Welcome to the fluorescent imaging group

Research Interests

What is the meaning of life in the cosmos? The enlightenment of life has been ongoingly sought by humanity from past to the future. Although we have made progress in recognizing ourselves (feeding our people and extending our lifetime) through the industrial and informational revolution, we are suffered from deficiency either inherent or obtained, and we are fighting for the war for immortal.

In the scientific field, microscopies are the fundamental tool to acquire the life information. A revolution of optical microscopy is just started with the advancement of super-resolution fluorescent microscopy. This super-resolving technology has provided unpreceded molecular resolution for nanoscopic resolving the dynamics of cells. For developing this breaking-line techniques, the Nobel prize in Chemistry 2014 were awarded to Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner.

For my research, it aims at pushing the boundaries of super-resolution imaging through interdisciplinary integration including the modulation of fluorescent microscopy, the advancement of decompressing algorithm and efficacious fluorescent probes/markers.

Scientific Background

In the field of fluorophores, our team have improved the single-molecule characteristics of dyes. (JACS，2019；JACS，2019；Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2022; JACS, 2023): to address the defects of rhodamines in single-molecule performance, a glycine rhodamine with ~70 ms prolongated on time was developed; to inhibit the non-radiative decay, a super bright quaternary piperazine rhodamine was designed with quantum yield approaching ~1; a far-red boron dipyrromethenes was constructed with characteristics of prolonged on time and blink functionality, and pushed the diagnostics of red blood cells towards molecular level; recruiting rate was discovered to define the blinking kentics for evaluation of super-resolution imaging performance. These were the cutting-edge advancements of advanced fluorophores for super-resolution imaging.

In the field of modern optical imaging, our team has extended the dimension of super-resolution microscopy and automated single-molecule fluorescence analysis. Through the combination of astigmatism introduction and analysis software development, a multi-dimensional single-molecule localization microscopy was constructed with lateral resolution at 10 nm and axial resolution at 40 nm. An automation tool was developed with own algorithm of wavelet filtering and clustering to analyze single-molecule fluorescence. These works established the foundation of our research deep into the single-molecule characteristics of fluorophores.

We have constructed a library of analyzing platforms, to provide functions including, simulation, localization, rendering and clustering. These software have been developed with friendly interface. The aim was to maximumly extract the fluorescence information from raw imaging data.

Portfoli

1. Ye Zhiwei,# Yang Wei,#* Wang Chao,# Zheng Ying,# Chi Weijie, Liu Xiaogang,* Huang Zhenlong, Li Xiaoyuan, Xiao Yi.* Quaternary Piperazine-Substituted Rhodamines with Enhanced Brightness for Super-Resolution Imaging. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2019,141(37):14491–14495.

2. Ye Zhiwei,# Yu Haibo,#* Yang Wei,# Zheng Ying,# Li Ning, Bian Hui, Wang Zechen, Liu Qiang, Song Youtao, Zhang Mingyan, Xiao Yi.* Strategy to Lengthen the On-Time of Photochromic Rhodamine Spirolactam for Super-Resolution Photoactivated Localization Microscopy. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2019,141(16):6527–6536.

3. Ye Zhiwei,# Yang Wei,#* Zheng Ying, Wang Shujing, Zhang Xiaodong, Yu Haibo, Li Shuangshuang, Luo Chunxiong,* Peng Xiaojun,* Xiao Yi.* Integrating a Far-Red Fluorescent Probe with a Microfluidic Platform for Super-Resolution Imaging of Live Erythrocyte Membrane Dynamics. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2022,61(45):e202211540.

4. Zheng Ying,# Ye Zhiwei,(coauthor，correspondence)#,* Zhang Xue, Xiao Yi.* Recruiting Rate Determines the Blinking Propensity of Rhodamine Fluorophores for Super-Resolution Imaging. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023,145(9):5125–5133.

5. Ye Zhiwei, Zheng Ying, Peng Xiaojun, Xiao Yi.* Surpassing the Background Barrier for Multidimensional Single-Molecule Localization Super-Resolution Imaging: A Case of Lysosome-Exclusively Turn-on Probe. Analytical Chemistry, 2022, 94(22): 7990–7995.

6. Zheng Ying,# Ye Zhiwei,(coauthor)#* Liu Zengjin, Yang Wei, Zhang Xinfu, Yang Youjun,* Xiao Yi.* Nitroso-Caged Rhodamine: A Superior Green Light-Activatable Fluorophore for Single-Molecule Localization Super-Resolution Imaging. Analytical Chemistry, 2021, 93(22):7833–7842.

7. Zheng Ying,# Ye Zhiwei,#,*(coauthor，correspondence) Xiao Yi.* Subtle Structural Translation Magically Modulates the Super-Resolution Imaging of Self-Blinking Rhodamines, Analytical Chemistry, 2023,95(8):4172–4179.

8. He Haihong,# Ye Zhiwei,(coauthor)# Xiao Yi,* Yang Wei,* Qian Xuhong,* Yang Youjun.*Super-Resolution Monitoring of Mitochondrial Dynamics upon Time-Gated Photo-Triggered Release of Nitric Oxide. Analytical Chemistry, 2018,90(3):2164–2169.

9. He Haihong,# Ye Zhiwei,(coauthor)# Zheng Ying, Xu Xiu, Guo Chunlei, Xiao Yi,* Yang Wei,* Qian Xuhong,* Yang Youjun.* Super-Resolution Imaging of Lysosomes with a Nitroso-Caged Rhodamine. Chemical Communications, 2018,54(23): 2842–2845.

10. Man Huizi,# Bian Hui,# Zhang Xinfu,* Wang Chao, Huang Zhenlong, Yan Yu, Ye Zhiwei,* Xiao Yi.* Hybrid labeling system for dSTORM imaging of endoplasmic reticulum for uncovering ultrastructural transformations under stress conditions. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2021,189:113378.

11. Man Huizi, Zhou Lin, Zhu Guanghao, Zheng Ying, Ye Zhiwei,*(correspondence) Huang Zhenlong, Teng Xinru, Ai Chunzhi, Ge Guangbo,* Xiao Yi*. Super-Resolution Imaging of Autophagy by a Preferred Pair of Self-Labeling Protein Tags and Fluorescent Ligands. Analytical Chemistry, 2022, 94(43): 15057-15066.

12. Zhang Xiaodong,# Ye Zhiwei, (coauthor)# Zhang Xinfu,* Man Huizi, Huang Zhenlong, Li Ning, Xiao Yi.* A targetable fluorescent probe for dSTORM super-resolution imaging of live cell nucleus DNA. Chemical Communications, 2019,55(13):1951–1954.

Projects

1.Development of molecular diagnostic probes on the basis of super-resolution imaging. National Natural Sience Foundation of China, 2024.01-2027.12, project director, 500k yuan.

2.Engineering of fluorescent dyes for super-resolution imaging. China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, 2020.06-2022.06, project director, 630k yuan.

3.Development of rhodamine fluorophores for super-resolution imaging. National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2021.01-2023.12, project director, 240k yuan.

4.Fluorescent fluorophores for multi-color single-molecule localization superresolution imaging. China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, project director, 80k yuan.

Information for applicants

We are a team composing of multidisciplinary background. We warmly welcome applicants from worldwide with interests in fluorescent probes, microscopy and image processing. We have two positions for Post doctoral candidates, one/two positions for PhD candidates, two/three positions for master candidates every year. Please feel free to contact us.

It would be helpful if you could provide us with your cvs and publications.

Email: ye.zhi.wei@foxmail.com

zhengyingscience@foxmail.com