FU 

GROUP

Precision Chemical Imaging of Living Biological Systems

What We Do

The Fu lab develops quantitative chemical imaging tools to study various pathophysiological processes of living biological specimens at single-cell resolution. These tools involve state-of-the-art laser engineering, innovation in ultrasensitive signal detection, and novel machine learning/deep learning based data analysis. Leveraging these powerful tools, the Fu lab aims to drive biomedical applications in three areas: 1) developing more sensitive and accurate diagnostic methods; 2) understanding brain metabolism and brain dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases; 3) quantifying drug transport and drug metabolism in complex tissue environments to understand drug resistance.

Imaging method development

We focus on nonlinear optical spectroscopy-based label-free, precision chemical imaging method development, particularly stimulated Raman scattering microscopy and transient absorption microscopy.

Hardware development

We build state-of-the-art multimodal optical imaging microscopes to achieve high resolution, high sensitivity, quantitative chemical imaging of a wide variety of biological samples from cell cultures to living animals.

Data science tool development

We develop advanced computational algorithms to process multidimensional chemical imaging data and extract meaningful and interpretable information about the sample through image segmentation, classification, and prediction.

Cancer diagnosis

We collaborate with UW surgeons and pathologists and investigate the potential application of SRS in a wide range of intraoperative cancer diagnosis applications, including breast, brain, bone, and thyroid cancer. 

Brain structure and function

We leverage the capabilities of our label-free chemical imaging technology to investigate brain structure and function. In particular, we are interested in exploring the role of capillaries in oxygen delivery and the contribution of dysfunctional capillaries to neurodegenerative diseases.

Drug transport and drug response

We develop quantitative chemical imaging tools to quantify single-cell drug exposure and single-cell drug response, with the goal of understanding transport-related drug resistance mechanisms and developing better drug screening methods. 

Group News

Fiona published her work on dual-band SRS

Fiona published her paper on dual-band SRS microscopy in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B. Congratulations, Fiona! In this work, a custom build OPO was used to generate two tunable femtosecond output, which enabled simultaneous SRS imaging of two separate spectral...

Introduce a Girl to Green Technology event

Fiona, Erin, Emily, and Dan participated in the Introduce a Girl to Green Technology event organized by Women in Chemical Engineering at UW. They demonstrated the color separation of light using $0.02 clear prism plastic pick. They also showed the magnification of...

Photonics West conference

Dan, Fiona, and Brian attended the Photonics West conference in San Francisco. They presented recent works on deep learning, liver imaging, and drug formulation imaging.