Prof. Ji-Xin Cheng has received official notification that his proposal entitled "Study of Membrane Domains with Coherent Raman Microscopy and Microspectroscopy" has been selected for funding by the National Science Foundation. The specific aim of this proposed research is to use CARS microscopy to determine the partition ratio of phospholipids, sphingomylin, and cholesterol in different domains. Lipids with fully deuterated acyl chains will be used to provide molecular selectivity without perturbing the molecular properties.

The broader impact of the research will be to drive scientific research toward a multidisciplinary research direction. To make progress in such a project, graduate students will need to learn chemistry, physics, and biology, and to collaborate with people of different scientific backgrounds. The other broader impact will be a better understanding of the detection limit of coherent Raman microscopy. Such a continuous effort in instrumentation will hopefully lead to the realization of imaging specific molecules at physiological concentrations in living cells without fluorphore labeling.