Lu Wei

Lu obtained her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2015 and joined the faculty at Caltech as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 2018. Her group works on developing and applying next-generation vibrational imaging techniques to quantitatively investigate the intracellular biophysical and biochemical processeswith an emphasis on neuronal metabolism; multiplex live-cell imaging; functional vibrational imaging and sensing with down to single molecule sensitivity. Lu has been recently recognized by the 2020 NIH Director's New Innovator Award, the 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship, the 2022 Vallee Scholar Award, the 2023 NSF CAREER award, and the 2024 BPSMargaret Oakley Dayhoff Award. Lu is also a Heritage Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Investigator at Caltech.

‍

‍

Spatial Metabolic Imaging via Functional Bond-Selective Microscopy

Advances in optical spectroscopy and microscopy have revolutionized our understanding in livebiological functions at the sub-cellular levels. In this talk, I will present our recent efforts in developing and applying next-generation bond-selective spectro-microscopy for retrieving functional chemical information in live cells and neurons toward deciphering metabolic control with sub-cellular resolution.

‍