Innovative new technologies and approaches allow us to tackle previously intractable biologic problems. From building cutting-edge microscopy platforms to growing human brain organoids, our scientists in DNB are never satisfied with the status-quo. Can we visualize molecular interactions in live neurons? How can we model human brain development in the lab? Can we understand tissue heterogeneity at single-cell resolution? Will machine learning and artificial intelligence help us better understand neuronal circuits and behavior? These are just some of the ways that our hubs of innovation in DNB help us accelerate our understanding of how the nervous system forms during development and what goes wrong in catastrophic childhood illness.
Understanding the molecular detail underlying basic mechanisms of organelle quality control and organelle trafficking in neurons.
Research highlights
Correlative three-dimensional super-resolution and block-face electron microscopy of whole vitreously frozen cells
Correlative super-resolution (SR) fluorescence and electron microscopy (EM) can elucidate protein spatial relationships to global ultrastructure, but has suffered from tradeoffs of structure preservation, fluorescence retention, resolution, and field of view. Alongside collaborators, Dr. David Solecki and investigators in the Neuroimaging Lab and Bioimage Analysis Core developed a platform for three-dimensional cryogenic SR and focused ion beam-milled block-face EM across entire vitreously frozen cells.
