January 12, 2021

PicoQuant heads BMBF funded project NG-FLIM

New microscopy methods for identifying cancer cells to be researched in this project

The project "Next Generation FLIM for Life Cell and Tissue Imaging" (NG-FLIM) aims to research how a high-resolution optical microscope system can be used for cancer diagnostics. The pursued approach combines different optical methods along with deep-learning based automated data analysis and new labeling strategies. Rainer Erdmann, managing director of PicoQuant GmbH, says: "Our goal is a microscopy system with a high degree of reliable automation ranging from system alignment to data analysis, that is easy to use for many medical users". NanoTag Biotechnologies GmbH, arivis AG, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, as well as Universitätsmedizin Göttingen are members of the project consortium along with PicoQuant GmbH.

Funded by the BMBF in the program "Photonics  Research Germany" (project 13N15324)

January 6, 2021

Blog post on Olympus objectives

Objective-ly good: read more on optics for improved single molecule sensitivity

A recently published blog post by Olympus Europe spotlights the integration of its X Line objectives into cutting-edge microscopy systems, such as our MicroTime 200. In the article, Marcelle Koenig, senior scientist at PicoQuant, talks about how the enhanced numerical aperture and improved chromatic corrections of the X Line objectives are beneficial for techniques such as Pulsed Interleaved Excitation (PIE) or Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) measurements.

Article on the Olympus Discovery Blog: Good Optics—Improving Single-Molecule Sensitivity in Confocal Microscopy

December 17, 2020

Season’s Greetings

The days are getting shorter and Santa’s little helpers are very busy wrapping up PicoQuant’s traditional Christmas presents for all of our employees’ children. As in previous years, we are also raising funds to support a charity. Our financial support will go to Unicef.

Have safe and happy happy Holidays as well as a joyful New Year 2021, everyone!

December 10, 2020

QRNG: Ten years of true random numbers

Nano-Optics group and PicoQuant celebrate 10th anniversary of their jointly created Quantum Random Number Generator

In 2010, the Nano-Optics group at the Physics Department of the Humboldt University and PicoQuant created a generator device that uses the randomness of photon arrival times to create random numbers of highest statistical quality. The generator and its associated web service have been running nearly 24/7 since then. Over these 10 years, the web service has delivered a total of 1.27 Petabytes of data to over 2000 users worldwide.

December 9, 2020

MicroTime 200 microscope for plant biology studies

A few research examples of our customers

In recent years, time-resolved methods such as FLIM, FRET-FLIM, and (scanning) FCS have been adopted for the study of plant biology. For example, the group of Thorsten Wohland used FCS to show that the disordered plant dehydrin Lti30 protects the membrane during water-related stress:
https://www.jbc.org/content/294/16/6468

Ikram Blilou, Yuchen Long, and colleagues employed FRET-FLIM to observe cell-type-specific transcription factor interactions in living Arabidopsis roots:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature23317
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00639/full

For others to follow in this path, Stefanie Weidtkamp-Peters, Grégoire Denay, and colleagues published a practical guide for fluorescent protein selection in plant FRET experiments:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pld3.189

And recently, the use of FRET-FLIM and scanning FCS as novel tools in plant biology to determine protein dynamics at cellular resolution was covered in the Annual Review of Plant Biology:
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-arplant-050718-100038

Fortunately, PicoQuant`s MicroTime 200 confocal microscope and LSM upgrade kits all enable the rapid acquisition of precise and quantitative FRET-FLIM data, and the MicroTime 200 even supports scanning FCS data acquisition:
Application website "Scanning Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (sFCS)"
Product website MicroTime 200
Product website LSM Upgrade Kit