Label-free imaging provides tissue information without altering the sample configuration with dyes or exogenous contrast agents. For tissue autofluorescence this comes at the expense of specificity because natural fluorophores have highly overlapping emission spectra. Combining FLIm with additional label-free spectroscopic techniques improves the overall specificity of label-free imaging.
Raman spectroscopy has very high biochemical specificity. Our group developed a combined system and imaging probe for FLIm and Raman spectroscopic imaging that has been used to investigate the composition of atherosclerotic plaques in cardiovascular imaging and to study biomaterials' properties for tissue engineering applications.
Collaborators
IPHT (Institute of Photonic Technology) -Jena (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Popp and PD Dr. Christoph Krafft)
Funding
NIH (National Institutes of Health): R01 HL067377
JeDis (Jena-Davis Alliance of Excellence in Biophotonics)
Publications
T. A. Shaik, A. Alfonso-Garcia, X. Zhou, K. M. Arnold, A. K. Haudenschild, C. Krafft, L. G. Griffiths, J. Popp, and L. Marcu, "FLIm-Guided Raman Imaging to Study Cross-Linking and Calcification of Bovine Pericardium," Anal Chem 92, 10659-10667 (2020).
T. A. Shaik, A. Alfonso-Garcia, M. Richter, F. Korinth, C. Krafft, L. Marcu, and J. Popp, "FLIm and Raman Spectroscopy for Investigating Biochemical Changes of Bovine Pericardium upon Genipin Cross-Linking," Molecules 25 (2020).
J. Bec, T. A. Shaik, C. Krafft, T. W. Bocklitz, A. Alfonso-Garcia, K. B. Margulies, J. Popp, and L. Marcu, "Investigating Origins of FLIm Contrast in Atherosclerotic Lesions Using Combined FLIm-Raman Spectroscopy," Front Cardiovasc Med 7, 122 (2020).
S. Dochow, H. Fatakdawala, J. E. Phipps, D. L. Ma, T. Bocklitz, M. Schmitt, J. W. Bishop, K. B. Margulies, L. Marcu, and J. Popp, "Comparing Raman and fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy from human atherosclerotic lesions using a bimodal probe," Journal of Biophotonics 9, 958-966 (2016).
S. Dochow, D. Ma, I. Latka, T. Bocklitz, B. Hartl, J. Bec, H. Fatakdawala, E. Marple, K. Urmey, S. Wachsmann-Hogiu, M. Schmitt, L. Marcu, and J. Popp, "Combined fiber probe for fluorescence lifetime and Raman spectroscopy," Anal Bioanal Chem 407, 8291-8301 (2015).