Research Equipment & Techniques in Heikal Laboratory
We integrate the state-of-the-art biophotonics techniques for non-invasive fluorescence studies of biological and biomolecular systems. Our multimodal fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy techniques enable us to gain a multi-dimensional perspective of molecular mechanisms that underlie a given biological process. We use a variation of the following techniques in our laboratory (see images below) for "ensemble" and "single-molecule" studies:
- Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy
- Two-Photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM)
- Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS)
- Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)
- Laser Scanning Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy (LSCM)
- Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) Microscopy
- Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy (Excited State Dynamics and Time-Resolved Anisotropy)
- Spectrophotometery and Spectrofluorimtery
- Electroformation Method for Model Membranes (GUVs) Assemblies
- Cell and Tissue Culture
- Image Processing and Data Analysis Algorithm
In addition, there are other shared, scientific facilities at the University of Minnesota-Duluth that are at our disposal as well and include: