Nano/Bio Interface Center

NBIC Award forResearch Excellence in Nanotechnology

Xiaowei Zhuang2015 Recipient

Nano/Bio Interface Center at the University of Pennsylvania is a Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) bringing together researchers from the Schools of Engineering and Applied Science; Arts and Sciences; and Medicine. The NBIC exploits Penn's internationally recognized strengths in design of molecular function and quantification of individual molecules. The Center promotes collaboration among investigators in 10 different departments in the basic sciences and engineering. This broadly multidisciplinary approach for innovation allows Penn researchers to best realize the potential, and benefits, of nano-biotechnology.

Xiaowei Zhuang is a biophysicist recognized for her work in the development and application of advanced optical imaging techniques for the studies of biological systems. She invented Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), one of the first single-molecule-based super-resolution imaging methods, and established STORM as a powerful tool for biology. She invented a single-cell transcriptome imaging method,

MERFISH (multiplexed, error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization), which allows in situ transcriptomic analysis in the native context of cells and tissues. Her lab has applied single-molecule and super-resolution approaches to investigate a variety of biological systems and has discovered novel cellular structures.

Zhuang received her B.S. degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1991, Ph.D. degree from University of California at Berkeley in 1996 (Advisor Y. R. Shen), and postdoctoral training at Stanford University during 1997-2001 (Advisor: Steven Chu). In 2001, she joined Harvard University as an assistant professor, where she is now the David B. Arnold Professor of Science. She has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 2005. Zhuang has been recognized with many awards, including National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, Raymond & Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics, Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics, MacArthur Fellowship, etc. Zhuang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Abstract: Dissecting the inner workings of a cell requires imaging methods with molecular specificity, molecular-scale resolution, and dynamic imaging capability such that molecular interactions inside the cell can be directly visualized. Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful imaging modality for investigating cells largely owning to its molecular specificity and dynamic imaging capability. However, the diffraction-limited resolution of light microscopy is substantially larger than molecular length scales in cells, making many sub-cellular structures difficult to resolve. We developed a super-resolution fluorescence microscopy method, stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), which overcomes the diffraction limit by using photo-switchable fluorescent probes to temporally separate the spatially overlapping images of individual molecules. This approach has allowed multicolor and three-dimensional imaging of living cells with nanometer-scale resolution and enabled discoveries of novel sub-cellular structures. In this talk, I will discuss the technological advances of STORM and recent biological discoveries enabled by STORM. I will also describe a single-cell transcriptome imaging method that we recently developed, which allows in situ transcriptomic analysis in a spatially resolved manner in single cells.

The Nano/Bio Interface Center presents its

Award for Research Excellence in Nanotechnology

Join us for a talk by the 2015 recipient

Xiaowei ZhuangHoward Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of ScienceDepartments of Physics and of Chemistry &

Chemical Biology, Harvard University

Illuminating Biology at the Nanoscale withSingle-molecule and Super-resolution

Fluorescence Microscopy

Wednesday, October 28, 20154:00 PM

Glandt ForumKrishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology

3205 Walnut Street

Reception to follow