Abstract:

　　Vibrational spectroscopic imaging, providing molecular fingerprint information, opens a new way of watching biomolecules at work in a living system. Developed over the past two centuries, advanced vibrational microscopes based on coherent Raman scattering and pump-probe photothermal detection have enabled highly sensitive and high-speed bond-selective imaging of a broad range of molecules in live cells and organisms. Label-free vibrational imaging of human patient specimens has enabled the discovery of molecular signatures in diseases. Vibrational probes, such as C≡C, C≡N, C-D and azide, enable bio-orthogonal imaging of small biomolecules and functional imaging of cellular processes. Coherent Raman and vibrational photothermal microscopes are commercialized and worldwide delivered. This talk will overview the emerging field, introduce cutting-edge modalities, and highlight life science applications.

Biosketch:

　　Ji-Xin Cheng attended University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) from 1989 to 1994. From 1994 to 1998, he carried out his PhD study on bond-selective chemistry at USTC. As a graduate student, he worked as a research assistant at Universite Paris-sud (France) on vibrational spectroscopy and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on quantum dynamics theory. After postdoctoral training on ultrafast spectroscopy at HKUST, he joined Sunney Xie’s group at Harvard University as a postdoc, where he spearheaded the development of CARS microscopy that allows high-speed vibrational imaging. Cheng joined Purdue University in 2003 as Assistant Professor in Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry, promoted to Associate Professor in 2009 and Full Professor in 2013. He joined Boston University as the Inaugural Theodore Moustakas Chair Professor in Photonics and Optoelectronics in summer 2017.

　　Authored in 320+ peer-reviewed articles with an h-index of 96 (Google Scholar), Cheng and his team has been constantly at the most forefront of chemical imaging and neuro-modulation in development, discovery, and delivery. Chemical microscopes based on his innovations, including CARS, hyperspectral SRS, mid-infrared photothermal microscopes, are installed and used in many countries worldwide. His research has been supported by ~45 million ($) funding from federal agencies including NIH, NSF, DoD, DoE and private foundations including Chan-Zuckerburg Initiative and Keck Foundation. In 2014 He co-founded Vibronix devoted to vibration-based imaging technologies and medical device innovations. In 2019, he co-founded Pulsethera aiming to kill superbugs by photolysis of intrinsic chromophores. Cheng is the Scientific Advisor of Photothermal Spectroscopy Corp in Santa Barbara and of Axorus in Paris. Cheng is a Fellow of Optical Society of America, a Fellow of American Institute of Medicine and Biological Engineering, and associate editor of Science Advances. Among his honors, Cheng is the recipient of the 2024 SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award, the 2022 Boston University Innovator of Year, the 2020 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award from the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, the 2019 Ellis R. Lippincott Award from Optica, Society for Applied Spectroscopy, Coblentz Society, the 2016 Research Award from Purdue University College of Engineering, and the 2015 Craver Award from Coblentz Society.