Wei Min

Dr. Wei Min graduated from Peking University in 2003. He then received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2008 with Professor Sunney Xie. After continuing a postdoctoral in the Xie group, Dr. Min joined the faculty of Chemistry Department at Columbia University in 2010, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2017. He is also affiliated with Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kavli Institute for Brain Science, and NeuroTechnology Center at Columbia.

Optical microscopy has revolutionized modern science and technology, with two landmark innovations (green fluorescent proteins and super-resolution microscopy) being recognized with recent Nobel Prizes. However, the prevalent optical imaging modalities, such as fluorescence, infrared absorption and spontaneous Raman scattering, all have inherent limitations. 

Going beyond these established methods, Dr. Min has made pioneering contributions to the invention and development of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, and employed it to open up a broad range of biomedical applications. 

•    On the instrumentation side, he has devised advanced SRS microscopy [Science 2008] and pushed its sensitivity down to single molecule level [Nature Photonics 2019]. SRS microscope was commercialized by Leica.
•    On the imaging probe side, he has designed and synthesized novel Raman-active probes exhibiting rainbow-like spectral “colors” [Nature Methods 2014; Nature 2017]. 
•    On the application side, he has opened up a wide range of novel applications including bioorthogonal chemical imaging of small biomolecules (such as lipids, amino acids, glucose, and drugs) [Nature Methods 2014], metabolic activity imaging in animals [Nature Biomedical Engineering 2019], and super-multiplexed vibrational imaging [Nature 2017].  

The technique is being adopted by mainstream life scientists, as summarized in his comprehensive review “Biological imaging of chemical bonds by SRS microscopy” [Nature Methods 2019]. He is co-editing a 40-chapter book entitled “Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy: Techniques and Applications” with ELSEVIER. Dr. Min’s work is launching a revolution towards next-generation optical imaging.