Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Rizzoli, Silvio, Prof. Dr.

Director, Department of Neuro- and Sensory Physiology, University Medical Center Göttingen


  • 1996-2000: BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Bucharest, Romania
  • 2000-2004: PhD in Physiology at the University of Colorado, Denver, USA (Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Prof. W. J. Betz)
  • 2004-2007: Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
  • 2007-2012: Group Leader (STED Microscopy) at the European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen (ENI-G)
  • 2012-2014: Professor (W3), University Medical Center Göttingen
  • since 2014: Director of the Department of Neuro- and Sensory Physiology, University Medical Center Göttingen

    Major Research Interests
    Conventional fluorescence microscopy is limited by the diffraction of light: fluorescent objects that are close together cannot be discerned. Stimulated emission depletion (STED) is a recent advancement in optical physics that breaks the diffraction barrier, allowing microscopes to obtain much clearer images.
    The diffraction barrier has been particularly problematic for imaging synaptic vesicles, which are among the smallest known organelles (30-50 nm in diameter). They are located in small areas in the synapses (about 1 micron in diameter). The group takes advantage of the increased imaging resolution provided by STED to investigate synaptic vesicle function, with an emphasis on synaptic vesicle recycling. Since STED microscopy also allows imaging of protein domains, the group aims at studying the patterning of protein domains in the synapse, in order to understand its molecular architecture.

    Homepage Department/Research Group
    http://rizzoli-lab.de/

    ORCID: 0000-0002-1667-7839