Ernst H.K. Stelzer concentrates his efforts on applications and further developments of advanced light microscopies in the modern life sciences, working on sample preparation and observation in three-dimensional cell biology and the embryogenesis of, amongst other insects, Tribolium castaneum. His developments allow scientists to observe and manipulate biological specimens efficiently, with high precision, and high spatial-temporal resolution.

Stelzer published in physics, optics, biophysics, cell biology, molecular biology, plant biology and developmental biology since 1983. He contributed to conventional and confocal fluorescence microscopy, 4Pi- and theta-microscopy, optical tweezers and levitation, laser ablation and invented light sheet-based fluorescence microscopy (LSFM, SPIM, DSLM). In more general terms, he is particularly interested in developing three-dimensional techniques that enable observations of three-dimensional specimens under near-natural conditions as a function of time.

Many of his former Diploma and Ph.D. students as well as Postdocs pursue successful academic or industrial careers independently. By now, he published more than 270 papers and was granted several patents that secure the intellectual property of at least three commercially available optical instruments. He received several prices and honors. In 2015 light sheet-based fluorescence microscopy was honored as “Method of the Year 2014” by Nature Methods.

From 1987-2011, he was a Scientific Group Leader in the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany), most lately in the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit.

Ernst H.K. Stelzer is the Professor for Physical Biology and Advanced Light Microscopy at the Goethe-Universität (Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany) since March 2011. The de novo founded professorship was part of two Clusters of Excellence for Macromolecular Complexes (CEF-MC I & II, EXC 115) funded by the German Research Council (DFG).