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.