CAREER: Increasing the power of single-molecule bio-imaging with plasmon-enhanced fluorescence

在化学系化学测量和成像项目的支持下，密歇根大学的 Julie Biteen 教授和她的团队正在提高显微镜的性能，以便以 1-2 纳米尺度的蛋白质本身观察活细胞内部。该项目基于单分子荧光显微镜和金属纳米粒子等离子体学的结合，产生一种非扰动方法，以前所未有的分辨率和灵活性观察自然细胞环境中的蛋白质位置和动态。跨学科方法的目标是（1）了解等离子体增强单分子荧光的机制，（2）基于这种见解表征等离子体表面，（3）定位和跟踪与金属纳米颗粒耦合的活细菌细胞中的膜蛋白，以及（4）让学生接触通过演示、指导、教学和实验室研究，了解现代科学，特别关注增加女性在 STEM 领域的参与。拟议的研究有望实现非侵入性纳米级显微镜，其应用范围从活细胞成像到原位器件表征。对等离子体增强单分子荧光纳米级细节的机械理解将对细胞生物学、储氢、化学分离和能源生产产生巨大影响。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Julie Biteen and her group at the University of Michigan are improving the power of microscopes in order to look inside live cells at the 1-2 nanometer scale of proteins themselves. This project is based on coupling single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and metal nanoparticle plasmonics to produce a non-perturbative method for looking at protein position and dynamics in the natural cellular environment with unprecedented resolution and flexibility.The interdisciplinary approach aims (1) to understand the mechanism of plasmon-enhanced single-molecule fluorescence, (2) to characterize plasmonic surfaces based on this insight, (3) to localize and track membrane proteins in live bacteria cells coupled to metal nanoparticles, and (4) to expose students to modern science through demos, mentoring, teaching and laboratory research, with a particular eye toward increasing the participation of women in STEM fields. The proposed research promises to enable non-invasive, nanometer-scale microscopy with applications ranging from live-cell imaging to in situ device characterization. The mechanistic understanding of nanoscopic details derived from plasmon-enhanced single-molecule fluorescence will have enormous implications for cell biology, hydrogen storage, chemical separation and energy production.