| How to reach and find us: MAP
(07) ground floor - office rooms: 00.033 and 00.034
Euro-BioImaging:
LIC in Freiburg is a Euro-BioImaging Proof-of-Concept site.
Find more information at www.eurobioimaging.eu and apply for free access to a facility here.
German-BioImaging:
The LIC Freiburg together with the BIC Konstanz is a national contact point for German BioImaging. Find more about German BioImaging at www.germanbioimaging.org
LIC Overview:
The Life Imaging Center (LIC) is a central core facility of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg open to members of all Faculties. Currently 320 active users from 6 Faculties (Biology; Medicine; Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Earth Sciences; Mathematics and Physics; Forest and Environmental Sciences; and Engineering) are using the infrastructure of the LIC. Outside users from Freiburg (Max Planck Institutes, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft) and from other universities are also welcome.
The Life Imaging Center, which is now one of the largest facilities of that type in Germany, was founded in 2001 by W. Driever and R. Nitschke as the central project Z2 of the SFB 592 "Signaling mechanisms in embryogenesis and organo-genesis". The LIC was originally located in the Institute of Biology I, but a large fraction of the instruments moved in April 2008 into the new building of the Zentrum für Biosystemanalyse (ZBSA) in Habsburgerstr. 49. With the move into the ZBSA, the LIC also merged with the Imaging Core Facility of the Medical Faculty founded in 2003 by R. Nitschke and M. Frotscher. The LIC works tightly together and shares equipment and software licenses with the Imaging facility of Max Planck Institute for Immunbiology (MPI-IB) in Freiburg.
Techniques and Service:
Most modern microscopic techniques (FRET, FRAP, FLIP, FLAP, photo-conversion, photo-activation, uncaging, spectral unmixing, multi-position and large area recording, TIRF, structured illumination, microinjection while imaging) can be performed in combination with live cells or organisms on the available microscope set-ups.
The LIC has a major focus on live cell imaging of all kind of cells, organisms and culture systems used in cell signaling research, developmental biology and neurobiology. Samples are: Embryos (Zebra fish, Drosophila, Mouse, Xenopus), model organisms or cell clusters (C.elegans, spheres, cysts), plants (root, leave, growth cone), neuronal cultures, explants and biopsies from tissue slices, spheroids, flow cultures as well as cells cultured on glass slides. LIC is specialized in long time observation and experiments on these objects, high resolution large area and/or multiple location recordings of thick objects with 2P and UV/VIS excitation. A further specialty is culturing and permanent microscopic observation of cells and spheroids over periods of up to 10 days (also under flow conditions in special chambers).
All types of fluorescent proteins including many photo-activatable and photo-convertible are used. We have a large library of fluorescent proteins (more than 150) available for our users via the BIOSS toolbox and we perform test experiments with these constructs before giving them out to our customers.
Education:
Users are educated and supported on an individual basis in design of their experiments and analysis. Pilot experiments are performed together with the users. This includes testing of antibodies, dyes, quantum dots as well as designing and working out optimal experimental conditions.
In addition imaging courses “Advanced Imaging techniques in Microscopy” for LIC users (2 -4 courses per year) are offered. Since 2001 more than 220 users (PI, post-docs, and PhD and diploma students) attended the 5 - 8 day course. The course is open for a limited number of external attendees. The course covers in theory and practice: Bright-field and fluorescence microscopy; Wide-field, confocal and 2-P microscopy; Time lapse microscopy with GFP and relatives, live cell-markers; Ratio-imaging with ion-sensitive dyes and FRET constructs; FRAP, FLIP, and other F-techniques; photo-activation (uncaging), photo-conversion; Spectral recording and unmixing of dyes; Imaging in 2D, 3D, 4D and 5D; Software for image analysis and restoration, data presentation.
Networking and Partnerships:
In the cluster of excellence – Centre for biological signaling studies (BIOSS) we are currently heavily extending our - beyond imaging - expertise in several joint projects with the Faculty of Engineering. The projects with the Department of computer sciences – division of Pattern Recognition and Image Processing and the Department of Microsystems Engineering –Laboratory for Bio- and Nano-Photonics finally aim for a new microscopic tool we named 4D analyzer.
LIC has longstanding partnerships with companies in the imaging field. With Zeiss development of confocal and widefield microscope hard- and software (> 15 year). More than 5 major projects: AOTF in confocal microscopy, LSM 510 software and hardware, AxioObserver, AxioImager, SPIMicroscopy, Stitching and HDR imaging, InTune Laser, Alpha- and beta-test site for Carl-Zeiss MicroImaging. With IBIDI development of microscope chambers for long term culture and perfusion (> 4 years).
LIC is member of the following initiatives and organizations: European Light Microscopy Initiative (ELMI), PhotonicNet with the workgroup: Standardization and Quantification in Microscopy, EuroBioImaging (EU-project) a pan-European research infrastructure project, which is part of the ESFRI process (R. Nitschke is together with E. Mai (Konstanz) the German coordinator for the Advanced Light Microscopy ). Together we are currently in the process of building up a German network of BioImaging facilities.
Cooperation:
1. within the SFB 592
2. outside the SFB
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