IAMS, Academia Sinica

Nano-Bio-Photonics Lab

Chia-Lung Hsieh
https://hsiehlab.iams.sinica.edu.tw/

Introduction

Dr. Chia-Lung Hsieh is a principal investigator at the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science (IAMS) at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He is also an adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Physics at National Taiwan University. His research interest is exploring nanoscale biological dynamics with advanced microscope techniques. Specifically, his ongoing research employs an advanced scattering-based interferometric microscope technique to enable direct visualization of the swift movements of cell organelles, virus particles, and chromatin within living cells. 

The Nano-Bio-Photonics Lab at the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences (IAMS), Academia Sinica, Taiwan is a multidisciplinary research team focused on developing optical microscope techniques and data analytical methods to better understand the fundamental physics and chemistry of living systems at the nanoscale. By combining molecular biology and advanced optical technology, the lab measures the spatiotemporal dynamics of individual biological nano-objects, from single viruses to molecules, in order to understand how stochastic events drive life processes. This research also contributes to the understanding of disease origins, including viral infection and neurological disorders.


Research Topics

We develop new techniques for optical observation, microscopic manipulation, nanoparticle labeling, and data analysis. For example, we have devoted ourselves to develop new imaging methods that utilize linear scattering of light as the signal. Through interferometric detection, we are able to capture extremely rapid dynamics of small particles and molecules under the microscope at ultrahigh speed (up to 500,000 frames per second). The lab also develops new methods for image processing and data analysis, utilizing statistical analysis and simulation to explore previously unexplored phenomena.


Honor

Dr. Hsieh has received several prestigious awards in recognition of his scientific achievements and research potential, including the 20th Y. Z. Hsu Scientific Paper Award (2022), the MOST Ta-You Wu Memorial Award (2021), the Young Scholars' Creativity Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship (2020), as well as the Junior Research Investigator Award (2019) and the Career Development Award (2017) from Academia Sinica. 


Educational Background

Dr. Hsieh earned his Ph.D. in 2011 from Caltech, where he studied nonlinear optics in nano-sized particles for bioimaging under Prof. Demetri Psaltis. He conducted much of his research as an exchange Ph.D. student in the Optics Lab at EPFL in Switzerland. Afterward, he did postdoctoral work on interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy and single-particle tracking with Prof. Vahid Sandoghdar at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany. In December 2012, he joined IAMS as a PI and founded the Bio-Nano-Photonics Lab.