Probing Life with Photons
Highlighted News
January 2024, our paper on episymbiotic host-microbe interaction is out in the ISME Journal. In this work, we found that Saccharibacteria induces intracellular lipid droplets inside their bacterial host. It is a feature first unraveled in oral bacteria and it is further found playing a critical role in their intricate episymbiotic relationship! This work recieved the QPC Lasers Young Investigator Best Paper Award at 2024 SPIE Photonics West conference and was recently featured by AHA Forsyth News.
April 2023, we have found a new regulatory mechanism, host-derived transfer RNA fragments, that keeps cancer-causing bacteria, Fusobacterium nucleatum, in check. Please check our full story. [Link]
April 2022, our paper using blue light to kill a wide range of bacterial superbugs via catalase photoinactivation is now online on JCI Insight! [Link]
February 2022, initiated by a very simple and fun H2O2 bubble experiment, we identified catalase, a reactive oxygen specie-detoxifying enzyme, as one of the underlying molecular targets of blue light to kill superbugs. Please check this new finding through this link. [Link]
January 2021, our story using stimulated Raman scattering microscopy to solve a longstanding mystery regarding how a widely used antifungal drug fights against fungal infections is featured by Boston University News. [Link]
May 2020, our phototherapy approach to combat antibiotic resistance is featured by BU Brink. This paper unveils in details how blue light disrupts MRSA cell membrane and how it revives conventional antibiotics against MRSA. [Link]
June 2019, our story using blue light to kill superbug MRSA via staphyloxanthin photolysis is featured by "科普中国"! 金色的“葡萄”会致病，不如给它漂个白？ [Link]
May 2019, our paper using transient absorption microcopy to quantify glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is now published in Science Advances! Please check how we detect HbA1c level in single red blood cells in whole blood sampled from diabetic patients with high sensitivity and accuracy. [Link]
April 2019, our story using blue light to kill superbug, MRSA, via photolysis of staphyloxanthin is featured by BU Brink! Please check to see how it impacts the research field and how it draws directly attention from many patients! [Link]
March 2018, Pu-Ting wins the prestigious 2018 SPIE Translational Research Award based on her drug-free antimicrobial phototherapy! [Link]
Pu-Ting wins this award based on her research on drug-free photonic approach to eliminating methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Translational Research Symposium Chairs Bruce J. Tromberg of the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Center at the University of California, Irvine (USA) and Gabriela Apiou, from the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (USA) present the award to Pu-Ting on February 4th 2018 at SPIE Photonics West Conference.
