[Spotlight seminar] – Designing brighter dyes for advanced fluorescence microscopy and beyond

September 10, 15:15 – 16:00

Organizer

SciLifeLab Event
events@scilifelab.se
View Organizer Website

Venue

Gamma 2 Lunchroom
SciLifeLab, Tomtebodavägen 23
Solna, Sweden

[Spotlight seminar] – Designing brighter dyes for advanced fluorescence microscopy and beyond

September 10, 2024 @ 15:15 16:00 CEST

Dr. Luke D. Lavis, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA 

Biography

Luke D. Lavis received his B.S. in Chemistry from Oregon State University in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2008. Circumventing a traditional postdoc, he than began his independent career as a Group Leader at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus, and was promoted to Senior Group Leader and Head of Molecular Tools and Imaging in 2017. His research focuses on designing small-molecule tools for imaging, leading to the development of the widely used Janelia Fluor® dyes and the founding of Eikon Therapeutics in 2019.

Abstract

Specific labeling of biomolecules with bright, photostable fluorophores is the keystone of fluorescence microscopy. An established method to label cellular components utilizes genetically encoded self-labeling tags, which enable the attachment of chemical fluorophores to specific proteins inside living cells. For the last decade, our laboratory has focused on the development of improved fluorophores for use in living systems. We discovered a simple structural modification to classic fluorophores—incorporation of a four-membered azetidine ring—that substantially improves quantum efficiency and photostability. This strategy is generalizable to fluorophores from different structural classes and has yielded a palette of optimized chemical dyes for use in advanced microscopy experiments ranging from single-molecule tracking in individual cells to population voltage imaging in vivo.

Host: Simon Elsässer, KI, simon.elsasser@scilifelab.se

Your e-mail

Simon.elsasser@scilifelab.se
SciLifeLab, Tomtebodavägen 23
Solna, Sweden

Your e-mail

Simon.elsasser@scilifelab.se

Last updated: 2024-09-02

Content Responsible: Isolde Palombo(isolde.palombo@scilifelab.se)