How Vibrating Molecules Could Unlock New Insights in Cell Biology

 


Infrared vibrational spectroscopy has long been a powerful tool in biological imaging, promising detailed molecular insights without inflicting any damage on the sample. Now, an exciting leap forward has emerged from a collaboration between Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Humboldt University Berlin, employing this technology to explore living animal cells in their native liquid environments with unprecedented nanoscale resolution. This advancement leverages the infrared scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope, or s-SNOM, integrated with the brilliance of the IRIS beamline at the BESSY II synchrotron source, inaugurating a new era of molecular imaging that combines spatial precision and biological relevance.

Understanding molecular compositions inside living cells has always been a complex task. Traditional infrared spectroscopy, while sensitive to molecular vibrations, suffers from limited spatial resolution and difficulty in analyzing samples in their native, often aqueous, conditions. The use of s-SNOM technology circumvents these limitations by enabling near-field detection of vibrational signals with spatial resolution down to 10 nanometers. Crucially, this study demonstrates the feasibility of applying nano-IR imaging directly to cells immersed in liquid, unlocking the door to observing cellular components in a state closer to their natural physiological environment.

Event Name : International Molecular Biologist Awards

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#MolecularVibrations #CellBiology #ProteinDynamics #Biophysics #MolecularMechanisms #CellSignaling #NanoBiology #QuantumBiology #BioMolecules #StructuralBiology #LifeSciences #MolecularResearch #CellMechanics #Biochemistry #BioInnovation #MolecularImaging #VibrationalSpectroscopy


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