NIR-II Fluorescent Toolbox for Organelle-specific Imaging of Three-dimensional Bio-tissues at High Spatiotemporal Resolution

Project Member(s): Wen, S., Jin, D.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Southern University of Science and Technology
Southern University of Science and Technology

Start year: 2022

Summary: This project will develop a toolbox of fluorophore with emission in the second near-infrared region (NIR-II, 900 – 1700 nm) for organelle-specific imaging of three-dimensional bio-tissues. In this project, design and screen suitable fluorophore for specific organelle or molecule staining will be the most important process. According to the rapid development in NIR-II fluorescence imaging very recently, we will focus on several typical NIR-II fluorophore based on small organic dyes with small size and good tissue penetration. Especially, we will focus on membrane polarity differences or special electrical properties of different organelle to optimize the structure of the dyes. Optical properties tuning and specific targeted can be easily achieved by molecular modification. Taking advantage of reducing photon scattering, light absorption and autofluorescence in the NIR-II window, the optimized fluorophore will afford high imaging resolution with increasing tissue penetration depths. Besides, advanced super-resolution microscopy technology will help to achieve subcellular structures imaging. In this way, this project will provide effective toolbox to obtain accurate organelle-specific imaging of three-dimensional bio-tissues and may reveal previously unknown biological mechanisms.

FOR Codes: Expanding knowledge in the biomedical and clinical sciences, Expanding knowledge in the chemical sciences, Biomedical imaging, Organic chemistry