Quantitative chemical imaging of structure and function in living biological systems – from single cells to animals

Cell heterogeneity plays a critical role in many pathophysiological processes such as cancer development and neurodegeneration. However, phenotypic variations of individual cells in a complex organ are often intractable by traditional analytical techniques. The main obstacles are the limited amount of analyte in a single cell and the need for noninvasive in situ analysis in order to preserve cell function and microenvironmental information. My lab focuses on the development of label-free pump probe microscopy techniques that enables quantitative morphological, chemical, and functional measurements at high spatial and temporal resolution from cultured cells to living animals. Specifically, we apply broadband and high sensitivity stimulated Raman scattering microscopy, an emerging chemical imaging tool, to study cell growth, cell metabolism, as well as disease processes. We also develop transient absorption microscopy to study a wide range of red blood cell associated functional processes such as neurovascular coupling in mouse brain. Together, we aim to build an integrated chemical imaging platform and couple it with advanced data analysis for comprehensive structural and functional imaging of living biological samples at single-cell resolution.
Dan Fu (University of Washington)