Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Working group of Prof. Gauglitz

Research

The research of the working group of Prof. Gauglitz is focussed on optical sensors in general. These can either rely on label-free transduction e.g. reflectometry, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), or Mach-Zehnder-Interferometry, which are perfectly suited for investigating biomolecular interactions.

On the other hand fluorescently labelled biomolecules can be applied in high-sensitivity analytics such as total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF), or Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET).

Surface modification and functionalisation plays a crucial role or any of these transduction methods. These modifications are characterised using techniques such as ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), or contact-angle.

The optical methods are often complemented for biomolecular interaction analysis by calorimetric methods.

Last but not least, are tools being developed to state-of-the-art data handling and treatment for modern analytics.