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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A semi-automated workflow for brain Slice Histology Alignment, Registration, and Cell Quantification (SHARCQ)
eNeuro • 2022
Tools for refined cell-specific targeting have significantly contributed to understanding the characteristics and dynamics of distinct cellular populations by brain region. While advanced cell-labeling methods have accelerated the field of neuroscience, specifically in brain mapping, there remains a need to quantify and analyze the data. Here, by modifying a toolkit that localizes electrodes to...
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Computational and biochemical methods to measure the activity of carboxysomes and protein organelles in vivo.
Methods in Enzymology • 2022
Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that play important ecological roles as major contributors to global nutrient cycles. Cyanobacteria are highly efficient in carrying out oxygenic photosynthesis because they possess carboxysomes, a class of bacterial microcompartments (BMC) in which a polyhedral protein shell encapsulates the enzymes ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase...
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dsRNA-induced condensation of antiviral proteins modulates PKR activity.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences • 2022
Mammalian cells respond to dsRNA in multiple manners. One key response to dsRNA is the activation of PKR, an eIF2α kinase, which triggers translational arrest and the formation of stress granules. However, the process of PKR activation in cells is not fully understood. In response to increased endogenous or exogenous dsRNA, we observed that PKR forms novel cytosolic condensates, referred to as...
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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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