Chemical Approaches for Advanced Optical Imaging
By: Zhixing Chen
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2014
Place of publication: [New York, N.Y.?]
Language: eng
Description: Advances in optical microscopy have been constantly expanding our knowledge of biological systems. The achievements therein are a result of close collaborations between physicists/engineers who build the imaging instruments and chemists/biochemists who design the corresponding probe molecules. In this work I present a number of chemical approaches for the development of advanced optical imaging methods. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the recent advances of novel imaging approaches taking advantage of chemical tag technologies. Chapter 2 describes the second-generation covalent trimethoprim-tag as a viable tool for live cell protein-specific labeling and imaging. In Chapter 3 we present a fluorescence lifetime imaging approach to map protein-specific micro-environment in live cells using TMP-Cy3 as a chemical probe. In Chapter 4, we present a method harnessing photo-activatable fluorophores to extend the fundamental depth limit in multi-photon microscopy. Chapter 5 describes the development of isotopically edited alkyne palette for multi-color live cell vibrational imaging of cellular small molecules.

These studies exemplify the impact of modern chemical approaches in the development of advanced optical microscopies.
Notes: Department: Chemistry.

Thesis advisor: Virginia W. Cornish.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2014.