Research Areas

Using skeletal muscle and neuronal preparations for the development of highly sensitive methods, we are seeking to expand state of the art technology in physical and biophysical sciences to the application in basic medical research.

The techniques used by our group include microscopic fluorescence imaging techniques such as, e.g., confocal/multiphoton imaging, ratiometric wide field fluorescence microscopy, microscopic laser application such as, e.g., UV-laser microdissection and IR-optical tweezers, patch clamp and several other voltage clamp techniques, mathematical modelling of cellular and subcellular dynamic processes, and basic image processing techniques especially for studying dynamic processes.

With the help of this broad spectrum of sensitive techniques many clinical relevant questions can be studied in its molecular origins. For example the investigations on Duchenne muscular dystrophy are utilizing the patch-clamp method and the various approaches for determining the total intracellular calcium turnover in diseased single muscle fibers.

The effects of volatile anaesthetics on the contractile proteins of skeletal and heart muscles, as well as on the ryanodine receptors can be ideally studied using permeabilised muscle fibres, with the contractile force and the calcium turnover as very sensitive indicators of cellular and subcellular effects of volatile anaesthetics.

The research projects of the group are embedded in a network of national and international cooperations, which further expand the interdisciplinary approaches of our research topics. This includes collaborative projects in molecular biology, biotechnology and physical chemistry.