Lipo-FLUDDY is a transfer project from the University of Cologne that develops dual-fluorescence dyes that make lipophagy measurable in living cells. The dye works in microscopy, flow cytometry, and plate readers—where lipophagy has often only been measured indirectly until now. This enables high-throughput screening for active substances against lipid metabolism disorders, such as fatty liver disease, where scalability, comparability, and quantification are important. The combination of pH-switchable and pH-stable fluorophores makes the method protein label-free and compatible with common laboratory platforms. Lipo-FLUDDY thus closes a measurement gap in cell biology – a key to faster, data-driven drug development for metabolic diseases.
