Chunqiang Li, Ph.D. - US grants

This PAARE grant will strengthen an existing partnership between researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Texas at Austin. The research areas of the proposed work are related to interacting binary stars, in particular the study of accreting black holes and neutron stars in X-ray binary systems. Observations will be conducted primarily at the McDonald Observatory which is operated by UT-Austin; however, this research will be supplemented by work done at the UTEP campus observatory. The proposed research has broad scientific impact since the formation and growth of massive black holes is related to the formation of galaxies, quasars, and gamma-ray bursts in ways that are not yet understood.

The partnership will strive to attract and include Hispanic astronomers and educations to the program through access to the front-line research capabilities of McDonald and the well-known reputation of UT-Austin as a center for astronomy research. The main goal of this partnership is the development of a sustainable astronomy and astrophysics program at UTEP that emphasizes both astrophysical research and a culture of education and outreach within the program. The team will reach out to the local Hispanic community by providing direct observational experience to students at UTEP and McDonald, by providing promising students a path to a career in astronomy through UTEP to UT-Austin or other schools, and by establishing the UTEP astronomy program that will continue on after this PAARE grant is finished. An additional ~500 students per year will gain astronomy experience by performing night-time observing at the UTEP facility.

This planning project entitled PARTNERS FOR SUCCESS: Building Partnerships to Increase Success of Underrepresented Minorities in Physics at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is developing an innovative model to attract, retain, and bridge underrepresented minority students to graduate school in physics. The project aims to develop partnerships between Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and degree granting institutions. The main idea is to develop a well-structured mentoring and support model between the participating institutions that will be institutionalized for sustainable impact.

Attention is paid to the students' steps of the path, from pre to post baccalaureate. The project seeks to first attract students to the discipline and then provide them with effective mentoring and a wealth of research opportunities at the MSI. Then in partnership with doctoral degree granting institutions, students are assisted in overcoming the challenges they face in obtaining a doctoral degree in physics. Although this model will be implemented at the UTEP, a Hispanic Serving Institution, it has the potential to impact underrepresented minority students throughout the nation due to its transferability.

An award is made to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) to develop a high-speed optical microscope for imaging fluorescent objects and simultaneously tracking their fast motion in three-dimensional (3D) space. This interdisciplinary project enriches undergraduate and graduate students' education by providing frontier research experience in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, and electrical engineering. It also trains postdoctoral researchers who will form the next generation of instrumentalists. This project gives scientists in biology and chemistry a strong background in the development and use of innovative and contemporary
instruments, significantly enhancing their ability to conduct cutting-edge research. The developed microscope will serve as the cornerstone of a Biophotonics core facility that will promote collaborative research, education and outreach activities. Underrepresented minority students at UTEP, a Hispanic-majority (almost 80%) institution, and regional users will be invited to participate in workshops and research activities using this facility.

This project is an innovation in the field of fluorescence microscopy. By integrating two ultrafast laser techniques, temporal focusing and pulse shaping, this new microscope has the capability of acquiring 3D volumetric images at an unprecedented high-speed (50 volumes/s, volume size 100um × 100um × 100um). This microscope eliminates the current laser beam scanning mechanisms typically used in confocal and two-photon microscopes with temporal focusing, and adds depth scanning capability by integrating the pulse shaping technique. This project will also develop a computerized image processing system that will automatically analyze high-speed videos. These capabilities, i.e. high-speed and 3D volumetric imaging, will enable researchers to explore and analyze previously unobtainable fast dynamic information from this automatic image analysis systems. Initial applications are in the areas of marine virus infection, nanoparticle transportation, and fly brain imaging. Applications could extend to many other fields where it is hard to study fast 3D dynamic processes using current laser beam scanning fluorescence microscopes.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will develop a super resolution pump-probe modulation (PPM) microscope to image non-fluorescent molecules. Imaging has become an important tool in biomedical research and clinical prognosis and treatment. Optical imaging systems, particularly fluorescence microscopy, have been extensively used in biomedical research. Recently, stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy has achieved nanometer resolution using point-spread function (PSF) engineering techniques to break the diffraction limit. All these super resolution techniques are based on molecular fluorescence with most applications requiring tagging exogenous fluorophores onto targeted molecules. However, the labeling process can alter the activity or localization of the molecules. Recently pump-probe microscopy demonstrated its ability to image non-fluorescent molecules by detecting the energy transitions between different molecular energy levels when two femtosecond/picosecond laser pulses are interacting with the molecules. The common feature of the pump-probe microscope and the STED microscope is that both modalities use two laser beams to excite and then to probe or deplete the molecules. The innovation of this proposal is developing a pump-probe modulation (PPM) microscope that combines the PSF engineering method used in STED microscopy and the pump-probe method to achieve the goal of imaging non-fluorescent molecules with nanometer resolution. There are two specific aims in this grant application: (1) Develop a pump-probe modulation microscope based on stimulated emission and ground state depletion that can image gold nanorods and Atto612Q molecules with super resolution; and (2) Image dopamine in live Drosophila brain tissue with two-photon excitation PPM microscopy.