Research
The Dietzel group has a history of research
in the field of nuclear organization. While the human genome is sequenced now
for several years, its cell biology is yet mostly unknown. We investigate the principles
according to which chromosomes and gene loci are distributed in the nuclear
space. That includes the comparison of the distribution of transgenes
in undifferentiated and differentiated cells. We also look for endogeneous
genes to answer the question "Are acitve and inactive genes differently distributed
in the nculeus?". Here, we follow genes during differentiation, looking for
genes being inactive in an undifferentiated cell type and active in a differentiated
cell type or vice versa.
Techniques applied are fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), GFP-tagging
of transgenes, three-dimensional wide field microscopy, confocal laser scanning
microscopy and computerized quantitative image analysis.
Since Steffen started at the
Walter-Brendel-Zentrum (WBex), the focus moves to high resolution microscopy of
blood vessels and blood cell differentiation, in particular Multi Photon Microscopy (see respecting Wikipedia articles: English / German).
See also the list of finished theses from our group and our recent publications.
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