Picture-perfect Proteins
Fall 2021聽触听叠测听Bree (Adamson) Watson聽鈥�04
To make a big impact in the world of bioimaging,聽it鈥檚 wise to look at some of the smallest things聽in a new light. For Kyu Young Han, assistant聽professor of optics and photonics, that means developing聽a new technique to view proteins in human cells. He is聽creating an innovative tagging system and is building a聽faster, more efficient super-resolution microscope.
With three recent awards from the National Institutes聽of Health totaling nearly $3.3 million, Han plans to聽revolutionize molecular imaging and build an essential聽microscope for the 4D Nucleome Program, one of the largest collaborative research initiatives since the聽Human Genome Project was completed in 2003. 叠测听developing new technologies to better understand cell聽functions, Han鈥檚 projects have the potential to accelerate聽researchers鈥� work with identifying the real-time impact聽of proteins, which may lead to major advancements in聽treating diseases.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to be able to contribute my imaging work to聽this consortium,鈥� Han says. 鈥淥ur combined contributions聽highlight the importance of working together to advance聽understanding of diseases.鈥�
Why聽Study Proteins?
There are an estimated 80,000 to聽400,000 proteins in the human聽body and each one has a specific job,聽including regulating glucose, moving聽iron and building muscle. Antibodies,聽enzymes and transport proteins are聽some of the protein types that are聽hard at work in our cells.
Many of these proteins work聽together to perform programmed聽functions, but sometimes these聽interactions deviate from the healthy聽and expected course of action, which聽can cause diseases such as cancer,聽diabetes, and Alzheimer鈥檚. Han鈥檚聽work aims to help researchers clearly聽see protein networks and dynamics,聽which can prevent or improve聽the negative impacts of certain聽diseases. Developing technologies to聽understand how cellular functions in聽the nucleus affect health and disease聽is the goal of the 4D Nucleome聽Program 鈥� but Han鈥檚 efforts may聽benefit other major bioimaging聽initiatives too.
鈥淪cientists realize the genome聽sequence is not enough information聽to figure out what causes diseases in聽the human body,鈥� Han says. 鈥淩esearch聽consortiums are the next step in聽diagnosing and treating disease.鈥�
What Makes this Microscope Different?
There are two main types of聽imaging microscopes 鈥� live cell聽and super-resolution. Live cell聽microscopy is a minimally invasive聽method that keeps cells intact but聽produces images with less detail.聽Super-resolution microscopes聽produce high-quality images聽but can take days or weeks to do聽so. Han鈥檚 new microscope will聽seamlessly switch between the聽two imaging styles without losing聽alignment, gaining crucial insight聽into protein movement.
鈥淥ne of our lab efforts is to聽completely change the engineering,聽optics and physics of one of the聽most recent state-of-the-art聽microscope systems,鈥� Han says.聽鈥淲e are developing a microscopy聽instrument that produces protein聽images more accurately and more聽quickly, and will be maintenance-free,聽which will make the research聽process more efficient and less聽expensive.鈥�
How will proteins be tracked and mapped?
Proteins are always on the move.聽Researchers can鈥檛 rely on just one聽snapshot of a protein to understand聽its impact; They need an image with聽more dimension. That鈥檚 why they聽need a microscope that quickly and聽accurately captures the locations of聽proteins and how, when and where聽they move.
Han and his team of graduate聽students are also working on a聽method to engineer antibodies to聽attach a bar code to target proteins.聽This innovative technique will allow聽researchers to identify countless聽proteins as they interact.
鈥淭he microscope we鈥檙e developing聽combined with the antibody bar code聽tagging technique will enable us to聽image proteins with more precise聽resolution at 100 times the speed,鈥澛燞an says.
How do interdisciplinary interests drive these聽innovative approaches?
During Han鈥檚 undergraduate聽studies in South Korea, he studied聽biology for two years before聽switching to chemistry. While聽earning his chemistry doctorate,聽he became interested in optics聽and photonics after listening to a聽presentation on super-resolution聽microscopy, and ever since then聽he鈥檚 built his career on the subject.
鈥淚鈥檓 quite lucky to have been聽exposed to these different areas,聽and this is why I like bridging聽several fields of science,鈥� Han聽says. 鈥淚鈥檝e reached out to medical聽researchers to understand what聽technical challenges they are faced聽with. Now I鈥檓 trying to provide聽a new methodology using the聽speed and precision of optics and photonics.鈥�
Kyu Young Han, Assistant Professor of聽Optics and Photonics