Dr. Taro Kunitomi visits MEOW lab

We are happy to have Dr. Taro Kumitomi from Juntendo University visit us on this breezy Friday in May.

As a physician, Taro came to receive a short-term clinical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital for two weeks. He efficiently combined the visit to MEOW lab in the same trip.

We exchanged ideas about research in biophysics and medicine. Taro participated in our lab meeting and toured our laboratories.

We are touched that Taro’s interest in joining our research team in the near future. A over-due group dinner to welcome our visitors and to celebrate Eileen’s and Daniel’s birthdays ensued after the busy day.

The dinner was an echo of another pleasant dinner with Taro, Dr. Takehiro Yasukawa and other colleagues in Tokyo back in this past February.

We hope to see you soon, Taro!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dr. Taro Kunitomi visits MEOW lab

The newest hyper-spectral confocal is up and running

After a super efficient lab renovation, we welcomed our fourth microscope to our lab!

We had to knock down the benches, and re-route the plumbing systems, with a new sink installed.

Thanks to Patrick, our most helpful lab manager at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the renovation was fast and efficient.

Within a week, we created the space needed to accommodate the newly acquire Stellaris 8 from Leica.  It boasts a wider range of super-continuum laser spectra than our Leica Sp8, which has been and will be the work horse in the MEOW lab. Equipped with 6 photon-counting detectors, ultrafast cameras and many more features, we cannot wait to use it for the new experiments. We are very excited!

Our 6-year old Leica SP8 system with white light laser, FLIM and many more features is the data producing instrument of the lab.

The brand new Leica Stellaris 8 will be added to our arsenal of developing new tools to advance biomedicine and bioengineering!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on The newest hyper-spectral confocal is up and running

Tony wins the best poster award at the 18th Nano-Bio Symposium

Our committed and talented undergraduate research intern Tony Zheng was recognized for his excellent research, with the honor of the Best Poster Award at the 18th Nano-Bio Symposium. Tony has been working on the project in which we used a novel label-free interreference-based  microscopy to study the dynamics of subcellular components, and to deduce the health state of cells and tissues.  Tony’s poster, entitled “Ultrasensitive and Label-Free Measurement of Cellular Health State by Quantum-Limited Light Scattering”, made an impression among the symposium attendees and the poster judges! This ambitious project is a collaboration between our group and groups led by Prof. Warwick Bowen (University of Queensland) and Prof. Luo Gu (JHU). We are very pleased that Tony’s efforts were recognized. We look forward to report more interesting findings in an upcoming paper very soon. Congratulations Tony!

Thanks to Junjie’s documentation of this happy moment!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Tony wins the best poster award at the 18th Nano-Bio Symposium

Quantum Biology Gordon Research Conference in Lucca Italy

During the first week of March, we attended the second Quantum Biology Gordon Conference in beautiful Tuscany, Italy. More details are here.

Due to the rules stipulated by GRC, we did not take photos to commemorate the posters and the talks given by us. But we had a lot of fun learning new and exciting research, exchanging notes and discussing future plans together.

We also found time to have some wine tasting and take a group photo of MEOW lab members on our way to the vineyard. We were very happy to celebrate the news that Alejandro will join us as a postdoc very soon! Can you tell that our smiles were brighter than the Tuscan sun? Welcome aboard again Alejandro!

We made new friends. Hiking with new friends was an adventure through wooded paths and flooded trails. It was great to see so many kindred spirits from other countries who find quantum biology interesting!

Overall, we had enjoyed the GRC very much, despite knowing there was some troubling news  and a lot of uncertainty waiting when we got home. Discussing with our long-term collaborators Drs. Woodward, Bowen and Kim, and many more old/new friends psyched us to move forward bravely!

(We love Mike!)

We also visited Florence before heading home.

Hopefully, one day, our work will be remembered, like Michelangelo’s!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Quantum Biology Gordon Research Conference in Lucca Italy

MEOW lab attends Cell Bio 2024

We went to San Diego for the Cell Bio 2024 meeting  during December 13-18.

Having a good lunch was the first order of business after landing in San Diego.

Then we went to watch sunset at La Jolla Cove to get ourselves psyched for the 5-day conference.

Many memorable moments happened during the conference.

Eileen gave a talk on his research that impressed everyone in the room.

All the students presented their research.

Of course, family and friends came to the MEOW dinner to celebrate science, collaboration and friendship.

Cell Bio 2024 was super fun! The best way to conclude a year of hard work!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on MEOW lab attends Cell Bio 2024

Daniel is the reigning champion of cell counting

For two years in a row, Daniel won the world championship of Leica Cell Counting competition.

By eyeballing images of cell culture, Daniel could estimate cell density down to single digit. He is a walking cell counter that beats any algorithm. Way to go Daniel!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Daniel is the reigning champion of cell counting

Prof. Raimon Sunyer Visits

We are very delighted to have Prof. Raimon Sunyer at University of Barcelona visit us. Raimon is an old friend and a collaborator. His visits brings warmth in the cold month of December. And the stimulating discussion with Raimon lights up our day despite the absence of sunlight.

We chatted over pizza about the projects in MEOW lab.

We also learned the exciting new projects from Raimon’s group. The seminar was a sold-out event!

Of course we celebrated the strong and long friendship over good food with Profs. Sergey Plotnikov, Jean Liu and Ana Pasapera.

Thank you Raimon for visiting us and sharing your research with us!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Prof. Raimon Sunyer Visits

Dr. Nicolas Mauranyapin visits MEOW lab

We greeted our collaborator Dr. Nicolas Mauranyapin from University of Queensland visiting MEOW lab.  Showing our guest from Brisbane, Australia our facility and research projects made the late November Saturday warm despite the low temperature.

We first toured our Krieger labs and showcased our microscopes, and other instruments.

 

Then we went to Steiff for a tour of the bioprinting lab.

Of course a good tour had to conclude with a hearty meal followed by exquisite ice cream! We also discussed science during the lunch. It was a lot of fun!

Thank you Nico for visiting us. We hope to see you soon again in Baltimore and/or Brisbane!

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on Dr. Nicolas Mauranyapin visits MEOW lab

Septennial Fall hike

After an intense week, we went hiking, a group event only occurs every seven years,  to regroup our thoughts and appreciate the fall colors at the end tail of the Fall season.

We walked along the Jones Fall trail by the creek. We saw wildlifes: deers, ducks, other birds and bugs. The weather was mild and the sun was light. It was a good afternoon on Friday.

The nature gave us serenity. With the recovered peace of mind, we gathered at a local brewery to share our thoughts.

With the special beers of pumpkin flavors, we looked forward to a hectic winter of travels, presentations and more lab works. Hooray!

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Septennial Fall hike

The Uni-unibrow for Halloween 2024

This year we celebrated Halloween with the theme of uni-unibrow, which is shared by everyone in the lab.

This 10-feet long uni-unibrow symbolizes harmony, wisdom and unparalleled scientific rigor in many ancient cultures. We hope we embody the meaning of the uni-unibrow and move forward in our research accordingly.

Happy Halloween 2024!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Uni-unibrow for Halloween 2024