Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) are particularly well suited to monitor interactions between molecules both in cells and in vitro. The goal of the Workshop was to both showcase their applications in biological research and test the equipment using real samples.

The talks included introduction to FLIM and FCS, their use in biological research, design of FRET probes, instrumentation and image analysis. The organizers had also invited outside speakers - Dr Ali Kinkhabwala (Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund) and Dr Malte Wachsmuth (EMBL, Heidelberg) as well as top manufacturers to demo their equipment. The attendees were welcome to sign up for demo sessions and bring their own samples.

The organizers would like to thank the participants, speakers and our commercial partners PicoQuant GmbH, Lambert Instruments BV, Carl Zeiss Österreich GmbH and Becker&Hickl GmbH for making the Workshop a great success. Special thanks to Gemma Ruffino, Georg Bauer and Günther Leitgeb (MFPL) and Manuela Jung for their help with event advertisement and publicity.

The Workshop had been well attended: around 40 people from campus had registered for the talks (35-40 were present) and 33 had signed up for demo sessions (~25-30 attended). In addition to the MFPL groups, we had participants from IMP, GMI, one person from ZMF Graz and a participant from Germany.

Most attendees who completed the survey¹⁾ soon after the Workshop (22 respondents total) positively rated the overall quality of the talks and relevance of the topics. Several noticed that the talks by the company reps were too technical; others indicated that more biologically relevant examples and limitations of the techniques should be discussed in more details.

11 out of 22 participants taking the survey indicated that they are likely to use FLIM/FCS functionality of the instrument in the next 12 months, while 8 envisage using it in the future. People from 13 labs at the MFPL and at least 3 groups from campus indicated various degree of interest.

The choice of the advanced FLIM system to purchase is based on a number of criteria, including versatility, extensibility, ease of use and competitive cost. Negotiations with manufacturers are underway.

Calendar import²⁾

• Becker&Hickl GmbH
• PicoQuant GmbH
• Lambert Instruments BV
• Carl Zeiss GmbH, Österreich
• Ali Kinkhabwala's group (MPI for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund)
• Malte Wachsmuth (EMBL, Heidelberg)
• Gottfried Köhler's lab (MFPL)
• MFPL BioOptics facility
• Ivan Yudushkin's lab (MFPL)