottom-up synthetic biology. The bottom-up approach involves building biological systems from scratch by assembling molecular components such as DNA, RNA, and proteins inside of lipid vesicles. In contrast, the top-down approach starts with existing biological cells, modifying or simplifying natural organisms by re-engineering their genomes to achieve desired traits or functions. At Heidel-berg University, members of our community pursue both of these approaches. We employ techniques such as DNA and RNA origami, optogenetics, CRISPR technologies, and ad-vanced genomics and proteomics to study and manipulate cellular systems to enhance our understanding of cellular processes, which is directly linked to our efforts to engineer them. The ability to precisely sort cells based on subcellular localization, protein expression, and cellular organization would be a game-changer for us to optimize synthetic models, molecular tools, and understand disease-related mechanisms at the cellular level. Such advanced sorting capabilities have just become available thanks to new technology, which integrates imaging with FACS. Here, we thus request a FACS with imaging technology, that allows us to sort cells depending on morphological and subcellular features. The instrument will be housed at the Flow Cytometry and FACS Core Facility.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: 5-Laser Zellsortierer mit bildgebender Technologie
• Instrumentation Group: 3500 Zellzähl- und Klassiergeräte (außer Blutanalyse), Koloniezähler
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Kerstin Göpfrich