Xiaoliang Sunney Xie

Who is Xiaoliang Sunney Xie?

Xiaoliang Sunney Xie is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Xie is considered a founding father of single-molecule enzymology. He has also made major contributions to biomedical imaging by developing CARS microscopy.

Xie received a B.S. in chemistry from Peking University, followed by his Ph.D. in 1990 from the University of California at San Diego. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago and in 1992 joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he later became a Chief Scientist. In 1999, he became the first full professor at Harvard University from the People's Republic of China.

Among the first to conduct fluorescence studies of single molecules at room temperature in the early 1990s, his research group has contributed to the emergence of the field of single-molecule biophysical chemistry and its application to biology. His work focuses on single-molecule enzymology, protein conformational dynamics, and the study of gene expression and regulation in living cells. His group also pioneered CARS microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy, sensitive biomedical imaging techniques that allow 3D imaging of live cells and organisms based on vibrational spectroscopy.