Department für Nanobiotechnologie (DNBT)

Researchers from the Insititute for Biologically Inspired Materials have improved the performance of holographic phase contrast microscopy. The AWS stimulates the further development of this microscopy by funding building of a prototype implementing it as a novel cytometric technique: Holographic Phase-Contrast Micro Cytometry.

Next-generation sequencing is already a common technique, but it has yet to be applied to many interesting problems. One such issue is to understand better the origin of the tremendous pathogenicity and survival skill of the bacterium Cronobacter sakazakii. By performing whole genome sequencing of C. sakazakii isolates found in Austrian supermarket foods, we found genetic information shedding light on why they survive extreme heat treatment, dry conditions in processed foods, and why they have achieved an alarming degree of resistance to antibiotics.

Can you use bacterial sugars to make biomedical nanoparticles better? Research performed by BIMat in cooperation with Sorbonne published in ACS Applied Bio Materials shows that if you combine sugary lipids from yeast with chemistry originally derived from mussels, you can make magnetic nanoparticles that are both stable, safe and retain some of the properties of the benefits of the bacterial lipids.