Metasurface-enabled mid-IR imaging of de novo lipogenesis in adipocytes

In this talk, I will present our latest progress on metasurface-enabled mid-IR imaging, focusing on our results in monitoring de novo lipogenesis in 3T3-L1 mouse adipocytes through 13C-labeled glucose. In this technique, cells are cultured on top of an engineered array of plasmonic nanoantennas, or metasurfaces. The near-field interaction between the cells and the nanoantennas modifies the scattering cross section of the individual nanoantennas, which is measured in the far-field through reflectance measurements. In this study, cells are fed with 13C-labeled glucose, which is metabolized into triglycerides and stored in lipid droplets. The incorporation of 13C results in a distinct shift in the C=O ester carbonyl vibration, which is used to measure the rate of de novo lipogenesis.