Photographing the Physics of Cells

Dr. Melike Lakadamyali with a microscope. Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Lakadamyali. “It would be a dream come true if I could look at a cell within a tissue and have a Google Maps view to zoom in until I saw individual molecules,” says Melike Lakadamyali, Ph.D., an associate professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Her lab is helping make part of that dream a reality by developing super-resolution microscopy tools that visualize cells at a near-molecular level. Blending Physics and Biology Science and math fascinated Dr. Lakadamyali since childhood, and she felt especially drawn to physics because she enjoyed using logic to solve problems. After graduating high school in her native country of Cyprus, she chose to study physics at the University of Texas, Austin. She never gave much thought to applying physics methods to biological questions—a field known as biophysics—until her third year as an undergraduate, when she gained her first research experience in the lab of Josef Käs, Ph.D. Dr. Käs assigned Dr. Lakadamyali to a project measuring properties of neuronal growth cones, which sense the environment around neurons and guide their extension. “My first day in the lab was kind of a disaster,” Dr. Lakadamyali says. She recalls breaking the tip of a valuable piece of equipment by accidentally crashing it into some glass. “But I didn’t give up, and eventually I learned how to use the ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Being a Scientist Cells Tools and Techniques Cellular Imaging Cellular Processes Cool Tools/Techniques Profiles Source Type: blogs