Our laboratory develops optical microscopy, spectroscopy and bioanalytical instrumentation, along with related analysis methods to advance biophysical, biological and biomedical research. We apply these technologies within our laboratory and in collaboration with other laboratories in studies of cancer biology, nuclear structure and chromatin conformation, enhancer-promotor interactions, and single molecule protein complex stoichiometry/function determinations. We also develop optical instrumentation for applications in disease detection and monitoring.

The techniques and skill sets used in the lab range from biochemistry, molecular biology and photophysical analysis methods to optical and electronic circuit design, as well as software development for data analysis, instrument control and image processing.

Students in the lab come from the graduate fields of Biomedical Engineering, Biophysics, Applied & Engineering Physics and Chemical Engineering at Cornell.

The lab dates back to Developmental Resource for Biophysical Optoelectronics (DRBIO) center at Cornell, a NIH P41 Resource originally started by Watt W. Webb in the late 1980s. Various forms of optical microscopy were developed at DRBIO including multiphoton microscopy. (DRBIO alums - this link takes you to group photos from the past.