Time-resolved Luminescence Laboratory
CNR-IBF Laboratory - Technological Transfer Project " Oil Olive Quality Control" - POR Sicilia - Mis. 3.15-C
Laboratory directed by: Prof. Marco Cannas

Luminescence (PL) is a very sensitive technique to resolve related and overlapping absorption signals or to distinguish PL signals by their different time decay features. In proteins only three aminoacids are luminescent: Tryptophan, Tyrosyne and Phenylalanine. Tryptophan (TRP) is the brightest one and in this laboratory we can study both its spectral and temporal characteristics. Tryptophan is a very sensible environment probe, indeed its photoluminescence physical features (spectral position, quantum yield, lifetime) depend strongly from the polarity, the properties of the solvent or from which are the closer aminoacids. For this reasons TRP is useful to study denaturation, aggregation, fibrillation and conformational changes.

The excitation light is provided by a pulsed laser source tunable in UV-Vis and IR range. The emitted light can be spectrally resolved by a spectrograph and it is acquired by an intensified cooled CCD camera. The instrument is also equipped with a continuous Helium flow cryostat for cryogenic measurements. The main technical features of the apparatus are reported below.

This laboratory is integrated in MeSIAM - Regional Laboratory of CNISM