Workgroup “Imaging for Cell Biology”

Helge Ewers
helge.ewers@fu-berlin.de

Stefan Pfeffer
s.pfeffer@zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de

Summary

Microscopy is a fundamental technology for cell biology and led to the very formulation of cell theory. Progress in cell biology has often been driven by novel imaging approaches, reaching from the seminal role of electron microscopy in founding the field, over the breakthroughs achieved in live cell imaging due to the confocal microscope and the GFP revolution, to ground-breaking advances in molecular-resolution imaging of cells by cryo-electron tomography. Digital imaging has again transformed microscopy, changing it into a quantitative science. Computational image processing and emerging imaging techniques allow to resolve ever finer detail and to generate vast amounts of high-content data on entire live organisms. As a result, more and more specific and interdisciplinary know-how is required to execute and analyze meaningful microscopy experiments in a quantitative and reproducible way.
Our DGZ workgroup represents all aspects connected to the generation and analysis of image data in cell biology. This includes the development of techniques, assays, probes and data analysis algorithms. Our aims are to simplify the transfer of expertise within the community and to showcase what is technically feasible using the latest technical developments.