Fluorescent Molecular Labels and Probes

Roland Krämer is a Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at University of Heidelberg, Germany. He obtained his PhD from University of Munich in 1994. After a postdoctoral stay in Strasbourg, France, he moved to University of Münster where he was awarded his Habilitation degree in 1997. He was appointed to his current position in Heidelberg in 1999. Research in his group focuses on bioinorganic and bioconjugate chemistry, and more recently on the development of new molecular probes. He coordinates the graduate program "Molecular Probes" at University of Heidelberg. Claudia Krämer is an Organic Chemist.

Major classes of molecular fluorophores
(Organic dyes; Transition metal complexes; Lanthanide complexes; Quantum dots and fluorescent polymers will be mentioned briefly)

Design and synthesis of labels and probes

Important chemical and photophysical properties

Signalling mechanisms
(Microenvironmental effects; Quenching; Resonance energy transfer; Photoinduced electron transfer; Modulation of fluorescence lifetime; Ratiometric probes; Signal amplification)

Sensitivity and detection limits

Target selectivity and molecular recognition

Major fields of application
(Biomolecule detection, Medical diagnostics, Enzyme assays, High-throughput screening, Cellular imaging and microscopy)

Fluorescent labels
(Proteins, Antibodies; Proteins in live cells; Nucleic acids; Lipids; Application to cellular imaging; Application to molecular imaging)

Fluorescent Probes
(pH; Metal ions; Simple anions; Metabolites; Reactive Oxygen Species (including NO); Enzyme substrates; Proteins in vitro; Proteins in live cells; Nucleic acids; Cellular substructures)

Labels and Probes for ultrahigh sensitivity and resolution
(Multiple-fluorophore labels, Fluorescence ELISA, Tyramide signal amplification, Enyzme labeled fluorescence, Probes for ultra-high resolution optical microscopy, Probes for single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy)

Challenges in probe development