Ph.D. Candidate in Applied Physics and Physics, Engineering, and Biology | Yale University
Advanced Optical Microscopy · Quantitative Neuroimaging · Connectomics
I am a doctoral researcher in the Kuan Lab | GitHub and Bewersdorf Lab | GitHub at Yale University, working at the intersection of optical microscopy, computational image analysis, and neuroscience.
My research leverages pan-Expansion Microscopy (pan-ExM) to investigate nanoscale synaptic architecture and molecular organization in neurodevelopmental disorders, with a particular focus on Shank2-associated autism spectrum disorder.
Quantitative Characterization of Synaptic Organization in Shank2 Knockout Models
Using approximately 24× tissue expansion and ~15 nm effective spatial resolution, my work aims to quantify alterations in synaptic ultrastructure and protein organization across wild-type and Shank2 knockout mouse brain tissue.
Key analytical objectives include:
- 3D Synaptic Morphometry: Quantification of synaptic dimensions, morphology, and structural variability.
- Molecular Spatial Organization: Analysis of postsynaptic protein distributions, nanoscale clustering, and relative molecular localization.
- Pre-/Postsynaptic Architecture: Quantification of molecular alignment, spatial relationships, and synaptic organization.
- Genotype-Dependent Differences: Statistical comparison of synaptic structural and molecular phenotypes between wild-type and Shank2 knockout models.
- Computational Image Analysis: Development and application of reproducible workflows for 3D segmentation, quantitative fluorescence analysis, and spatial statistics.
Expansion Microscopy · Super-Resolution Imaging · Synaptic Ultrastructure · Connectomics · Computational Bioimaging · Quantitative Neuroscience
My computational work focuses on scalable image processing, volumetric microscopy data management, and quantitative analysis of biological structures.
Selected projects:
- pan-aslm2neuroglancer — Processing and visualization workflows for large-scale volumetric fluorescence microscopy datasets.
- nrstitcher-preprocessing — Python-based microscopy data preprocessing.
- pan-ExM-t Publication Code — Computational resources accompanying our published pan-Expansion Microscopy methodology.
Research Groups: Kuan Lab | Bewersdorf Lab
All-optical visualization of specific molecules in the ultrastructural context of brain tissue
Nature Biotechnology (2025)
Publication
Structural water enhanced intercalation of magnesium ions in copper hexacyanoferrate nonaqueous batteries
Electrochimica Acta (2020)
Publication
An Interactive Online Electron Microscopy Platform Integrating Classroom Lectures and Lab Practice
Microscopy Today (2020)
Publication
An Interactive and Adaptive Online Electron Microscopy Education Platform
Microscopy and Microanalysis (2019)
Publication
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Investigation of Morphology Changes in the Reduction of Silica Nanoparticles to Elemental Silicon
Portland State University (2020)
Thesis