Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Willig, Katrin, Prof. Dr.


  • 1995-2001 Study of Physics at University of Würzburg and New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA
  • 2006 Dr. rer. nat. (University of Heidelberg), thesis on STED microscopy
  • 2006-2013 Postdoc in STED microscopy, Department of NanoBiophotonics, Prof. S.W. Hell, Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
  • 2014-2023 Independent Junior Research Group Leader, Center for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CNMPB), Cluster of Excellence 171 - DFG Research Center 103, Göttingen
  • Since 2024 Professor of Cellular and Molecular Imaging in Anatomy, Institute of Theoretical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg



Major Research Interests

Synapses, the contact sites between two neurons, are the most fundamental information processing units in the brain. Their minute size creates an inherent difficulty for conventional imaging but makes them an ideal target for super-resolution STED microscopy. We employ STED microscopy to study the sub-cellular structural plasticity and brain function directly in a living mouse. Recently, we advanced this technique for long-term and multi-label imaging and imaging of the experience-dependent remodeling of the neuronal circuitry.

Homepage Department/Research Group

https://www.uni-augsburg.de/de/fakultaet/med/profs/anatomie/forschung-zellulare-und-molekulare-bildgebung-in-der-anatomie/



Selected Recent Publications


  • Wegner W, Steffens H, Gregor C, Wolf F, Willig KI (2022) Environmental enrichment enhances patterning and remodeling of synaptic nanoarchitecture revealed by STED nanoscopy. eLife 11:e73603
  • Steffens H, Mott AC, Li S, Wegner W, Švehla P, Kan VWY, Wolf F, Liebscher S*, Willig KI* (2021) Stable but not rigid: Chronic in vivo STED nanoscopy reveals extensive remodeling of spines, indicating multiple drivers of plasticity. Science Advances 7, eabf2806.
  • Willig KI, Wegner W, Müller A, Clavet-Fournier V, Steffens H (2021) Multi-label in vivo STED microscopy by parallelized switching of reversibly switchable fluorescent proteins. Cell Reports 35, 109192
  • Berning S, Willig KI, Steffens H, Dibaj P, Hell SW (2012) Nanoscopy in a Living Mouse Brain. Science 335, 551
  • Willig KI*, Rizzoli SO*, Westphal V, Jahn R, Hell SW (2006) STED-microscopy reveals that synaptotagmin remains clustered after synaptic vesicle exocytosis. Nature 440 (7086), 935-939.