Congratulations to Junjie, Daniel and Eileen who were notified that they are selected for the Travel Award to attend the 2023 American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) meeting in Boston MA. Great job! We look forward to sharing the projects in our lab at the conference and learning the latest advances in the field of mechanobiology.
Junjie, Daniel and Eileen are selected for the ASCB Travel Award
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Visiting University of Queensland
This September, we embarked on a 10-day trip, crossing oceans and continents to visit University of Queensland and work with our collaborators, a team led by Prof. Warwick Bowen. Together we measured intracellular activities with a new label-free optical microscopy. We also enjoyed the first-grade hospitality during our visit!
We gained a lot of insights by working side-by-side with our collaborators.
We also visited other groups at UQ who helped us tremendously with the access to cell culture.
It was a fruitful trip. We learned a lot and we had fun!
A big shout-out to Dr. Nicolas Mauranyapin who is so patient and so knowledgeable. Nico coordinated with us planning our visit and made our visit so special.
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End of Summer 2023
As the Fall semester starts next week, we celebrated a busy and productive summer this year. We are fortunate to host many outstanding visiting students all over the world, Alejandro, Ivy, Amman, Nishith and Jeremy. Thank you for contributing to our research and for doing an excellent job!
Daniel Passes Doctoral Qualifier Exam
Our brave Daniel passed the DQE exam with flying colors today, also his birthday. His exam was scheduled 3 months earlier than the regular exam set by the department. This sets the record in his class and in our lab. Congratulations and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Daniel! Now go print a cake!
Junjie’s presentation at Center for Cell Dynamics
We marked the end of Spring 2023 semester by attending Junjie’s talk given at Center for Cell Dynamics (CCD), entitled “Quantum Actuation in Cells with Recombinant Magneto-sensitive Protein”. We are very excited about this work and its applicational potential in precise control of specific biochemical reactions by shaping the local electromagnetic energy landscape and modulating proton and electron spins of enzymes. More cool examples about the emerging field of quantum biology can be found in the recently concluded Gordon Research Conference “Emerging Methodologies to Investigate Quantum Effects in Biology“.
We celebrated Junjie’s and his team’s (Samantha, Ryan, Rebecca and Yang) hard work by having loads of crabs. What a memorable Friday in an unusually chilled April! We look forward to more exciting results to come soon.
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Photoshoot 2022 “A Day in MEOW Lab”
We thank Junjie for organizing and directing the photoshoot. Please see what we are up to at the page.
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Matt’s paper on viscosity, membrane tension and intracellular temperature measurement is published
We are very happy to announce that Matt’s review paper “How sticky? How Tight? How Hot? Imaging probes for fluid viscosity, membrane tension and temperature measurements at the cellular level” is published in The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. In the paper we review the progress made in imaging probes for three important physical parameters: viscosity, membrane tension, and temperature, all of which play important roles in many cellular processes. We discuss the techniques implementing imaging-based probes to measure viscosity, membrane tension, and temperature at subcellular resolution dynamically. The merits and shortcomings of each technique are examined, and the future applications of the recently developed techniques are also explored. We thank Dr. Tony Kanchanawong’s invitation for this opportunity to write a review paper on this underexplored topic. Congratulations to Matt, the leading author and our wonderful second author/illustrator at large Abdulla!
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Halloween group meeting 2022
The theme of this year’s Halloween costume meeting was pirates. Nobody could see very well during the photoshoot because the eyepatch really blocked the view of one of the eyes. No wonder we never meet any former pirate who later became a microscopist, who would need good eyesight to study cells. Not being able to see well really restricts the career transition choices for pirates, especially in the field of cell biology. We are grateful that we only occasionally play pirates, but are given the privilege to toil over the microscope instead of the ship. We don’t have to say aye, aye Captain to a murderous man. Rather, when we see a good image to be acquired, we say aye, aye, CAPTURE!
Junjie wins Bioluminsecence Diversity Travel Scholarship
We learned the good news that Junjie is selected to receive one of the three Bioluminsecence Diversity Travel Scholarships to attend the Laboratory of Fluorescence Dynamics (LFD) workshop 2022 in Irvine, California. Funded by the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, the scholarship awards researchers not only with outstanding scientific accomplishment but also strong commitment to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Junjie is a dedicated advocate for DEI values. We are very proud that his belief and his actions are recognized with this honor. Congratulations!
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Team building (by dining) with collaborators
At MEOW lab we are hungry for scientific discoveries but hungrier for good food. Thanks to Jen’s organization we were very lucky to satiate our appetites for both by having dinner with our collaborators whom we usually see via Zoom only. We had a great time dining with Drs. Malcom Brock, Franck Housseau and Denis Wirtz and their group members.
Food (Italian) was delicious, and the conversations were enlightening. Thank you everyone for making it a unforgettable night!
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