Infrared microscopy in the study of cellular biochemistry

This is a personal overview of the background, motivation and objectives in the application of infrared spectro-microscopy techniques to the study of cellular biochemistry, as detailed in a presentation given at WIRMS2017. It was not the aim of the presentation, nor is it the aim of the present article, to be a systematic review of the field of biological IR microscopy. Rather, it highlights the motivation for the author to use IR microscopy in biological research, with an emphasis on experiments that address specific questions in biochemical and cellular research. It also comments on the role of conventional light sources and synchrotron radiation in these experiments and justifies the use of synchrotron light in their implementation. The synchrotron advantage for experiments on live cells is reassessed in view of recent developments in the technology of IR light sources, in particular the introduction of novel designs of mid-infrared lasers. Finally, future applications of synchrotron IR light to the field are discussed with respect to the introduction of near-field techniques for IR imaging and spectroscopy of cellular samples, such as sSNOM and AFM-IR.