B.S., Engineering Physics, University of Maine, 2001
Email: scookson AT bioeng.ucsd.edu Phone: 858.822.3858
Biography/Research Profile:
Current progress in systems biology demands a methodology for measuring long-term
protein fluctuations in single cells over many generations. Whereas flow cytometry
supports the collection of static data from individual cells within a large
population, it inherently sacrifices the ability to temporally resolve single
cell fluorescence signals. We wish to develop a cell assay to overcome this
limitation, thereby facilitating the generation of quantitative descriptions
of dynamic cellular processes.
Towards this end, I am currently working in
the area of microfluidics to develop devices permitting the measurement of
single-cell fluorescence over many cell cycles. Using established rapid prototyping
and soft lithographic techniques, we have successfully created devices that
maintain chemostatic growth conditions for multiple days, thereby supporting
the synthesis of protein expression trajectories for entire families of cells.
Our devices leverage the focal advantages of directed monolayer growth and
allow extraction of single-cell fluorescence from periodically-acquired images
by a combination of image segmentation and frame-to-frame tracking. We have
demonstrated device operation with the model organisms S. cerevisiae and E.
coli and are currently expanding into the realm of mammalian cells. We expect
these devices to find special utility in studying long-term cellular processes
such as aging.
