At the 79th annual meeting of the DPG in Berlin 2015, Europhysics Letters and the Biological Physics Division of the German Physical Society awarded four prizes for outstanding scientific achievements in the context of the poster sessions. The awards went to
Ms. Mirjam Schürmann - 1st prize (PhD student with Jochen Guck at TU Dresden)
Mr. Jakob Tómas Bullerjahn - 1st prize (PhD student with Klaus Kroy at Universität Leipzig)
Mr. Simon Christoph Stein - 2nd prize (PhD student with Jörg Enderlein at Universität Göttingen)
Ms. Julia Strübig - 2nd prize (PhD student with Hans-Günther at Universität Bremen)
... selected by the 2015 Poster Award Committee (Stefan Klumpp, David Zwicker, Alexander Rohrbach, Ulrich Schwarz, Holger Kress, Moritz Kreysing, Kristian Franze).
Present at the award ceremony during the general assembly of the DPG biological physics division were: Graeme Watt (IOP Publishing), Prof. Jochen Guck (EPL Editor), and Prof. Stefan Diez (Speaker of the Biological Physics Division).
Laudatio Mirjam Schürmann
Mirjam Schürmann (presented to coauthor Paul Müller)
In her poster "All-optical realization of optical diffraction tomography" Mirjam Schürmann demonstrated a holographic method to measure a 3D refractive index map of suspended cells by combining holographic phase microscopy with cell rotation in a dual-beam laser trap. In the future, this innovative method will provide a fast (marker-free) readout for changes in the state of a cell that complements more traditional approaches such as FACS. In addition to these technological advances, the poster of Mirjam was nicely designed and she explained it very well and with great enthusiasm. (Laudatio written by Ulrich Schwarz)
Laudatio Jakob Tómas Bullerjahn
Jakob Tómas Bullerjahn
A first price is awarded to Jakob Bullerjahn (poster title: Theory of rapid force spectroscopy) who presented a recently developed analytical theory which provides expressions for the rupture force distributions of single molecular bonds. The strength of molecular bonds can be measured with dynamic force spectroscopy by inducing bond rupture with external loading. At low loading rates, the rupture force distributions can be analyzed using Kramers’ theory of spontaneous unbinding. The limit of high loading rates can be modeled with molecular dynamics simulations. Starting from a rigorous probabilistic model of bond dynamics, Jakob Bullerjahn and co-workers developed a unified systematic theory for rupture force distributions which is valid for slow and fast loading rates. The comparison with Brownian dynamics simulations showed that the theory is also valid for intermediate loading rates apart from a narrow region close to a critical loading rate. This work provides a precise tool for analyzing a very wide range of force spectroscopy data. (Laudatio written by Holger Kress)
Laudatio Simon Christoph Stein
Simon Christoph Stein
In his poster “Improvements for Stochastic Optical Fluctuation Imaging (SOFI): Sub-pixel super-resolution images with a conventional wide-fild microscope” Simon Christoph Stein presented an extension of an unconventional super-resolution imaging method. SOFI requires not more than fast image acquistion with a conventional wide-fild setup and the analysis of the intensity flctuations from a sample, which is labeled with blinking emitters. In his poster he presents a new approach for creating subpixel resolution, artifact-free images and which is straightforward to implement. The poster is clearly structured, catches the eyes of the viewers and presents results of excellent quality. Simon explained complex science very clearly, thus motivating the viewer to learn more about his ideas, which could have a great impact on imaging based biophysical research in the future. (Laudatio written by Alexander Rohrbach)
Laudatio Julia Strübig
Julia Strübig
A second price is awarded to Julia Strübig for her contribution "Lateral filopodial movement in fibroblasts on microcontact-printed substrates". The very well structured poster, which nicely summarized how filopodia initiation was investigated in fibroblasts cultured on micropatterned substrates, was clearly explained by the presenter. Filopodia motion and retrograde flow velocities were analyzed, and the effect of interfering with molecular myosin motors investigated. It was concluded that lateral filopodia velocities are coupled to retrograde flow, which provides a handle on how cells can control filopodia formation and thus directed cell migration. (Laudatio written by Kristian Franze)
