Research interests

Research in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology is devoted to the flow of molecular information during host-pathogen interactions. As model hosts we are using human cell lines, mice and chick embryos in ovo, and the pathogens of our main interest are Chlamydiales and pathogenic fungi. To broaden information-solving abilities we have set out to adopt and to develop highly advanced micro- and nanosytems, which allow the simultaneous handling of multiple samples within sets of different biomolecules under nearly identical experimental conditions. At present we are focussing on parallel Rapid PCR, in vivo biopolymer-interaction technologies and multicolor hyperspectral imaging of biomolecules on solid body surfaces.

Within the framework of our biological projects, we aim at the elucidation of how infections proceed in living organisms (imaging) and how infected organs react on a molecular level (e.g. comparative transcriptomics and interactomics). Imaging is performed by means of our latest generation positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) instrument that provides co-registered images, ie. it combines the high spatial resolution and anatomical detail of CT with the molecular, quantifiable images obtained by PET. Both comparative transcriptomics and interactomics involve massively parallel sequencing.




 

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