Chemistry  and Biology Laboratories

For the synthesis of smart contrast agents several highly equipped laboratories are available in the Magnetic Resonance Center (MRC).

The chemical laboratories are equipped with all routine tools for chemical synthesis (hoods, hydrogenation apparatus, freeze dryer etc.). Two manual as well as a fully automated peptide synthesizers for solid phase synthesis of cell penetrating peptides and peptide nucleic acids can be used. The analytical laboratories house a LC-MS unit (ESI ionization) and two systems for analytical and preparative HPLC, a fluorescence/luminescence spectrometer as well as a 300 MHz (7T) NMR spectrometer.

The cell biology laboratories are equipped for cell culture work with two laminar flow, two CO2-incubators, and a routine inverse brightfield microscope with fluorescence unit and camera. Two research microscopes are also available. One is based on extreme darkfield microscopy optimized for real time life cell imaging and is connected to a high resolution colour video camera. The other inverse microscope is equipped with an optical grid, motorized focus and a high end black-and-white digital camera. It allows the recording and reconstruction of high resolution 3D fluorescence images from cells or tissue slices. Both microscopes are used to study uptake mechanism, fate and intracellular localization of contrast agents. The labs are used to perform various kinds of cell biological assays and are equipped e.g. with centrifuges, electrophoresis units and a multiplate reader primarily used for absorption and fluorescence spectroscopic studies on the internalization of the contrast agents into cells as well as on their biocompatibility.