Lectures and seminars Ming Wai Lau Centre Lecture with Dr Sijie Chen: AIE-active fluorescent probes and their applications in biomedical research
Welcome to a seminar organised by Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine with Dr Sijie Chen, Karolinska Institutet, on 14 March 2023 at Biomedicum.
"AIE-active fluorescent probes and their applications in biomedical research"
Speaker
Dr Sijie Chen, Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Hong Kong
Abstract
Fluorescence-based techniques have been widely used in biological research and clinical diagnostics. One of the key components of the fluorescence-based techniques is the fluorophore, the molecules that re-emit light upon light excitation. The properties of the fluorophores, such as brightness, stability, selectivity and/or environment sensitivity, greatly influence the image quality, resolution limit and the information gained from these techniques. However, many conventional fluorophores suffer from the aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) problem which has greatly limited their practical applications. Different from the “self-quenching” ACQ dyes, luminogens with the feature of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) are in the dark state when molecularly dissolved but become bright emitters when aggregates are formed. The turn-on mechanism based on the AIE effect has been successfully utilized in developing various fluorescent probes. In this talk, I will introduce the phenomenon and mechanism of AIE as well as some of our work on the development of AIE probes for biosensing, bioimaging and photodynamic therapy.
Biography
Dr Sijie Chen received her BSc in Biology from Wuhan University in 2009 and PhD in Bioengineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2013. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow in HKUST and then as an Endeavour Fellow in the University of Melbourne and a visiting scientist in Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. She joined in the Division of Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics in Karolinska Institutet as a postdoctoral fellow since late 2015. Dr Chen was recruited as an Assistant Professor at Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet in 2017.
Dr Chen is working on fluorescent sensors and fluorescence imaging. Her current research interests focus on the development of new luminescent materials for mechanobiology studies and regenerative medicine studies. Up till now, Dr Chen is the author and co-author of more than 80 scientific papers, including Sci. Adv., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.