Our lab is interested in the development and the application of novel optical techniques to investigate molecular transport in cell biology and nanotechnology. Building on our experience in single-molecule imaging and in the in vitro reconstruction of subcellular mechano-systems we study cooperative effects in motor transport and cell motility. Moreover we aim to apply biomolecular motor systems in synthetic, engineered environments for the generation, manipulation and detection of nanostructures. Towards this end, the talk will focus on how fluorescent microtubules themselves (with and without attached quantum dots) can be used as probes to measure optical near fields. In contrast to many alternative methods, microtubules possess the advantages that they can be applied in a highly parallel manner and that they do not alter the fields to be measured.
