Biomolecule optical imaging trumps fluorescence for the small

Imaging small biomolecules in living cells and animals just took a huge leap over the conventional restrictions of fluorescence imaging. Scientists at Columbia University in New York City have developed a means of observing miniscule molecular materials using novel chemistry and physics.

The research, led by Wei Min, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry for Columbia, and co-authored by Lu Wei, was published yesterday in Nature Methods, the institution announced. This is a major advancement in optical imaging because fluorescence imaging with fluorophore tagging tends to have a disruptive effect on the smallest biomolecules, whereas the new platform can peer in on very small molecules in drugs as well as amino acids, nucleic acids and lipids in action.

The researchers were at the helm of up-and-coming laser microscopy known as stimulated Raman scattering microscopy and decided to add a bright alkyne tag that is what is called carbon-carbon triple bonded. Raman scattering signal is produced when this bond is pulled taut and the loud and clear signal that is unlike anything in fluorescence imaging.

"The major advantages of our technique lie in the superb sensitivity, specificity and biocompatibility with dynamics of live cells and animals for small molecule imaging," remarked co-author Lu Wei, a PhD candidate in chemistry at Columbia, in a press release. 

Already this method has picked up physiological features of proteins, phospholipids, triglycerides, DNA and RNA. The next phase in the research is the use the technology to study specific questions in small biomolecules, including finding the earliest indications of tumor development and issues pertaining to new drug pharmacokinetics.