Biomelecular spectroscopy and analysis

我的实验室主要研究基于几种拉曼光谱的生物分析和生物物理方法和应用，这是一种光学非弹性散射技术，可用于确定水环境中生物分子的浓度和构象。目前的发现基金提案主要集中在近红外拉曼显微光谱及其在活细胞和组织的化学制图/表征中的应用。我们最近在使用这种方法对人类胚胎干细胞的多能性进行非侵入性分析方面取得了一些进展。我们建议将这些应用扩展到鉴定和选择分化细胞中新出现的表型，特别是那些来自人类诱导多能干细胞的表型，这在以前没有进行过光谱研究。我们还将探索拉曼微光谱在红细胞和血小板细胞分析中的其他应用，目标是确定相当于标准形态学分析的特定光谱标记，为生产和储存过程中监测血液制品质量提供更强大，快速和信息丰富的方案。我的实验室建立领导地位的另一个领域是专门的光谱处理和分析方法的发展，用于信噪增强、反卷积、背景校正和化学/结构动力学分析。这些方法能够从复杂的系统（如细胞和组织）中提取更多的信息，从而有助于对数据的解释。该提案描述了相关的未来研究活动与应用程序，影响我的研究计划的所有领域，但也有助于打开一个新的维度，涉及应用到医学成像。我们的目标是开发迭代图像处理方法，以提高计算机断层扫描（CT）图像的清晰度和对比度，以帮助诊断准确性。这项研究项目将产生新的技术，为再生医学、血液服务和诊断医学的进步做出贡献。

Research in my laboratory is focused mainly on bioanalytical & biophysical methods and applications based on several types of Raman spectroscopy, which are optical inelastic scattering techniques that can be used to determine concentrations and conformations of biomolecules in aqueous environments. The current Discovery Grant proposal focuses mainly on near-infrared Raman microspectroscopy and its application to chemical mapping/characterization of live cells & tissues. We have recently made several advances in the non-invasive analysis of pluripotency in human embryonic stem cells using this approach. We are proposing to extend these applications to the identification and selection of emerging phenotypes in differentiating cells, particularly those deriving from human induced pluripotent stem cells, which have not been studied spectroscopically before. We will also explore other applications of Raman microspectroscopy for cellular analysis of red blood cells and blood platelets, the goal being to identify specific spectral markers equivalent to standard morphological assays to provide a more robust, rapid and informative protocol for monitoring blood product quality during production and storage. Another area in which my laboratory has established leadership is the development of specialized spectral processing and analysis methods for signal-to-noise-enhancement, deconvolution, background correction, and analysis of chemical/structural dynamics. These methods enable extraction of more information from complex systems such as cells and tissues and thereby aid interpretation of the data. The proposal describes related future research activities with applications that impact all areas of my research program, but that also facilitate opening up a new dimension involving applications to medical imaging. Our objective here is to develop iterative image processing methods for improving the clarity and contrast of computed tomography (CT) images to aid diagnostic accuracy. This research program will yield new technologies that will contribute toward advances in regenerative medicine, blood services and diagnostic medicine.