3D MULTI-RESOLUTION IMAGING

The interior of a cell is highly heterogeneous where molecular and nanoscale dynamics span multiple time and length scales. And they all occur in three dimensions (3D). For example: How does a viral particle approach a living cell and become internalized? What are the dynamic molecule-level interactions that lead to a (un)successful viral entry? How does an intra-cellular cargo get delivered to its destination? To understand the molecule-to-nanoscale dynamics in the live-cell context, time must be explicitly considered. My group recognized this problem very early on and has developed a real-time 3D single-particle tracking (RT-3DSPT) technology which enables following a tagged nanoscale probe with 10 μs time resolution and ~10 nm spatial localization precision. The 3D multi-resolution imaging is achieved by integrating the high-resolution RT-3DSPT technology with the lower-resolution conventional two-photon confocal microscope.

Instrumentation and Technology Development

We continue to innovate ways of improving the imaging capability.