Entries by Academic Web Pages

Neuroanatomical Imaging

Serial section electron microscopy (ssEM), a technique where volumes of tissue can be anatomically reconstructed by imaging consecutive tissue slices, has proven to be a powerful tool for the investigation of brain anatomy. Between the process of cutting the slices—or “sections”—and imaging them, however, handling 100-106 delicate sections remains a bottleneck in ssEM, especially for batches in the “mesoscale” regime, i.e.,102-103 sections. Our lab is developing a tissue section handling device that transports and positions sections accurately and repeatably for automated, robotic section pick-up and placement onto an imaging substrate.

Congrats Dr. Timothy Lee

Dr. Timothy Lee successfully defended his thesis this summer. His thesis focused on automating the collection of serial nano-sections sections used to image and analyze up to 1 cubic milimieter of tissue!

Aditi and SmartSoil Team Win Spring 2019 Capstone Design Expo

Out of 236 teams from 11 different schools, this year’s best overall project award was awarded to Adid Kumar and the SmartSoil team! The team developed an indoor and user-friendly composting device that uses worms to naturally create nuitrient rich compost (called vermicomposting). The team used old food waste to feed the worms and create […]

Epithelial Electrophysiology

Recent advancements utilizing induced pluripotent stem cell-derived (iPSC) epithelia have made disease modeling and cell therapy for many, previously untreatable diseases possible. However, current electrophysiology techniques – used to validate epithelial function – are painstaking and require a highly trained user; limiting experimental throughput. We are developing new techniques and devices that enable both high-throughput and high-quality electrophysiological measurements. Our lab has built a robot that automates intracellular electrophysiology of epithelia that automates the pipette insertion process and, simultaneously improves throughput. We are also exploring new electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)-based techniques to extract high resolution, membrane-specific properties non invasively. These techniques could be used as the basis for at-line functional characterization of epithelia in all future iPSC-based therapies.

Timothy Lee Wins Nerem Travel Award

Tim recently won the 2019 Nerem International Travel Award, created by the friends and colleagues of the founding director of the Petit Institute, Bob Nerem, to honor his career in bioengineering. The annual award of up to $3,000 supports travel and living expenses for post-docs and graduate students traveling outside of the US as a […]

Brain Organoid Characterization

Brain organoids have allowed neuroscientists to make valid predictions about human neurodevelopmental diseases on the basis of organoid morphology, cellular distribution and composition, and gene expression. Following this trajectory, neuroscientists have proposed brain organoids as a model of human synaptic function. However, this approach is hindered by a primary limitation: techniques to characterize the electrophysiology of living synapses are far too slow and laborious to be applied to comparative or longitudinal studies required to validate organoid models and generate new hypotheses. We are currently addressing this limitation to the growth of brain organoids as a model of synaptic physiology by advancing the throughput and quality of automated multiple patch clamping in intact brain organoids.

Genetically-Encoded Voltage Indicators and Effectors

We are extending on our prior pioneering work on automated patch clamping robots by developing a robotic patch clamp system for optogenetic tool screening. We will then apply this technology to improve the kinetics of different optogenetic molecules, and also seek to improve the performance of an important class of optogenetic tool – improving the selectivity and conductances of light-gated potassium channels.

Neuro-Pharmacological Screening

Our lab, in conjunction with our collaborators at Emory (Andrew Jenkins and Steve Traynelis) have added improvements to the patcherBot system in order to improve neuropharmacology screening. These improvements include manipulation of heterologous cells and control of submillisecond solution exchange to mimic the speed at which neurotransmitters are released and removed from the synaptic cleft, where they activate ligand-gated ionotropic receptors. The “pharmaBot” system can perform typical ligand-gated ionotropic receptors experimentation protocols autonomously that allows for a high experiment completion success rates and can reduce the operator’s effort substantially.

Timothy Lee and Craig Forest Win Curriculum Innovation Award for Create-X Capstone

As members of the CREATE-X team, Craig and Tim contributed to establishing a program that teaches Georgia Tech students how to launch start-ups through classes taken for college credit. They have helped launch over 115 start-ups in the past five years! The CREATE-X team won the Curriculum Innovation Award in 2019, an award that recognizes […]