About This Webinar
Imaging techniques enable the ability to investigate dynamics and interactions in biological systems. Although imaging methodology for biomacromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids has long been established, contrast mechanisms and microscopic techniques are relatively limited for small biomolecules, including metabolites and drugs.
Recent developments in Raman imaging and tailored imaging probes have created exciting opportunities for noninvasive imaging of these types of small molecules in living systems. In particular, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy holds great potential, thanks to its high speed, sensitivity, and chemical specificity. Shen summarizes the principle and workflow of SRS microscopy and then reviews recent technical advancements in small-molecule imaging by SRS. She concludes with a showcase of biological applications enabled by SRS microscopy and the novel biological insight that this method can bring.
***This presentation premiered during the 2022
Photonics Spectra Spectroscopy Conference. For more information on Photonics Media conferences, visit
events.photonics.com.
About the presenter:
Yihui Shen, Ph.D., received a bachelor of science degree from Peking University in China, where she initially trained as a physical chemist because of her interest in the quantitative behavior of molecules. Soon afterward, she sought to understand the complexity of biological systems that goes beyond molecules in solutions. Shen joined Wei Min’s research group at Columbia University as a doctoral student aiming to develop physicochemical tools to reveal such complexities in live cells. At Columbia, she worked with a novel optical imaging tool, stimulated Raman scattering microscopy, and developed it to visualize spatial distribution of metabolic activity. Amazed by fine details in the images, Shen wondered about the underlying determinant. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University, where she is using integrative omics to understand how metabolic activity is controlled in yeast — the simplest eukaryote but perhaps still not fully understood. Shen is constructing her career around elucidating metabolic interaction and heterogeneity in multicellular organisms and microbial communities.