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Updated: May 1, 2026

Implementation of a Nonlinear Microscope Based on Stimulated Raman Scattering
Published on: July 6, 2019
Live-cell stimulated Raman scattering imaging of alkyne-tagged biomolecules
Senlian Hong1, Tao Chen, Yuntao Zhu
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China).
Abstract:
Alkynes can be metabolically incorporated into biomolecules including nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and glycans. In addition to the clickable chemical reactivity, alkynes possess a unique Raman scattering within the Raman-silent region of a cell. Coupling this spectroscopic signature with Raman microscopy yields a new imaging modality beyond fluorescence and label-free microscopies. The bioorthogonal Raman imaging of various biomolecules tagged with an alkyne by a state-of-the-art Raman imaging technique, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, is reported. This imaging method affords non-invasiveness, high sensitivity, and molecular specificity and therefore should find broad applications in live-cell imaging.

