Research

Dr. Ernst H.K. Stelzer is a scientific group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany) in the Cell Biology and Cell Biophysics Unit (CBBU).  He studied physics in Frankfurt and Heidelberg.  His Diploma thesis dealt with photon correlation spectroscopy and its application in the characterization of polydisperse liposome solutions and was performed at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt.  His Ph.D. thesis covered the subject of confocal microscopy.  The degree was awarded by the University of Heidelberg.  In September 1983 he commenced at EMBL, was promoted to a project leader in 1987 and to a group leader in 1989.  In 1996 he was granted an open-ended contract.

During his Ph.D. thesis (1983-1987) Ernst Stelzer started to work on confocal transmission, reflection and fluorescence microscopy.  He developed the confocal 4Pi fluorescence microscope during 1990-1992 and introduced orthogonal and multi-lens detection schemes with confocal theta fluorescence microscopy around 1993.  The latter lead to the development of the tetrahedral microscope in 1999, which in turn triggered the development of light sheet based fluorescence microscopy (e.g. SPIM & DSLM) in 2001.  Some of his other contributions include the optical tweezers based photonic force microscope in 1993 and a novel and very successful approach to laser based cutting devices in 1999.  Ernst Stelzer worked extensively on image processing, databases for volume data sets, theoretical aspects of image formation, optical levitation and optical tweezers and the biophysical properties of microtubules.  Applications in the life sciences have guided many of his decisions over the years. 

The results of his research were published in more than 200 papers and lead to about 40 patent applications. Up to now, these inventions are or were used in several instruments.  The most prominent is probably Carl Zeiss’ (Jena, Germany) LSM 510 series of confocal microscopes.  Another carefully patented development is the photonic force microscope (PFM), which takes advantage of optical tweezers and high-speed detectors and is used in high-precision, high-speed imaging at the single molecule level in mechanically sealed aqueous systems.  The PFM provides nanometre precision at MHz rates.  The instrument is currently commercialized by JPK (Berlin, Germany) as NanoTracker.

Ernst Stelzer’s group develops and applies instruments as wells as specimen preparation techniques that allow scientists to observe as well as to manipulate biological specimens efficiently and with high precision or high resolution.  Since the early 1990s it is his long-term interest to provide a complete set of tools that foster research in the life sciences under physiologically relevant conditions.  In particular, he has developed methods that reduce the energy load on specimens during microscopic observations by several orders of magnitude compared to e.g. confocal fluorescence microscopy. 

Selected Biology Papers

Pampaloni F, Stelzer EHK
Three-Dimensional Cell Cultures in Toxicology
Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews, 26:129-150, (2009). PDF

Colombelli J, Besser A, Kress H, Reynaud EG, Girard P, Caussinus E, Haselmann U, Small JV, Schwarz US, Stelzer EHK
Mechanosensing in actin stress fibers revealed by a close correlation between force and protein localization
Journal of Cell Science, 122:1665-1679 (2009). PDF

Keller PJ, Schmidt AD, Wittbrodt J, Stelzer EHK
Reconstruction of zebrafish early embryonic development by Scanned Light Sheet Microscopy
Science, 322:1065-1069 (2008). PDF

Keller PJ, Pampaloni F, Stelzer EHK
Three-dimensional preparation and imaging reveal intrinsic microtubule properties
Nat Methods, 4(10):843-846 (2007). PDF

Kress H, Stelzer EHK, Holzer D, Buss F, Griffiths G, Rohrbach A
Filopodia act as phagocytic tentacles and pull with discrete steps and a load-dependent velocity
PNAS 104(28):11633-11638 (2007). PDF

Taxis C, Keller PJ, Kavagiou Z, Jensen LJ, Colombelli J, Bork P, Stelzer EHK, Knop M
Spore number control and breeding in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a key role for a self-organizing system
The Journal of Cell Biology, 171:627-640 (2005). PDF

Grill SW, Gönczy P, Stelzer EHK, Hyman AA
Polarity controls forces governing asymmetric spindle positioning in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo
Nature, 409:630-633 (2001). PDF

White J, Johannes L, Mallard F, Girod A, Grill S, Reinsch S, Keller P, Tzschaschel B, Echard A, Goud B, Stelzer EHK
Rab6 coordinates a novel Golgi to ER retrograde transport pathway in live cells
J Cell Biol, 147(4):743-759 (1999). PDF

Verde F, Dogterom M, Stelzer EHK, Karsenti E, Leibler S
Control of micro­tubule dynamics and length by cyclin A and cyclin B dependent kinases in xenopus egg extracts
J Cell Biol, 118:1097-1108 (1992). PDF

Zink D, Cremer T, Saffrich R, Fischer R, Trendelenburg MF, Ansorge W, Stelzer EHK
Structure and dynamics of human interphase chromosome territories in vivo
Hum Genetics, 102:241-251 (1998). PDF 

Selected Physics Papers

Keller PJ, Pampaloni F, Lattanzi G, Stelzer EHK
Three-dimensional microtubule behaviour in Xenopus egg extracts reveals four dynamic states and state-dependent elastic properties
Biophys. J., 94(3):1474-1486 (2008). PDF

Becker N, Altmann S, Scholz T, Hörber H, Stelzer EHK, Rohrbach A
Three-dimensional bead position histograms reveal single-molecule nano-mechanics
Phys. Rev. E 71, 021907 (2005). PDF

Swoger J, Huisken J, Stelzer EHK
Multiple imaging axis microscopy improves resolution for thick-sample applications
Opt Lett 28(18):1654-1656 (2003). PDF

Rohrbach A, Stelzer EHK
Three-dimensional position detection of optically trapped dielectric particles
J Appl Phys 91(8):5474-5488 (2002b). PDF

Rohrbach A, Stelzer EHK
Trapping forces, force constants and potential depths for dielectric spheres in the presence of spherical aberrations
Appl Opt 41(13):2494-2507 (2002a). PDF

Huisken J, Stelzer EHK
Optical levitation of absorbing particles in a nominally Gaussian laser beam
Opt Lett 27(14):1223-1225 (2002). PDF

Rohrbach A, Stelzer EHK
Optical trapping of dielectric particles in arbitrary fields
JOSA A 18(4):839-853 (2001). PDF

Hörber JKH, Florin EL, Stelzer EHK (2000)
Photonische Kraftmikroskopie
Phys Bl, 56(5):41-44. PDF

Stelzer EHK, Grill S
The uncertainty principle applied to estimate focal spot dimensions
Opt Comm, 173:51-56 (2000). PDF

Grill S, Stelzer EHK
Method to calculate lateral and axial gain factors of optical setups with a large solid angle
J Opt Soc Am A, 16(11):2658-2665 (1999). PDF

Florin EL, Pralle A, Stelzer EHK, Hörber JKH
Photonic force microscope calibration by thermal noise analysis
Appl Phys A, 66:S75-S78 (1998). PDF

Fischer A, Cremer C, Stelzer EHK
Fluorescence of coumarines and xanthenes after two-photon absorption with a pulsed titanium-sapphire laser
Appl Opt, 34(12):1989-2003 (1995). PDF

Stelzer EHK, Lindek S
Fundamental reduction of the observation volume in far-field light microscopy by detection orthogonal to the illumination axis: confocal theta microscopy
Opt Comm, 111:536-547 (1994). PDF

Hell SW, Lindek S, Cremer C, Stelzer EHK
Measurement of the 4Pi-confocal point spread function proves 75nm axial resolution
Appl Phys Lett 64(11):1335-1337 (1994b). PDF

Stelzer EHK, Hell SW, Lindek S, Stricker R, Pick R, Storz C, Ritter G, Salmon N
Nonlinear absorption extends confocal fluorescence microscopy into the ultra-violet regime and confines the illumination volume
Opt Comm, 104:223-228 (1994). PDF

Hell S, Reiner G, Cremer C, Stelzer EHK
Aberrations in confocal fluorescence microscopy induced by mismatches in refractive index
J Microsc, 169(3):391-405 (1993). PDF

Hell S, Stelzer EHK
Properties of a 4Pi confocal fluorescence microscope
J Opt Soc Am, A9(12):2159-2166 (1992b). PDF

Hell S, Stelzer EHK
Fundamental improvement of resolution with a 4Pi confocal fluorescence microscope using two photon excitation
Opt Lett, 93(5):277-282 (1992a). PDF

Wijnaendts-van-Resandt RW, Marsmann HJB, Kaplan R, Davoust J, Stelzer EHK, Stricker R
Optical fluorescence microscopy in three dimensions: Microtomoscopy
J Microsc, 138:29-34 (1985).

Selected Technology Papers

Pampaloni F, Reynaud EG, Stelzer EHK
The third dimension bridges the gap between cell culture and live tissue
Nat Rev MCB, 8(10):839-845 (2007). PDF

Breuninger T, Greger K, Stelzer EHK
Lateral modulation boosts image quality in Single Plane Illumination Fluorescence Microscopy (SPIM-SI)
Optics Letters, 32(13):1938-1940 (2007). PDF

Verveer PJ, Swoger J, Pampaloni F, Greger K, Marcello M, Stelzer EHK
High-resolution three-dimensional imaging of large specimens with light-sheet based microscopy
Nat Methods, 4:311-313 (2007). PDF

Swoger J, Verveer PJ, Greger K, Huisken J, Stelzer EHK
Multi-view image fusion improves resolution in three-dimensional microscopy
Optics Express, 15(13):8029-8042 (2007). PDF

Greger K, Swoger J, Stelzer EHK
Basic building units and properties of a fluorescence single plane illumination microscope
Rev Sci Instrum. 78(2):023705 (2007). PDF

Engelbrecht CJ, Greger K, Reynaud EG, Krzic U, Colombelli J, Stelzer EHK
Three-dimensional laser microsurgery in light-sheet based microscopy (SPIM
Optics Express, 15(10) 6420 (2007). PDF

Huisken J, Swoger J, Stelzer EHK
Three-dimensional optical manipulation using four collimated intersecting laser beams
Optics Express, 15(8):4921-4928 (2007). PDF

Engelbrecht CJ, Stelzer EHK
Resolution enhancement in a light-sheet based microscope (SPIM) 
Optics Letters, 31(10):1477-9 (2006). PDF

Colombelli J, Grill SW, Stelzer EHK
UV diffraction limited nanosurgery of live biological tissues
Rev of Sci Instr 75(2): 472-478 (2004). PDF

Rohrbach A, Stelzer EHK
Three-dimensional position detection of optically trapped dielectric particles
J Appl Phys 91(8):5474-5488 (2002a). PDF

Swoger J, Lindek S, Stefany T, Haar FM, Stelzer EHK
A confocal fiber-coupled single-lens theta microscope (FC-SLTM)
Rev Sci Instr, 69(8):2956-2963 (1998). PDF

Stelzer EHK
Contrast, resolution, pixelation, dynamic range and signal to noise ratio: fundamental limits to resolution in fluorescence light microscopy
J Microsc, 189(1):15-24 (1998). PDF

Lindek S, Pick R, Stelzer EHK
Confocal theta microscope with three objective lenses
Rev Sci Instr, 65(11):3367-3372 (1994a). PDF 

Honours and Awards

2009  EMBO Member

2009  HMLS Investigator Award

1999  Ernst Abbe Lecture Award 

Professional Memberships

Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG)

Optical Society of America (OSA), Senior Member since 2010

Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), Bellingham, USA

Links

Learn more at ResearchID

Have a look at my Golfclub