Associated Departments
- Michael Smith Laboratories
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Department of Chemistry, Associate Member
Professional Profile
- Ph.D. (1990) University of Alberta
Research Area
Research in my laboratory focuses on the development of technology and instrumentation, as well as advanced signal processing, data analysis, modeling and simulation methods, for biomolecular spectroscopy. Of particular interest are applications of Raman, resonance Raman and coherent ant-Stokes Raman spectroscopy to problems in biochemistry, biotechnology and biomedical engineering. My general research interests also include the application of technologies developed in our lab to fundamental investigations involving cultured cell systems, tissues, DNA, PNA, LNA, protein-biomaterial interactions, protein-substrate/ligand interactions, and related topics in biotechnology.
The current emphasis in my group is on development of fiber-optic-linked spectroscopic methods for probing secondary & local tertiary structure and excited state dynamics of biomolecules. And microscopy-based methods for imaging cells & tissues using molecular vibrations as the contrast mechanism. Ongoing projects include: development of new spectrometry probes & instruments for mobile & remote analyses; spectroscopic investigations of enzyme-substrate complexes (e.g., intra & extradiol ring-cleavage enzymes); multi-dimensional correlation analysis of biomolecular interactions (DNA-DNA, DNA-LNA duplexes); spontaneous Raman and coherent anti-Stokes Raman imaging for analysis of mouse and human embryonic stem cells, as well as human blood & vascular tissues (atherosclerotic plaques) and plant leaf tissues (epicuticular waxes); lanthanide-based luminescence spectroscopy for DNA microarray analysis.
Research Questions
- How can cells be imaged and analyzed without perturbing them?
- How can interacting biomolecules be studied without labelling them?
- How can we extract more information from some existing analytical methods?
Research Keywords
Biochemistry, biotechnology, biological imaging, translation, biophysics, bioengineering, gene/cell therapy systems, cell delivery, regenerative medicine, engineering development