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

在我的研究小组中，我们使用可见光和红外光来探测物质的组成。这种技术被称为振动光谱学，其原理是分子很像音叉。当音叉碰到坚硬的东西，如桌子，就会振动。为了使分子振动，我们用光子中储存的能量来瞄准它们。如果波长恰到好处，分子就能吸收这种能量并开始振动：键会拉伸、扭曲和摇摆。每个分子吸收一组单一的光能，这取决于原子的数量和类型以及这些原子相互连接的方式。这种吸收模式是一种分子特征，称为光谱。我的学生们学习如何从这些特征中反向工作，以获得有关我们样品的分子结构和组成的信息。甚至更多的信息可以从被吸收的光量中获得;总量最终取决于每种成分的存在量。在过去的十年中，一个主要的进步是成功地将基本仪器与具有CCD式摄像机检测器的光学匹配显微镜耦合。在NSERC的资助下，我和两位合作者获得了一台拉曼显微镜（激光）和一台红外显微镜，在马尼托巴大学建立了光谱显微成像实验室（SMILab）。利用最先进的光学和红外仪器，我的学生和我将使用我的发现补助金来表征微生物（真菌，地衣，海冰藻类），中枢神经系统组织和活细胞的光谱特征。我们的研究成功将帮助我们识别产生有价值的天然产物的微生物，让我们更好地了解光和营养胁迫对加拿大北极微生物的影响，并产生实用的设备和协议，用于在生物相关的长度和时间尺度上成像活细胞的化学。总之，我们的进步将使光谱化学成像成为主流实践。我的学生将获得有助于加拿大经济的技能，有利于北极生态，并在生物技术和其他行业带来新的机会。

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.