About the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology

The mission of LNB is to develop cellular structural biology and multi-scale bioimaging programs, complementing the efforts of the sister Labs in the Bio Division, LBR and CRS, which focus on molecular-scale structure-function relationships and on the synthesis of novel radionuclides for cancer therapy models, respecitvely. LNB’s core research programs are also highly integrated with the large-scale facilities at PSI for technology innovation and the bioimaging programs. Together with the newly initiated Scientific Computing Division at PSI, LNB is positioned very well to provide an integrated theme of cellular structure-function relationships driven by theory and data science.

The research groups of LNB are organized into three themes.

Theme-1 consolidates our efforts in Electron Microscopy and Diffraction with a particular focus on methods development.

Theme-2, Cellular Structural Biology & Multi-scale Bioimaging, focuses on in situ Structural Biology with a focus on Cilia, Membrane-protein complexes and Protein aggregation. This theme was recently strengthened through an ERC funded group focusing on Multi-scale Bioimaging to link nanoscale synaptic junctions to the connectome map of the brain.

Theme-3, Mechano-Genomics, is a new theme to LNB. The major focus of this topic is to understand how nanoscale extracellular microenvironmental signals regulate genome programs and cell behavior in health and disease. A targeted recruitment in Computational Biology is currently planned to strengthen this theme.