Our lab develops and applies technologies for in situ structural biology to address questions in germline biology with a special interest in transposable elements. Specifically, we use focused ion beam – scanning electron microscopes (FIB-SEM) to produce cellular thin sections at cryogenic temperatures. In conjunction with high-end transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we can generate three-dimensional reconstructions of the cellular interior from these thin sections by cryo-electron tomography. This allows us to study biological macromolecules in their native environment, the inside of a cell.

Portrait photo © Anna Stöcher.