Professors Carol J. Hirschmugl and Roshan M. Dsouza of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Professor Frank Vogt of the University of Tennessee Knoxville are supported by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) Program in the Division of Chemistry to conduct a collaborative project to advance in-vivo chemical imaging and analysis. The research will be conducted by combining synchrotron-based infrared data obtained with the hyperspectral imaging spectrometer (IRENI) at the Synchrotron Radiation Center at Madison, WI with rapid spectral image analysis using graphics processing units and quantitative chemometrics. The research involves high resolution imaging of live cells, scattering corrections, chemometric methods for concentration measurement in complex systems and application to algae growth studies.
If successful the project will improve the performance of IRENI, the premium facility of its kind, and enable the chemical imaging and analysis of samples that were previously considered to be too complex to handle, such as live cells. The project will have a broad impact in chemistry and biology. Students will be trained on a state-of-the-art infrared imaging instrument in a Synchrotron Radiation Center. Undergraduate students from diverse groups and their teachers will be involved in the project through existing REU and RET programs, and workshops will be conducted to familiarize the community with IRENI and to broaden its technical user base.
