Confocal laser scanning microscope with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 575473651

Research activities at the Medical Faculty Mannheim center on five focus areas: vascular biology and medicine, medical Systems technologies, oncology and inflammation research, forming a unique expertise hub and cross-collaborative environment integrating basic research and translational science. This integration bridges fundamental biological research with clinical applications, enhancing the discovery of biomarkers, the understanding of disease mechanisms, and the development of innovative therapies. To support this endeavour, the acquisition of an advanced confocal laser scanning microscope with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and highly multiplexed fluorescence detection is crucial. This instrument will enable high-resolution imaging of cellular and molecular processes, facilitating deep tissue imaging, live-cell analysis, and multi-dimensional fluorescence studies in both fixed and living samples. It will provide essential capabilities for studying disease progression, cell signalling, and therapeutic responses, significantly enhancing research in areas such as regulated necrosis, immune system interactions, and tumour angiogenesis. Furthermore, its ability to support multiplexed imaging of multiple biomarkers will allow comprehensive, high-throughput analysis, improving the efficiency and depth of experimental studies. Furthermore, a state-of-the-art multiplex-capable microscope will be beneficial for multiple research groups at the Medical Faculty Mannheim. Multiplexing applications are being used more frequently, and have been established for various different research fields ranging from cancer research to immunology. Imaging-based multiplexing provides a valuable link between the spatial localization of individual cell types within a tissue, and their interactions with each other. There is also a critical need for a confocal microscope equipped with an incubation chamber to maintain controlled environmental conditions, which are essential for long-term investigations of cellular behaviour and the monitoring of treatment outcomes over extended periods. Without a dedicated system capable of sustaining live-cell imaging, it becomes challenging to study dynamic processes and evaluate the prolonged impact of therapeutic interventions, which are crucial aspects of translational and preclinical research. Furthermore, for fundamental research, the ability to observe and analyse dynamic cellular processes in real time is essential for uncovering novel biological mechanisms, advancing our understanding of cell signalling pathways, and exploring new aspects of cellular metabolism and stress responses. Specifically, having an incubation chamber integrated with a FLIM-equipped microscope would be crucial because florescence lifetime measurements are highly sensitive to parameters such as temperature and CO2 levels, therefore stable environmental conditions are necessary to obtain reliable lifetime imaging data over extended observation periods.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Konfokales Laserscanning-Mikroskop mit Fluoreszenz-Lebensdauer-Mikroskopie (FLIM)
• Instrumentation Group: 5090 Spezialmikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Leader: Professor Dr. Andreas Linkermann