Physical Chemistry Seminar: Professor Ke Xu, University of California, Berkeley
About the Seminar
Multidimensional Super-Resolution Microscopy through Mass-Accumulated Single-Molecule Spectroscopy
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. As an example of integration of our multidimensional approaches, we uncover nanoscale heterogeneities in liquid-liquid phase-separation condensates, e.g., the graduate accumulation of aggregates on microdroplet surfaces. Together, by adding rich functional dimensions to super-resolution microscopy, we open up new ways to reveal fascinating spatiotemporal heterogeneities in the living cell and beyond.
About the Speaker
Ke Xu is an associate professor of Chemistry at UC-Berkeley. He received his B.S. from Tsinghua University in 2004, obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry with Prof. Jim Heath at Caltech in 2009, and performed postdoctoral research with Prof. Xiaowei Zhuang at Harvard University. 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 at the nanoscale with extraordinary resolution, sensitivity, and functionality. Ke has been named a Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering, a Beckman Young Investigator, a Sloan Research Fellow, and a Pew Biomedical Scholar.