Third Institute of Physics - Workgroup Enderlein

Single Molecule Spectroscopy and Imaging for Biophysics and Complex Systems

Our research group for Biophysics / Complex Systems is part of the III. Institute of Physics of the Georg August University Göttingen.

The core research interest of our group is the development of new methods of single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging and their application to biophysics and the physics of complex systems. In recent years, we have developed several advanced methods such as dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (2fFCS), fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy (FLCS), and defocused image analysis of single molecules (DIAM). We use these methods in studying, for example, fast conformational dynamics of proteins and peptides, protein folding, protein-protein interactions, protein aggregation, and the interaction of proteins with water, ions and lipids. Other topics of our research are the development and application of new concepts of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, and the interaction of single fluorescent molecules with nanometric dielectric and metallic structures (nano-optics and plasmonics).