Our lab is interested in the development and the application of novel optical techniques to investigate molecular transport in cell biology and nanotechnology. Using single-molecule biophysical approaches we reconstruct subcellular mechano-systems in the in vitro to study the interactions of motor and non-motor proteins with microtubules with 3D nanometer-precision as well as cooperative effects in uni- and bidirectional transport driven by kinesin and dynein motors. Moreover, we aim to apply biomolecular motor systems in synthetic, engineered environments for the generation, manipulation and detection of nanostructures. Towards this end, we recently employed kinesin-driven microtubules for the sensitive detection of molecular components, the optical mapping of nanometer-sized surface topographies and the construction of a parallel biocomputer.