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Research & Initiatives

About the group

The Bioimaging and Bioanalysis group has been founded in Feb. 2014. We are an interdisciplinary group consisting of biologists, biomedical engineers, chemists, medical doctors and physicists. Our main goal is to pioneer nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging for biomedical applications.

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Our main goal

Diamond magnetometry allows reading out a magnetic resonance signals in the nanoscale. The method is based on a fluorescent defect in diamond which changes its optical properties based on its magnetic surrounding. Thus it combines the advantages of both magnetic resonance imaging (functional contrast, spectral information) and fluorescence imaging (sensitive, high spatial resolution, easy, inexpensive). This is so sensitive that it allows the detection of single electron spins or even a few nuclear spins. Our aim is to apply this method to visualize, free radical metabolism (an indicator for stress in cells) inside living cells. 

Nanodiamonds as labels for integrated microscopy

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Integrated microscopy combines electron microscopy (EM) with light microscopy. However, conventional dyes bleach during the sample preparation for EM. NV centers in diamond, however, are protected within the lattice and thus remain fluorescent. As a result one can at the same time label cells optically and investigate the membrane structure. We can learn from this were diamond particles are within cells.

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