Xiaocun Lu
Clarkson University, NY·Chemistry
Cells push and pull on their surroundings, and those forces help signal health or disease. Yet measuring force inside living cells, inside materials, or deep in tissue remains hard.
- Fields
Chemistry
Biomedical Engineering
Materials Science
- Topics
mechanochemistry
mechanophores
molecular force gauges
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Build a library of molecular force gauges, molecules that change color or glow under force, to measure compressive and tensile forces in cells and biological targets.
- Develop BM-STORM, a super-resolution microscopy in which force switches force gauges between bright and dark states, to map subcellular and molecular mechanics.
- Design near-infrared mechanochemical transducers that emit light when triggered by ultrasound, with gas droplets amplifying signals, for high-resolution deep-tissue imaging.
- Calibrate and map force in polyurethane shape-memory polymers containing the mDPAC mechanophore, a force-reporting molecule, from surfaces to films and electrospun scaffolds.
- Predict force transfer from polymer chains to bulk materials with density functional theory and steered molecular dynamics, and design polymers that change shape in response to cell enzymes.
More about the research
Existing tools such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) probes can need complex setups, have limited speed, or work only at surfaces. Three projects tackle this with mechanochemistry, the design of molecules that change their light output when pulled or squeezed. These molecules become force sensors for cells, biomaterials and deep tissue.
Why it matters
Tools that report force in cells and materials could help researchers learn how mechanical signals relate to disease. They could also guide engineers designing wound dressings, implants and force sensors for manufacturing and healthcare. Ultrasound-triggered near-infrared imaging could eventually give physicians affordable, noninvasive views of molecular and cellular detail deep in the body.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Collaborative Research: Shape-Memory Polymers for Multiscale Force Sensing and Propagation within Biomaterials and at the Biomaterial-Cell Interface
NSF · Aug 2026 – Jul 2029
Advancing Visualization and Quantification of Subcellular and Biomolecular Mechanics through Mechanochemical Protocols
NIH · Sep 2024 – Jun 2029
ERI: Advancing a NIR-Mechanochemical Biophotonic Platform - A Breakthrough in Deep-Tissue Imaging and Biomechanical Sensing
NSF · May 2024 – Apr 2027
Closest labs
Ivan Aprahamian
Dartmouth College, NH·Chemistry
Improve the brightness, water solubility, cell compatibility and color range of light-switchable hydrazone dyes through structure-property studies guided by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, spectroscopy and bio-imaging.
Haiying Liu
Michigan Technological University, MI·Chemistry
Design and synthesize near-infrared BODIPY dye probes that emit two colors whose ratio reports viscosity, with improved water solubility, stability and ability to enter cells.
Indrajit Srivastava
Texas Tech University, TX·Biomedical Engineering
Systematically vary the topology, molecular weight and composition of fluorescent polymers to map how each feature affects NIR-II optical performance, including brightness, quantum yield and emission stability.
The school
Clarkson University: 1 labs on PI Pages, $26M a year on research, 36 research doctorates a year.
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