CAREER: Elliptic Dichroism Microscopy for Cellular Stereochemistry Analysis

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The 3D structure of biomolecules plays a prominent role in their function. Inexpensive and broadly accessible tools for measuring biomolecule structure in live cells remain inadequate. This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project aims to develop and validate an elliptical dichroism microscopy (EDM) system that will provide a low-cost bioimaging platform to advance stereochemical cellular study. The research activities will be linked to educational activities, creating high-quality course content on translational biomedical device design. Outreach activities will engage young and senior generations through student-led STEM seminars.This CAREER project aims to develop a novel elliptical dichroism microscope that will significantly expand the scope of cellular analysis, provide deeper insight into cell homeostasis in a real-time and label-free way, and find broad applications in areas spanning basic biological research to cancer diagnosis. The stereochemical imaging signature over diverse adenocarcinoma cell types will be investigated, with the goal of linking cellular stereochemical signature and biological functions. The project will enable new biological studies into stereochemical properties of cellular proteins, cell classification through stereochemical signature, cellular energy distribution by localization of featured structures, and biological functions of featured structures. The research goals integrate with the educational objectives of introducing product-oriented learning (POL) on advanced microscopy in class. The outreach activities will focus on senior citizens by hosting student-led educational seminars about basic cancer knowledge and advanced optical cancer detection.This project is jointly funded by the Biophotonics Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.