My work focuses on developing imaging and computational tools to process and analyze complex biological images. This allows cellular interactions to be directly observed, shedding new light on how bacteria behave at the single-cell level.
I am also a lecturer at the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, teaching courses and workshops on quantitative image analysis.
I am looking for new opportunities and collaborations to expand on my work.
Expertise
- Biological imaging and analysis
- Optical engineering and design
- Photoacoustics and ultrasound imaging
- Wavefront shaping for deep-tissue imaging
Education
Experience
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Professional Research Assistant
Jul 2016 - Jul 2019
BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder -
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Aug 2014 - Jul 2016
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder -
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Aug 2011 - Aug 2014
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St Louis
Recent publications
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Lifecycle of a cyanobacterial carboxysome
Science Advances • 2020
Carboxysomes, prototypical bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) found in cyanobacteria, are large (~1 GDa) and essential protein complexes that enhance CO2 fixation. While carboxysome biogenesis has been elucidated, the activity dynamics, lifetime, and degradation of these structures have not been investigated, owing to the inability of tracking individual BMCs over time in vivo. We have developed a...
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Single cell analysis reveals multiple requirements for zinc in the mammalian cell cycle
eLife • 2020
Zinc is widely recognized as essential for growth and proliferation, yet the mechanisms of how zinc deficiency arrests these processes remain enigmatic. Here we induce subtle zinc perturbations and track asynchronously cycling cells throughout division using fluorescent reporters, high throughput microscopy, and quantitative analysis. Zinc deficiency induces quiescence and resupply stimulates...
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Mechanical regulation of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria
Nature Microbiology • 2020
Photosynthetic organisms regulate their responses to many diverse stimuli in an effort to balance light harvesting with utilizable light energy for carbon fixation and growth (source–sink regulation). This balance is critical to prevent the formation of reactive oxygen species that can lead to cell death. However, investigating the molecular mechanisms that underlie the regulation of...
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Currently teaching
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Quantitative Optical Imaging
MCDB/BCHM 4312/5312•Fall 2019 - PresentExplores the fundamentals of optical imaging in biology, especially molecular and cellular biology. Covered topics include an introduction to optics and microscopes, fluorescence microscopy and image analysis, and biological applications. MATLAB will be taught at the beginning of the course and used throughout for image processing. Prior experience with MATLAB (or Python) is highly recommended but not required.
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Current projects
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Software tools and algorithms for biological imaging
Optical imaging enables biological systems to be studied at the single-cell level. However, the resulting image datasets are large and difficult to analyze. I develop software to extract information from time-lapse microscope images.
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Single cell responses to environmental changes
Bacterial cells live in a constantly changing environment, which requires them to react quickly if the environment becomes hostile. I use fluorescence microscopy and molecular biology to study how cellular processes are affected by local changes, and how these give rise to individual behavior that differs from the population as a whole.
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Interactions in multi-species microscopic communities
In nature, bacteria exist in multi-species communities. I use microscopy to study how individual cells within a population interact with each other, as well as interactions between different species of microscopic organisms.
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