Dr. Antje Quade
Manager Surface Diagnostics
Project leader
Phone: +49 3834 - 554 3877
quadeinp-greifswaldde

Dr. Jan Schäfer
Manager Surface Diagnostics
Project leader
Phone: +49 3834 - 554 3838
jschaeferinp-greifswaldde

The arc research la­bo­ra­to­ry ser­ves pri­ma­ri­ly for ap­p­li­ca­ti­on-driven re­se­arch for the in­crea­se of re­lia­bi­li­ty and life­time of swit­ching de­vices. The­re­fo­re, ex­pe­ri­ments on vacuum arcs and wall-stabilized arcs are uti­li­zed to stu­dy the arc be­ha­viour and the elec­tro­de load in low, medium and high vol­ta­ge switch­ge­ars at dif­fe­rent cur­rent pul­se shapes. Spe­ci­fic elec­tro­de ar­ran­ge­ments in­clu­ding ab­la­ti­on nozz­les can be used to si­mu­la­te con­di­ti­ons in re­al swit­ching de­vices or to stu­dy the in­ter­ac­tion of the electric arc with elec­tro­des, walls as well as with ma­gne­tic fiel­ds. The cou­pling between different op­ti­cal dia­gnostics for the phy­si­cal ana­ly­sis of the arc is a uni­que feature of the la­bo­ra­to­ry. For in­stan­ce, op­ti­cal emis­si­on spec­tro­sco­py al­lows for the mea­su­re­ment of tem­pe­ra­tu­res and spe­cies den­si­ties in the electric arc. High-speed ima­ging tech­ni­ques is used to stu­dy of the dy­na­mics and struc­tu­re of the arc starting from the arc igni­ti­on pro­ces­s. In ad­di­ti­on, sur­face tem­pe­ra­tu­res of the elec­tro­des can be ana­ly­sed using combined diagnostic methods.

The la­bo­ra­to­ry equipment in­clu­des in par­ti­cu­lar:

• Set­up for the ope­ra­ti­on of high-cur­rent arcs by me­ans of pul­sed cur­rent ge­ne­ra­tors with the pa­ra­me­ters (peak va­lues): si­nuso­idal cur­rent pul­ses (DAC) up to 80 kA/ 5 ms, 40 kA/ 10 ms, or 25 kA/20 ms, squa­re wa­ve pul­ses up to 10 kA/ 2 ms or 2kA/10ms, fle­xi­ble elec­tro­de ar­ran­ge­ment in­clu­ding ac­tua­tors for elec­tro­de movement
• Va­cu­um cham­ber in­clu­ding moun­ting sup­port for elec­tro­des, pneumatic ac­tua­tor and ac­cess for op­ti­cal dia­gnostics and pro­be mea­su­re­ments
• Electri­cal and op­ti­cal sen­sors (pho­to­di­odes) for re­cor­ding of temporal evolutions of cur­rent, vol­ta­ge and emission si­gnals in spe­ci­fic spec­tral ran­ges as well as cor­re­spon­ding me­thods for their ana­ly­sis 
• 0.5 and 0.75 m spec­tro­graphs with in­ten­si­fied CCD ca­me­ras (sin­gle images with ex­po­sure ti­mes from few ns to ms) for op­ti­cal emis­si­on spec­tro­sco­py, in par­ti­cu­lar for mea­su­re­ments with high spa­ti­al and spec­tral re­so­lu­ti­on in the in spec­tral ran­ge from 300 nm to 900 nm with re­so­lu­ti­on of up to 0.05 nm
• High speed ima­ging ca­me­ras for up to 70000 frames/s for the stu­dy of the arc dy­na­mics in­clu­ding spec­tral selec­tive fil­ters (nar­row band MIF, edge fil­ters, po­la­ri­zer fil­ters), double frame optics for si­mul­ta­neous re­cor­ding with two dif­fe­rent fil­ters and one ca­me­ra
• Framing ca­me­ra (4 in­de­pen­dent images wi­t­hin e.g. 5 ns with ex­po­sure ti­me of 3 ns) and Streak ca­me­ra (tem­po­ral re­so­lu­ti­on <1 ns, 1 spa­ti­al di­men­si­on) for the ob­ser­va­ti­on of arc igni­ti­on pro­ces­ses in the ns-ran­ge 
• Ther­mo­gra­phy / py­ro­me­try for con­tact­less mea­su­re­ment of sur­face tem­pe­ra­tu­res of e.g. elec­tro­des

Most of the mea­su­re­ment equipment (spec­tro­sco­py, high-speed ima­ging, ther­mo­gra­phy) are mo­bi­le and can be used for ex­ter­nal mea­su­re­ment cam­pai­gns.

Dr. Sergey Gortschakow
Management Plasma Radiation Techniques
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3820
sergey.gortschakowinp-greifswaldde

Main to­pics of the ap­p­li­ca­ti­on-driven re­se­arch in the la­bo­ra­to­ry con­cern pro­cess safe­ty, sta­bi­li­ty and ef­fi­ci­en­cy of arc wel­ding technology. The fo­cus is put on the tem­po­ral­ly and spa­ti­al­ly re­sol­ved ana­ly­sis of the wel­ding arcs, the arc at­tach­ment at the elec­tro­des, the ma­te­ri­al trans­fer and the weld pool pro­per­ties. The plas­ma dia­gnostics al­lows for the mea­su­re­ments of tem­pe­ra­tu­re and spe­cies den­si­ties as well as, fi­nal­ly, the de­ter­mi­na­ti­on of the plas­ma pro­per­ties of the wel­ding arc. High-speed ima­ging tech­ni­ques is used to stu­dy the arc structure, its dy­na­mics and the ma­te­ri­al trans­fer. In ad­di­ti­on, sur­face tem­pe­ra­tu­res of the weld pool and of the metal drop­lets can be ana­ly­sed.

The la­bo­ra­to­ry al­lows for the stu­dy of wel­ding arc pro­ces­ses un­der realistic con­di­ti­ons in practical applications and is equip­ped with mo­dern mea­su­ring tech­ni­ques, in par­ti­cu­lar

• Set­ups with fi­xed moun­ting of the welding and fle­xi­ble mo­ve­ment of test sub­stra­tes un­der the bur­ner for the op­ti­cal stu­dy of the pro­cess from dif­fe­rent sights of view, e.g. from top, par­al­lel or per­pen­di­cu­lar to the sub­stra­te sur­face in­clu­ding gas feed, ex­haust unit and ra­dia­ti­on pro­tec­tion
• Cur­rent sour­ces of dif­fe­rent ma­nu­fac­tu­rers (e.g. Fro­ni­us CMT ad­van­ced 4000R, EWM Pho­enix 521 pro­gress pul­se cold­arc) as well as a fre­e­ly pro­gramma­ble sour­ce (Top­Con Qua­dro)
• Electri­cal  and op­ti­cal sen­sors (pho­to­di­odes) for re­cor­ding of ti­me sequences of cur­rent, vol­ta­ge and emission si­gnals in spe­ci­fic spec­tral ran­ges as well as cor­re­spon­ding me­thods for their ana­ly­sis
• 0.5 and 0.75 m spec­tro­graphs with in­ten­si­fied CCD ca­me­ras (sin­gle images with ex­po­sure ti­mes from few ns to ms) for op­ti­cal emis­si­on spec­tro­sco­py, in par­ti­cu­lar for mea­su­re­ments with high spa­ti­al and spec­tral re­so­lu­ti­on in the in spec­tral ran­ge from 300 nm to 900 nm with re­so­lu­ti­on of up to 0.05 nm
• High speed ima­ging ca­me­ras for up to 70000 frames/s for pro­cess con­trol in­clu­ding spec­tral selec­tive fil­ters (nar­row band MIF, edge fil­ters, po­la­ri­zer fil­ters) with double frame optics  for si­mul­ta­neous re­cor­ding with two dif­fe­rent fil­ters and one ca­me­ra
• Framing ca­me­ra (4 in­de­pen­dent images wi­t­hin e.g. 5 ns with ex­po­sure ti­me of 3 ns) and Streak ca­me­ra (tem­po­ral re­so­lu­ti­on <1 ns, 1 spa­ti­al di­men­si­on) for the ob­ser­va­ti­on of arc igni­ti­on pro­ces­ses in the ns-ran­ge
• Ther­mo­gra­phy / py­ro­me­try for con­tact­less mea­su­re­ment of sur­face tem­pe­ra­tu­res of e.g. elec­tro­des
• X-ray com­pu­ter to­mo­gra­phy for non-de­struc­tive dia­gnostics of elec­tro­des and ma­te­ri­al pro­bes

Most of the mea­su­re­ment set­ups (spec­tro­sco­py, high speed ima­ging, ther­mo­gra­phy) are mo­bi­le and can be used for ex­ter­nal mea­su­re­ment cam­pai­gns. 

Dr. Sergey Gortschakow
Management Plasma Radiation Techniques
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3820
sergey.gortschakowinp-greifswaldde

The fo­cus of the ap­p­li­ca­ti­on-driven re­se­arch in the la­bo­ra­to­ry is put on the in­crea­se of re­lia­bi­li­ty and life­time of electri­cal com­po­n­ents ta­king in par­ti­cu­lar into ac­count the as­pects of en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion and en­er­gy ef­fi­ci­en­cy. The fol­lo­wing to­pics are cur­rent­ly under investigation on in the la­bo­ra­to­ries for high cur­rent and high vol­ta­ge en­gi­nee­ring (at the joint pro­fes­sor­ship at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ros­tock):

• electric con­tacts and con­junc­tions (long-term sta­bi­li­ty, aging, ther­mal di­men­sio­ning, de­sign)
• par­ti­al di­sch­ar­ge dia­gnostics and ana­ly­sis of electri­cal com­po­n­ents
• aging of iso­la­ti­on ma­te­ri­als un­der ex­tre­me con­di­ti­ons
• electric arc plas­mas: ex­pe­ri­ments, mo­del­ling and dia­gnostics of swit­ching arcs (see al­so Arc Research La­bo­ra­to­ry of INP)

Available equipment:

• High vol­ta­ge la­bo­ra­to­ry with di­gi­tal mea­su­ring sys­tem in­clu­ding par­ti­al di­sch­ar­ge mea­su­re­ment (ba­sic noi­se le­vel <1 pC), for AC vol­ta­ge up to 100 kV, DC vol­ta­ge up to 130 kV, im­pul­se vol­ta­ge 135 kV
• Par­ti­al di­sch­ar­ge dia­gnostics (IEC 60270, UHF), impedance mea­su­re­ment sys­tem (35 TΩ, pro­be vol­ta­ge 10 kV), dielectric re­s­pon­se ana­ly­zer (200V, 100 μHz ..5 kHz)
• Cli­ma­te la­bo­ra­to­ry with cli­ma­te cham­bers for coo­ling and warm up cy­cles (-70 - +180 °C), ther­mo-cham­bers (+250 °C)
• High cur­rent la­bo­ra­to­ry with con­ti­nuous-cur­rent set­ups (max. 3000 A), tem­pe­ra­tu­re mea­su­re­ment with ther­mo-sen­sors as well as IR ca­me­ra tech­no­lo­gy 

Prof. Dr. Dirk Uhrlandt
Division Manager of Materials and Energy
Phone: +49 3834 - 554 461
uhrlandtinp-greifswaldde

Research activities in the cross-sectional Plasma Diagnostics department focus on investigations into process understanding, particularly in molecular plasma processes. The focus here is on the time- and spatially-resolved qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis of molecular plasmas. Specially equipped laboratories for the diagnostics of chemical plasma processes simulated in practice with state-of-the-art measuring equipment, in particular laser-based plasma diagnostics, are available for the investigations.

Plasma diagnostics allows the absolute measurement of energy and temperature distributions as well as densities of stable and transient species in plasma using absorption spectroscopy and optical emission spectroscopy. In 2019, the new plasma diagnostics application laboratory was founded with a focus on atmospheric pressure plasma sources. In this laboratory, various diagnostics are bundled in one place to provide a central point of contact for the characterization of atmospheric pressure plasmas.

The following methods are used in the laboratories of the plasma diagnostics department to quantitatively determine important parameters such as species densities and their temperatures, the energy distribution of charged particles and to characterize all relevant chemical reaction pathways:

• Synchronized electrical and optical sub-ns diagnostics
• Absorption spectroscopy in UV-Vis-Mid-IR
• Resonator-based laser spectroscopy
• Laser-induced fluorescence (UV-VIS)
• Optical emission spectroscopy (UV-VIS)

Some diagnostic methods are also suitable for mobile use and can be used for external measurements.

Prof. Dr. Ronny Brandenburg
Programme Manager "Plasma Chemical Processes"
Phone: +49 3834 - 554 3818
brandenburg@inp-greifswald.de

The INP has safety level 2 laboratories in accordance with Section 44 of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG), which permits activities with pathogens in accordance with Section 49 IfSG and Section 13 of the Biological Substances Ordinance.

The INP strain collection comprises over 100 aerobic and microaerophilic microorganisms (bacteria, fungi) and viruses.
The current research work is concerned with phyto- and human pathogenic microorganisms as well as viruses of risk groups 1 and 2. The experiments include fundamental studies on the antimicrobial and in particular antiviral effectiveness of physical methods such as plasma or pulsed electric fields.

A spiral plate system and a spectrophotometer as well as a microplate reader are available for determining the live cell count or optical density. Appropriate culture media and incubators (heating cabinets) can be used to cultivate microorganisms. In addition, sterile experiments can be carried out on safety cabinets.
In addition, the institute cooperates with accredited and certified testing laboratories in the field of hygiene.

Dr. Veronika Hahn
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3872
veronika.hahninp-greifswaldde

De­ve­lop­ment of plas­ma pro­ces­ses for dis­in­fec­tion and ste­ri­liza­t­i­on of me­di­cal pro­ducts and hy­gie­niza­t­i­on of food pro­ducts. The fo­cus of the de­ve­lop­ment is cur­rent­ly on the fol­lo­wing sys­tems:

• Gas plas­ma pro­ces­ses for the repro­ces­sing of me­di­cal de­vices
• Gas plas­ma pro­ces­ses for the gent­le pre­ser­va­ti­on of food pro­ducts
• Spe­cial plas­ma sour­ces to be build in­to en­do­scopes for the sup­port of the pre­pa­ra­ti­on and for the­ra­peu­tic ap­p­li­ca­ti­ons
• Plas­ma pro­ces­ses for the an­ti­mi­cro­bi­al coa­ting

In ad­di­ti­on to dif­fe­rent plas­ma dia­gnostics me­thods (OES, LIF, MW in­ter­fe­ro­me­try), in-hou­se mi­cro­bio­lo­gi­cal la­bo­ra­to­ries are avail­able for the ana­ly­sis and op­ti­miza­t­i­on of the sys­tems and can be ma­de avail­able to ex­ter­nal users.

Prof. Jürgen Kolb
Programme Manager Decontamination
Phone: +49 3834 - 554 3950
juergen.kolbinp-greifswaldde

Pro­vi­si­on, op­ti­miza­t­i­on and de­ve­lop­ment of me­thods and sys­tems of high-fre­quen­cy en­gi­nee­ring. They are used from the small-si­gnal ran­ge for dia­gnostic ap­p­li­ca­ti­ons to the lar­ge-si­gnal ran­ge for the ope­ra­ti­on of mi­cro­wa­ve plas­ma sour­ces.
The fo­cus is cur­rent­ly on the fol­lo­wing sys­tems:

• (fre­quen­cy-re­sol­ved) mi­cro­wa­ve in­ter­fe­ro­me­try power con­trol­led and in free ra­dia­ting sys­tems up to 150 GHz
• Elec­tron den­si­ty de­ter­mi­na­ti­on: 10¹² – 10²² m^-3,
  ∆t < 1 µs
• De­ter­mi­na­ti­on of per­mit­ti­vi­ty und per­me­a­bi­li­ty
• De­ve­lop­ment and im­ple­men­ta­ti­on of beam-shaping ele­ments (mir­rors and len­ses) for the ad­just­ment of Gaus­si­an beam paths up to 150 GHz
• fre­quen­cy-re­sol­ved re­flec­to­metry in power con­trol­led and in free ra­dia­ting sys­tems up to 50 GHz
• Sin­gle-port in­ter­fe­ro­me­try for the elec­tron den­si­ty de­ter­mi­na­ti­on
• Ad­just­ment and op­ti­miza­t­i­on of me­thods of the di­gi­tal si­gnal pro­ces­sing
• De­ve­lop­ment of mi­cro­wa­ve com­po­n­ents for the ma­ni­pu­la­ti­on of scat­te­ring pa­ra­me­ters
• Pha­se shif­ter
• Matching net­works
• Mo­de cou­pler
• Bar­ri­er-free re­ac­tor ac­cess ports
• De­ve­lop­ment of mi­cro­wa­ve plas­ma sour­ces
• Mi­ni-MIP (powers < 100 W)
• Plexc (powers < 1500 W)

The de­ve­lop­ment ac­tivi­ties in the lis­ted fiel­ds of ac­tivi­ty are sup­por­ted by nu­me­ri­cal tools such as Mat­lab^©, Com­sol Mul­ti­phy­sics^© und CST Mi­cro­wa­ve Stu­dio^©. The re­sults ob­tai­ned with it can be va­li­da­ted by me­ans of sys­tems for net­work ana­ly­sis with a mea­su­ring ran­ge up to 50 GHz.

Dr. Jörg Ehlbeck
Management Plasma Bioengineering
Phone: +49 3834 - 554 458
ehlbeckinp-greifswaldde

The “Materials Characterisation Lab” provides a large range of analytical facilities for investigation of crystallographic properties such as crystal phase identity, bond lengths and angles as well as site occupancies of lattice sites. Band structure, defect formation in grain and grain boundaries as well as associated transport properties are studied by a means of a portfolio of electrochemical ac and dc methods. A recent addition are experimental setups to determine gas permeation rates (hydrogen and oxygen) in materials.

Bruker D8 Advance x-ray diffractometer:  Cu Kα X-ray source, X-ray patterns in Bragg-Brentano or grazing incidence for 2θ angles between 5° and 140° with a resolution of 0.02°can be obtained by means of a LYNXEYE point and linear detector. X-ray diffraction (XRD) on polycrystalline layers and powders for identification of crystal phases and crystal size determination. Analysis is performed by Diffrac Eva software and Rietveld refinement by TOPAS software using multiple licensed databases.

Malvern Instruments MasterSizer 2000: Determination of particle size distributions for powders ranging from 20 nm to 2 mm particle size. Additional options are calculation of the specific surface and averaged particle size. Particle size distribution can be displayed as a function of particle volume, surface area or statistic particle number. Powders can be dispersed either in dry or in wet environment.

Renishaw inVia Raman microscope: Raman spectroscopy by means of a RL532C100 Laser source (wavelength = 532 nm, Pmax>1W) for the characterization of materials using molecular vibrations or phonon vibrations in solids. Wavenumbers ranging from 100 cm-1 to 3600 cm-1 can be analyzed using the WiRE Windows-based Raman Environment) software.

Digital microscope Keyence: 2D and 3D photos of up to 1000x magnification

FTIR-Spectrometer: Bruker VERTEX 70v: digital FTIR vacuum spectrometer for measurements in the MIR range (8000 to 350 cm-1) and FIR range (600 to 50 cm-1) with grazing reflection unit, ATR unit for both spectral ranges, and variable reflection unit

Buehler cross-section preparation kits: Mechanical polishing device Buehler EcoMet250 und precision saw IsoMet 4000 are employed to realize cross-sections of to a 50nm finish.

Zahner TLS03 and Autolab PGSTAT 302N including impedance Jig For AC impedance spectroscopy for frequencies ranging from 0.1 Hz to 10 MHz with possible use of a DC bias for the separation of bulk and grain boundary conductivities in different atmospheres and temperature regimes. Moreover, cyclic voltammetry can be used to study materials in solution.

Hydrogen perimeability test jig: Measurements of the permeability of hydrogen in materials by means of mass spectroscopy.

Furthermore, A setup for ammonia synthesis by electrolysis and an oxygen permeability jig are under construction.

Dr. Marcel Wetegrove
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3944
marcel.wetegroveinp-greifswaldde

Jan Wallis
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3822
jan.wallisinp-greifswaldde

The “PiL Materials Lab” is a new application lab at the INP with a range of batch- and flow-through reactors as well as a portfolio of pulsed high voltage generators for rapid synthesis of nanoparticle suspensions from liquid or solid precursors at atmospheric pressure. A unique combination of expertises in chemistry, physics and engineering allows for precise tailoring of modular synthesis routes for hybrids and complex nanomaterials, such as electrode and membrane materials and catalysts.

Following plasma sources and reactors are available for nanoparticle synthesis:

Kurita pekuris (CAMI II):

• Model MPP-HV04
• Bipolar pulse modulator in the liquid using SiC power device
• Voltage < 10 kV
• Frequency 2 – 200 kHZ
• Pulse with 150 ns – 1.5 µs at 200 kHz
• Power 1.5 kVA

Kurita pekuris (CAMI III):

• Model MPP04-B4-300-D230
• Bipolar pulse modulator in the liquid using SiC power device
• Voltage < 10 kV
• Frequency 3 – 300 kHZ
• Pulse with 150 ns – 1.1 µs at 300 kHz
• Power 1.5 kVA

Plasma in Liquid Reactor 1 (PiL R1)

• Quartz reactor (total volume 20 ml)
• Rod-to-plate configuration (W electrode and Mo plate)
• Ar flow through the electrode holder
• Cooling plate system connected to a thermostatic bath

Plasma in Liquid Reactor 2 (PiL R2)

• Teflon reactor with inner quartz glass
• Total volume 150 ml
• Rod-to-rod configuration with Ar flow through the electrode holders
• Cooling plate system connected to a thermostatic bath

Plasma in Liquid Reactor 3 (PiL R3)

• Teflon reactor for vanadium synthesis
• Total volume 250 ml
• Rod-to-rod configuration with Ar flow through the electrode holders
• Inner electrode holder diameter 2 Ø
• Flow external cooling system connected to a thermostatic bath

Plasma in Liquid Reactor 4 (PiL R4)

• Teflon reactor for Graphene synthesis
• Total volume 250 ml
• Rod-to-rod configuration with Ar flow through the bottom
• Inner electrode holder diameter: sizes 2 and 4 Ø
• Flow external cooling system connected to a thermostatic bath

 Camila Andrea Rojas Nunez
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3947
camila.rojas-nunezinp-greifswaldde

The application lab “Green Ammonia Materials Synthesis Lab” bundles the INP’s long term leading expertise in thin film and nanomaterials synthesis by vacuum-based plasma methods. Reactors are available for multi-target co-deposition and high power impulse magnetron sputtering as well as plasma ion-assisted electron beam evaporation, complemented by surface activation and chemical vapor deposition. In combination with in house engineering expertise, the lab provides new routes for materials design for energy applications, corrosions resistant coatings and barrier layers.  

HEIDI: Reaktor for High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering Reactor (HiPIMS)

• High power pulse during on-time (e.g. P = 107 W/m2, 500 μs)
• Polarized sample holder (up to 30 kV) for coupling HiPIMS with Plasma-immersion ion implantion (PIII)
• Multitarget-MS processes for compositional mapping

M900P: Reactor for Plasma Ion Assisted Deposition (PIAD)

• Electron beam evaporation of up to two precursor sources
• Multi sample holder for up to 50 Si Wafers
• Homogenously directed plasma by ring shaped magnetic coils

STARON: Reactor for co-sputtering processes

• 2x RF and 2x DC plasma sources for multi target magnetron sputtering processes
• Closed Field Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering (CFUBMS) configuration
• Tubular (15 cm x 1 cm) and planar substrates (10 x 10 cm2) sample geometry

Rotating drum reactor

• RF plasma source for PECVD of powder substrates
• Surface activation and functionalisation of powder substrates

L2H and Nikolas: PVD/CVD reactors

• Combined magnetron sputtering and PECVD reactor for deposition of powder substrates and immobilised substrates
• Rotating sample holder for up to 10 g of powdered samples
• Loading ports for air sensitive samples

Dr. Martin Rohloff
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3843
martin.rohloffinp-greifswaldde

Uwe Lindemann
Phone: +49(0) 3834 554 3892
uwe.lindemanninp-greifswaldde

The “Life Science Application Laboratory” is closely linked to the development of the research field of plasma medicine and provides comprehensive equipment for modern analytical and molecular technologies.

The extensive instrumental equipment, which was largely created by the ZIK plasmatis projects, enables a thorough and multi-layered processing of current research questions in the life science field.
The influence of plasma on biological systems can be investigated at all levels, from organisms, tissues (organs) and cells to subcellular molecules.

Material to be examined includes:  

• Tissue samples from the clinic
• Tissue samples from animal experiments
• (Bio)materials and irritation tests on the incubated chicken embryo model (HET-CAM)
• Vascularizing and matrix-forming 3D tumor organoids (TUM-CAM)
• 3D multicellular spheroids
• Primary cells and cell lines
• Proteins, peptides, lipids, nucleic acids

This variety of samples requires a wide range of analysis methods and devices. The following analyses are available:

in vivo imaging:

• IVIS S5 in vivo bioluminescence and fluorescence imager (Revity)
• TIVITA-Wound Medical documentation and hyperspectral camera (DiaSpective Vision)
• Issue processing and tissue sectioning:
• OctaMACS Multisample Tissue Dissociator (Miltenyi)
• Automatic tissue processing for fixation and kerosene embedding (Milestone Medical)
• Microtome (Leica)
• Cryomicrotome (Leica)

Imaging:

• Operetta CLS 8-LED confocal fluorescence high-content imaging device with climate chamber (PerkinElmer)
• Observer Z.1 with motorized stage for fluorescence microscopy and climate chamber (Zeiss)
• TC5 confocal laser scanning microscope with climate chamber (Leica)
• Stereo fluorescence microscope (Leica)
• Professional software for quantitative image analysis (Las-X, Harmony, Zen)

Flow cytometry:

• 7-laser 32-parameter MoFlo-Astrios-EQ 6-way cell sorter (Beckman-Coulter)
• 3-laser 6-parameter ImageZytometer Amnis ImageStream Mark II with autosampler (Merck)
• 6-Laser 21-Parameter CytoFLEX LX Flow Cytometer with Autosampler (Beckman-Coulter)
• 3-Laser 9-Parameter Gallios Flow Cytometer (Beckman-Coulter)
• 1-Laser 4-Parameter Flow Cytometer Attune NxT (ThermoFisher)

RNA analysis:

• SPRINT Multi-parallel RNA quantification (NanoString)
• QuantStudio 1 qPCR (ThermoFisher)

Proteomics / mass spectrometry:

• QExactive classic, QExactive Plus and OrbiTrap Exploris 480 with (very) high resolution (ThermoFisher)
• TripleTOF5600 (high resolution) and QTrap5500 (triple quadrupole) for small molecule analysis (both ABSciex)
• Nanoflow and normal flow liquid chromatography (nLC, UHPLC) for sample introduction (identification and quantification of compounds)

Prof. Dr. Sander Bekeschus
Tel.: +49 (0)3834 554 3948
sander.bekeschusinp-greifswaldde

On a total of 260 m2 , a combination of climate chamber and phytochamber offers the possibility of simulating climatic conditions of production environments in the food industry, simulating environmental influences for device stress tests, simulating climatic conditions for plant growth in parallel and thus researching, developing, optimizing or completely innovatively redesigning entire production and value chains. In addition to various processing devices and plasma applicators, a microbiology and fungi laboratory is an integral part of the technical center.

• Climate chamber, defined environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, temperature gradient, etc.
• Phytochamber, plant cultivation under defined environmental conditions
• Microbiology (S2)
• Mushroom laboratory (S2)
• Demonstration systems for food processing
• Plasma applicators for wet and dry treatments
• Food chemistry and physics analysis laboratory