Contrast

Applications

We aim to support a wide range of applications across the biosciences and beyond including: 
Nanoparticle Imaging: nanoparticles can be imaged on our system through either surface enhanced CARS or transient absorption (TA), these techniques combined with SRS can use this to track nanoparticles in cells and tissues.  

  • Nanoparticle Imaging: nanoparticles can be imaged on our system through either surface enhanced CARS or transient absorption (TA), these techniques combined with SRS can use this to track nanoparticles in cells and tissues.  
  • Plant and fungi imaging: Coherent Raman techniques are especially applicable to plant imaging where other label free techniques can be hampered by the intrinsic fluorescence from the leaves. We use these techniques to image plant and fungal interactions. 
  • Tracking drug and chemical transport: Many drug molecules or active ingredients (for example agrochemicals) are small molecules and their uptake dynamics are altered by adding fluorescent labels, however Coherent Raman allows us to image their uptake dynamics label-free. 
  • Cellular and tissue lipid imaging: lipids are hard to fluorescently label however they can be readily imaged via coherent Raman due to the CH vibrations in the fatty acids, additionally spectral scans provide additional information on the degree of saturation and conformation.  
  • Live cell imaging: We can work with fresh unstained cell and tissue samples, making our imaging techniques compatible with live cell imaging, enabling label free imaging of intracellular transport and cell growth. 
  • Cancer diagnosis: Label free Raman and Coherent Raman imaging can be used to detect chemical changes which occur in the tissue with cancer, at the facility we support projects developing these into potential diagnostic tools. 
  • Tissue micro-mechanics: Coherent Raman can be used simultaneously with Second Harmonic Generation and Two Photo Fluorescence to map the tissue microstructure, which is crucial to understanding the biomechanical performance of tissues in health and disease. 
  • Food science applications: the taste and texture of food depends on the microscale distribution of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, these can be mapped in 3D using Coherent Raman making it a valuable tool for food science applications.