Welcome to the Pinaud Lab !

We use light-based microscopy techniques to detect, study and understand the properties of biomolecules at the cellular, subcellular and molecular levels, with spatial resolution of a few nanometers.

Our lab focuses on using a variety of single molecule fluorescence microscopy techniques to study how nanoscale cellular compartments modulate the diffusion and the activity of proteins involved in normal and pathological cellular signaling and responses. We are particularly interested in understanding how plasma and nuclear membrane scaffolds, microdomains and cavities influence the diffusion and thus the activity of proteins that participate in signal processing, integration and regulation on both sides of these membrane.

We also develop ultra-sensitive imaging probes that quantitatively report and influence biomolecular interactions in living cells and animals. Some of these probes, based on nanoparticle surface engineering and photonic amplifications, have potential applications for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

Single molecule video of the month:

Dual-color TIRF imaging of quantum dot labeled proteins and caveolar microdomains

Individual extracellular glycosylphosphatidyl inositol-(GPI) anchored proteins are labeled with quantum dots (red) and simultaneously imaged together with caveolin-1-EGFP labeled caveolae (green) by TIRF microscopy. Imaging is done live, in the ventral plasma membrane of a HeLa cell. The typical on/off behavior (blinking) of single quantum dots and their low photobleaching is observed.

More single biomolecule imaging videos are available here