Infrared spectroscopy and vibrational imaging of living cells using plasmonic metasurfaces : vTools Events

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Infrared spectroscopy and vibrational imaging of living cells using plasmonic metasurfaces

#Case #Stem #seminar

Mid-infrared (MIR) micro-spectroscopy is a popular tool for the analysis of biological samples, due

to its ability to conduct label-free, non-destructive analyses of the sample with chemical specificity attributed to

the molecular vibrational fingerprints. However, application of MIR micro-spectroscopy to living cells is

challenging due to the strong attenuation of MIR light in water. In this talk, I will share our work utilizing MIR

plasmonic metasurfaces to overcome this challenge, probing cells cultured on these metasurfaces through the

measurement of the reflected light. Dynamic processes such as cellular adhesion, cellular membrane cholesterol

depletion, and cytoskeletal reorganization from activation of signaling pathways can be observed from the MIR

spectra. I will also introduce our latest work on metasurface-enhanced MIR microscopy, where cells are imaged

in the MIR with single-cell resolution. Using this technique, we can identify subcellular features such as nuclei

and lipid droplets through their infrared molecular vibrations.