DNA probes for highly multiplexed, precisely quantitative, ultra-resolution imaging

Peng Yin, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Systems Biology,

Harvard Medical School

Core Faculty Member, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering,

Harvard University

Living organisms are complex molecular systems. Imaging provides a natural and direct way to investigate such systems and is thus becoming a central tool for biomedical science. However, due to limitations of current microscopy, scientists face three crippling changes when attempting to visualize biology on the molecular scale: blurred vision (i.e. inability to visualize individual molecules clearly, especially for crowded targets), (partial) color blindness (i.e. only a small number [typically 3 or 4] of colors are used to simultaneously track distinct molecular species), and ambiguous quantification (i.e. inability to precisely count the number of target molecules in a resolution limited area). Using programmable fluorescent DNA probes (Nature Methods, 11:313, 2014; Science 344:65, 2014), we present a highly multiplexed (10× demonstrated), precisely quantitative (>90% precision), and ultra-high resolution (sub-5 nm) optical imaging method that simultaneously addresses these challenges, and hence promises to broadly transform biomedical research.

Time:Dec. 05th, 2014, 14:00.

Venue: New Biology Building, room 143

Host: Prof. Diming Wei

举办单位：生命科学联合中心