News and Press Releases

September 23, 2020

PicoQuant strengthens North American sales and support team

Linnéa Olofsson joins the company’s efforts to expand sales and support in the US and Canadian markets

On September 1, 2020, Dr. Linnéa Olofsson joined PicoQuant Photonics North America Inc. as a sales and first level support representative based out of Montreal, Canada. As the direct, local contact, she provides competent consulting and support for PicoQuant’s time-resolved spectrometer and microscopy systems. “I warmly welcome Linnéa to our team,” says Uwe Ortmann, PicoQuant’s head of sales, “her strong background in biophysics and single molecule detection makes her an excellent addition for our customers in the USA and Canada, providing them with in-depth consulting as well as first level support for our MicroTime and FluoTime systems. Over the next two weeks, Linnéa will refine her know-how at our headquarters in Berlin and gain first-hand experience on our time-resolved microscopy and spectroscopy systems”.

September 15, 2020

PicoQuant’s rapidFLIM HiRes combines ultra fast FLIM imaging with outstanding 10 ps time resolution

Users can now visualize dynamic processes in cells or tissues with unprecedented acquisition speed and time resolution

Imaging dynamic processes in tissues or cells require methods that are fast, reliable, and quantitative. Scientists and engineers at PicoQuant have developed rapidFLIM HiRes which enables imaging samples at up to 15 frames per second with a time resolution of 10 ps using Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM). With rapidFLIM HiRes users gain access to both rapid data acquisition and high time resolution when studying fast processes such as protein interactions, FRET dynamics, ion fluxes, or even quickly moving species.

Registration for the webinar: webinar website

Request the white paper: rapidFLIMHiRes website

September 15, 2020

Renowned scientists talk about trendsetting methods and developments in the field of single molecule fluorescence

PicoQuant's new interview series "Creating Paths in Single Molecule Fluorescence"

We have produced the interview series "Creating Paths in Single Molecule Fluorescence" in which renowned scientists talk about trendsetting methods and developments in the field. We have produced five interviews that we will publish one by one within the next two weeks. In the first interview Jörg Enderlein talks about Metal Induced Energy Transfer (MIET).

Watch the video on our youtube channel: https://youtu.be/Q6ec1v-2C20

July 17, 2020

Video: Remote installation of a MicroTime 200 microscope

Our support team guides the customer through every step of installation

In unusual times, one devises innovative ideas. Prof. Kirk Schanze from the University of Texas at San Antonio (USA) recently received his time-resolved fluorescence microscope MicroTime 200. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, our engineer could not perform the customary on site installation process. Our solution? Build up a system in both Berlin and San Antonio at the same time and guide the Texan team through every step of installation by using video conferencing tools. Many thanks to Prof. Schanze and his team for working with us to get the system up and running in these challenging times! The installation was a great success and we are looking forward to the new insights the Schanze Lab will gain from investigating the interaction of light with small molecules, polymers, and materials with the MicroTime 200.

Watch the highlights of the installation on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1aZD1g9qzc

If you are interested in seeing our systems in action, contact us to arrange a virtual visit in our application lab and carry out real-world experiments: remote demos

July 6, 2020

Customer Andrea Soranno studies SARS-CoV-2 virus with MicroTime 200

A preprint with first results is now available

Andrea Soranno from the Washington University in St. Louis and colleagues applied their expertise in single molecule FRET (smFRET) and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) to the study of SARS-CoV-2 viruses. They used their time-resolved fluorescence MicroTime 200 to characterize the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein, which is responsible for viral genome packaging. The flexible and dynamic N protein, which contains three intrinsically disordered domains, undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation with RNA, and compacts long RNA molecules. Therefore, compounds that interfere with N protein function or modulate phase separation may disrupt viral assembly, which would make them candidate drugs for COVID-19.

The group shared their insights in a preprint on bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.17.158121v1

Fluorescence microscope MicroTime 200: product website