"Characterization of biological systems with vibrational spectroscopy, microspectroscopy, and computational modelling"

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In my research group, we use visible and infrared light to probe the composition of matter. This technique, called vibrational spectroscopy, works on the principle that molecules are a lot like tuning forks. When struck against something solid, like a table, a tuning fork vibrates. To make molecules vibrate, we target them with the energy stored in photons of light. If the wavelength is just right, a molecule can absorb that energy and begin to vibrate: bonds stretch, twist and rock. Every molecule absorbs a single, unique set of light energies that depend on the number and type of atoms and the ways in which these atoms are connected to each other. This absorption pattern is a molecular signature, called a spectrum. My students learn how to work backward from these signatures to get information about the molecular structure and composition of our samples. Even more information can be obtained from the amount of light that is absorbed; the total ultimately depends on how much of each component is present. A major advance in the last decade has been the successful coupling of basic instruments to an optically-matched microscope with a CCD-style camera detector. With assistance from NSERC funding, two collaborators and I acquired a Raman microscope (laser light) and an Infrared microscope, to establish the Spectral Microscopy Imaging Laboratory (SMILab) at the University of Manitoba. Taking advantage of the most advanced optical and infrared instrumentation, my students and I will use my Discovery Grant to characterize spectral signatures from microorganisms (fungi, lichen, sea ice algae), from Central Nervous System tissue, and from living cells. Our research success will help us to identify microorganisms that produce valuable natural products, give us better knowledge on the influence of light and nutrient stress on microorganisms in Canada's arctic, and produce practical devices and protocols for imaging the chemistry of living cells at biologically relevant length and time scales. Together, our advances will bring spectrochemical imaging into mainstream practice. My students will gain skills that contribute to the Canadian economy, benefit Arctic ecology and lead to new opportunities in biotechnology and other industries.