With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Julie Biteen and her group at the University of Michigan are improving the power of microscopes in order to look inside live cells at the 1-2 nanometer scale of proteins themselves. This project is based on coupling single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and metal nanoparticle plasmonics to produce a non-perturbative method for looking at protein position and dynamics in the natural cellular environment with unprecedented resolution and flexibility.
The interdisciplinary approach aims (1) to understand the mechanism of plasmon-enhanced single-molecule fluorescence, (2) to characterize plasmonic surfaces based on this insight, (3) to localize and track membrane proteins in live bacteria cells coupled to metal nanoparticles, and (4) to expose students to modern science through demos, mentoring, teaching and laboratory research, with a particular eye toward increasing the participation of women in STEM fields. The proposed research promises to enable non-invasive, nanometer-scale microscopy with applications ranging from live-cell imaging to in situ device characterization. The mechanistic understanding of nanoscopic details derived from plasmon-enhanced single-molecule fluorescence will have enormous implications for cell biology, hydrogen storage, chemical separation and energy production.
