Innovations in protein engineering have revolutionized fluorescent proteins, transforming them into versatile, genetically encoded reporters & biosensors that can be used to monitor a wide range of biological events with molecular specificity. However, many critical biological processes, such as cancer metastasis, brain function, and the efficacy of cell- and gene-based therapies, still require study within the intact physiological context of tissues, organs, organ systems, and entire organisms, as opposed to cultured cells. This creates a fundamental scientific impasse: sensors based on fluorescent proteins are ineffective at depth, while gold-standard clinical modalities like MRI excel at deep-tissue penetration but lack sensitivity to molecular events. Our research seeks to break this scientific impasse by pursuing biomolecular innovations at the unique (albeit unexplored) interface of synthetic biology & imaging physics. Just as decades of meticulous protein engineering transformed fluorescent proteins into an indispensable toolkit for cell biology, we anticipate that the concepts and tools developed in our lab will establish a similar, transformative trajectory for molecularly precise, deep-tissue imaging using MRI.