Innovations in optical spectroscopy and microscopy have revolutionized our understanding in biological systems at sub-cellular levels. While fluorescence microscopy with versatile fluorescent probes is widely popular for biomedical research, vibrational microscopy with rich chemical information is less explored. Here, I present two chemical imaging strategies addressing two fundamental challenges in optical bio-imaging, respectively. First, we devised a live-cell Bioorthogonal Chemical Imaging platform suited for probing the metabolic dynamics of small bio-molecules, which cannot be effectively labeled by bulky fluorophores. This scheme couples the emerging stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy with small vibrational tags including stable isotopes and triple bonds. Second, we developed a super-multiplex optical imaging technique enabled by resonant SRS microscopy of a newly designed palette of vibrational dyes. This work allows for simultaneous imaging of a large number of molecular species in live cells and tissues with high sensitivity and specificity, bridging imaging and omics paradigms. Both physical and chemical principles underlying the optical microscopy will be presented, as well as the exciting biomedical applications including DNA replication, protein synthesis, cancer metabolism, drug trafficking and neuronal metabolism.

Coherent vibrational imaging for living cells

254th National Meeting (2017)

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