"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。这项技术被称为振动光谱学，它的工作原理是分子很像音叉。当音叉碰到像桌子这样坚固的东西时，它就会震动。为了让分子振动，我们用储存在光的光子中的能量来瞄准它们。如果波长恰到好处，分子就可以吸收能量并开始振动：键拉伸、扭曲和摇动。每个分子都会吸收一组独特的光能，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信号，称为光谱。我的学生学习如何从这些签名向后工作，以获得关于我们样品的分子结构和组成的信息。更多的信息可以从被吸收的光的量中获得；总数最终取决于每种成分的存在程度。过去十年的一项重大进展是成功地将基本仪器与带有CCD式相机探测器的光学匹配显微镜相耦合。在NSERC资金的帮助下，我和两名合作者购买了一台拉曼显微镜(激光)和一台红外显微镜，在马尼托巴大学建立了光谱显微镜成像实验室(SMILab)。利用最先进的光学和红外仪器，我和我的学生将使用我的发现助学金来表征微生物(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。我们的研究成果将帮助我们识别产生有价值的天然产品的微生物，让我们更好地了解光照和营养胁迫对加拿大北极微生物的影响，并生产实用的设备和方案，在生物相关的长度和时间尺度上对活细胞的化学进行成像。我们的进步将把光谱化学成像带入主流实践。我的学生将获得为加拿大经济做出贡献、造福北极生态并在生物技术和其他行业带来新机会的技能。

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.