1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. MPL People
  4. Leonhard Möckl

Prof. Dr. Leonhard Möckl

  • Professorship for Nano-optical Imaging
  • Associated Group Leader
  • Room A.3.428
  • Phone +49 9131 7133115
  • Email
  • Head of research group Physical Glycosciences

Leonhard Möckl studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at LMU Munich. He obtained his PhD in 2015 with a thesis on the role of the glycocalyx in membrane protein organization. In 2016, he joined the lab of W.E. Moerner at Stanford University, where he used single-molecule techniques to investigate the glycocalyx and furthermore developed deep-learning based approaches for single-molecule studies. In 2020, he joined the MPL as an independent group leader. Since 2024, he holds the professorship for Nano-optical Imaging at FAU, located at the newly established CITABLE.

In his free time, he loves to read, to play the piano, to hike, and to play volleyball.

2024

Automated discovery of experimental designs in super-resolution microscopy with XLuminA

Carla Rodríguez Mangues, Sören Arlt, Leonhard Möckl, Mario Krenn

Nature Communications 15 10658 (2024) | Journal | PDF

Driven by human ingenuity and creativity, the discovery of super-resolution techniques, which circumvent the classical diffraction limit of light, represent a leap in optical microscopy. However, the vast space encompassing all possible experimental configurations suggests that some powerful concepts and techniques might have not been discovered yet, and might never be with a human-driven direct design approach. Thus, AI-based exploration techniques could provide enormous benefit, by exploring this space in a fast, unbiased way. We introduce XLuminA, an open-source computational framework developed using JAX, a high-performance computing library in Python. XLuminA offers enhanced computational speed enabled by JAX’s accelerated linear algebra compiler (XLA), just-in-time compilation, and its seamlessly integrated automatic vectorization, automatic differentiation capabilities and GPU compatibility. XLuminA demonstrates a speed-up of 4 orders of magnitude compared to well-established numerical optimization methods. We showcase XLuminA’s potential by re-discovering three foundational experiments in advanced microscopy, and identifying an unseen experimental blueprint featuring sub-diffraction imaging capabilities. This work constitutes an important step in AI-driven scientific discovery of new concepts in optics and advanced microscopy.

Tailored Bisacylphosphane Oxides for Precise Induction of Oxidative Stress-Mediated Cell Death in Biological Systems

Karim Almahayni, Jana Bachir Salvador, Riccardo Conti, Anna Widera, Malte Spiekermann, Daniel Wehner, Hansjörg Grützmacher, Leonhard Möckl

ACS Chemical Biology 20 77-85 (2024) | Journal | PDF

Precise cell elimination within intricate cellular populations is hampered by issues arising from the multifaceted biological properties of cells and the expansive reactivity of chemical agents. Current chemical platforms are often limited by their complexity, toxicity, and poor physical/chemical properties. Here, we report on the synthesis of a structurally versatile library of chemically tunable bisacylphosphane oxides (BAPOs), which harnesses the spatiotemporal precision of light delivery, thereby establishing a universal strategy for on-demand, precise cellular ablation in vitro and in vivo.

A paintbrush for delivery of nanoparticles and molecules to live cells with precise spatiotemporal control

Cornelia Holler, Richard W. Taylor, Alexandra Schambony, Leonhard Möckl, Vahid Sandoghdar

Nature Methods 21 512-520 (2024) | Journal | PDF

Delivery of very small amounts of reagents to the near-field of cells with micrometer spatial precision and millisecond time resolution is currently out of reach. Here we present μkiss as a micropipette-based scheme for brushing a layer of small molecules and nanoparticles onto the live cell membrane from a subfemtoliter confined volume of a perfusion flow. We characterize our system through both experiments and modeling, and find excellent agreement. We demonstrate several applications that benefit from a controlled brush delivery, such as a direct means to quantify local and long-range membrane mobility and organization as well as dynamical probing of intercellular force signaling.

A universal strategy to induce oxidative stress-mediated cell death in biological systems

Leonhard Möckl, Karim Almahayni, Jana Bachir Salvador, Riccardo Conti, Anna Widera, Malte Spiekermann, Daniel Wehner, Hansjörg Grützmacher

Research Square 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3753893/v1 (2024) | Preprint | PDF

Precise cell elimination within intricate cellular populations is hampered by issues arising from the multifaceted biological properties of cells and the expansive reactivity of chemical agents. Current platforms are often limited by their complexity, toxicity, and poor physical/chemical properties. Here, we integrate the spatio-temporal precision of light delivery and the structural versatility of bisacylphosphane oxides (BAPOs), establishing a universal strategy for on-demand, precise cellular ablation in vitro and in vivo.

Here you can download Leonhard's CV.

MPL Research Centers and Schools

© Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Data Collection

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.

Get more info about used cookies
Cookie optin by Olli machts