Multidimensional Super-Resolution Microscopy through Mass-Accumulated Single-Molecule Spectroscopy

by Dr Ke Xu (UC Berkeley)

Wednesday 28 May 2025, 12:00 → 13:00 US/Pacific

Auditorium (B50)

Recording: available after event

 

 

Abstract: 

Recent advances in super-resolution fluorescence microscopy have led to exciting spatial resolutions.

 

We discuss our efforts to advance beyond the spatial (structural) information of super-resolution microscopy and map out multidimensional functional parameters at the
nanoscale through the mass accumulation of single-molecule spectroscopy. With spectrally resolved single-molecule localization microscopy (SR-SMLM), we encode functional parameters
into the emission spectra of single probe molecules, and so unveil nanoscale heterogeneities in cellular membranes. With single-molecule displacement/diffusivity mapping (SMdM), we map
out diffusivity with unprecedented spatial resolution and fidelity, and thus uncover nanoscale diffusion patterns in living cells and elucidate intermolecular interactions.

 

In our new development of SpeedyTrack, we achieve microsecond wide-field single-molecule tracking/imaging and super-resolution mapping on standard EM-CCDs by fast vertical shifting the wide-field single-molecule images along the CCD chip. Together, by adding rich functional dimensions to super-resolution microscopy, we open up new ways to reveal fascinating spatiotemporal heterogeneities both in vitro and in the living cell.

 

Speaker bio:

Dr. Ke Xu is an associate professor of Chemistry at UC-Berkeley and is also affiliated with the MBIB division at LBL. Ke joined the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley in the summer of 2013. His current research develops single-molecule and super-resolution microscopy tools to study biophysical chemistry, cell biology, and beyond. Ke has been named a Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering, a Beckman Young Investigator, a Sloan Research Fellow, and a Pew Biomedical Scholar.