Wei Min

Wei Min () is a Chinese-American chemist. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University.
==Early life and education==
Wei Min was born in Nanjing, China and raised in Hubei province. He graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University in 2003. He then received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2008 studying Biophysics with Professor Xiaoliang Sunney Xie. 
After continuing a postdoctoral position in the Xie group, Dr. Min joined the faculty of Chemistry Department at Columbia University in 2010, and was promoted to Full Professor there in 2017. 
He is also affiliated with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kavli Institute for Brain Science, and NeuroTechnology Center at Columbia University. 
==Research==
Min has pioneered the development of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy and employed it to open up a broad range of applications in biophotonics. The techniques are being widely adopted by mainstream life scientists as well as materials researchers . 
===Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) Microscopy===
On the technology side, together with Xiaoliang Sunney Xie and Christian Freudiger, Min co-invented the core instrumentation of SRS microscopy for biological imaging. In SRS, two synchronized laser beams coherently excite the selected chemical bond, and the vibrational activation rate is amplified up to 10^8 folds, offering more than 1,000-times faster speed than the conventional Raman. SRS microscope was commercialized by Leica Microsystems. In 2017, Min’s group devised electronic pre-resonance (epr) SRS microscopy. epr-SRS microscopy of electronically coupled vibrational modes enhances the sensitivity of the original SRS by 10,000 folds. In 2019, Min’s team invented stimulated Raman excited fluorescence (SREF) spectroscopy which couples stimulated Raman excitation with fluorescence detection. With SREF microscopy, his group reported single-molecule vibrational imaging and super-resolution vibrational imaging .
===Imaging probe development===
Min’s team developed a set of tiny vibrational probes including alkynes C≡C and stable isotopes (such as 2H and 13C) for SRS imaging. These vibrational probes are chemically inert and nearly absent inside cells, and they vibrate at unique frequencies in the cell-silent region. In addition, Min’s team designed and synthesized novel Raman-active probes which exhibits ~50 times narrower vibrational linewidth than fluorophores. These Raman-active probes have been engineered to span >20 rainbow-like colors in the cell-silent region.
===Biomedical research===
These developed microscopy techniques and images probes have allowed new applications of biophotonics. When coupled with vibrational probes such as alkynes and stable isotopes (such as 2H and 13C) under SRS microscopy, small biological molecules such as nucleic acids, amino acids, peptides, fatty acids, sugars and drugs have been imaged by Min’s group with high detection specificity and sensitivity. Min’s team also applied the technique to interrogate metabolism in animals. By feeding animals with heavy water or isotope-labeled glucose, they visualized metabolic dynamics such as synthesis of protein, lipid, DNA, and glycogen with high spatiotemporal resolution and molecular specificity in animals such as C. elegans, zebrafish, mice and biofilms. By harnessing the newly developed rainbow-like Raman probes, Min’s team broken the “color barrier” of the standard fluorescence microscopy and achieved super-multiplex vibrational imaging in thin tissue slices, organelles in live cells, live cell profiling, and volumetric imaging of thick brain tissues.
==Honors and awards==
* National Finalist of Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists (2019, 2020 and 2021)
* Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award (2019) 
* Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship (2018) 
* Coblentz Award of Molecular Spectroscopy (2017)
* ACS Early Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry (2017)
* Buck-Whitney Award from ACS Eastern New York Section (2015)
* Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2015)
* George K. Fraenkel Fund Award (2014)
* Sloan Research Fellowship (2013)
* National Institute of Health Director's New Innovator Award (2012) 
 
Category:Chinese chemists
Category:1981 births