CISMM

Contacts:

Professor Richard Superfine, Director
Dept of Physics and Astronomy
Phone: 919-962-1185
rsuper@physics.unc.edu

Professor Russell Taylor, Co-Director
Dept of Computer Science
Phone: 919-962-1701
taylorr@cs.unc.edu

Professor Timothy O’Brien
Biology Specialist
Phone: 919-843-2798
etobrien@email.unc.edu

Professor Michael Falvo
Dept of Physics & Astronomy
Phone: 919-962-9356
falvo@physics.unc.edu

Professor Frederick Brooks
Dept of Computer Science
Phone: 919-962-1931
brooks@cs.unc.edu

Professor Mary Whitton
Dept of Computer Science
Phone: 919-962-1950
whitton@cs.unc.edu

Professor Marc Niethammer
Dept of Computer Science
mn@cs.unc.edu
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Come use our facilities!

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Graduate Students:

Jerome Carpenter
romec[at]unc.edu

I design and build bioreactors to mimic the forces that human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) experience in vivo. My designs explore the relationship between cyclical strain, shear-stress and mucociliary clearance.

Briana Carstens
blcarste[at]physics.unc.edu

I am currently developing new materials for the fabrication of arrays of magnetically actuable biomimetic cilia. Biomimetic cilia are flexible microrods (750nm in diameter and 25 microns tall) that generate fluid flows similar to those generated by biological cilia.

Jeremy Cribb
jcribb[at]email.unc.edu

Thermal diffusion as well as driven particle microrheology inform us about the material properties of polymer systems at small length and time scales.  My engineering project in the group has been to manage and develop our force microscope into a microscale rheometer while validating it against known macroscale rheology measurements.  For novel research, of particular interest to me are the viscoelastic properties of soft biopolymer solutions such as DNA and mucus.  DNA solutions, initially considered a “simple” biopolymer system, are used for reasons of greater solution homogeneity and predictable linear viscoelastic response.  We’ve found that, at the microscale, these reasons are mostly justified but at times can yield more complex behavior.  Measuring the viscoelastic properties of mucus at micron-sized length scales has much more significant clinical implications, where the clearance of mucus from the lung is paramount to its sterility.  These measurements are more challenging, however, due to the multiple polymer components, and active degradation that lend to the overall heterogeneity of the system.

Brian Eastwood
beastwoo [ at ] cs.unc.edu

I am developing image analysis techniques for analyzing motion in video microscopy.  One of the challenges in video microscopy is analyzing how different layers of the specimen contribute to an image.  The goal of my research is to form consistent models of layer composition and motion from image sequences.  This research ties into the CISMM Video Motion Extraction project.

Nathan Hudson
nhudson7[at]physics.unc.edu

I am working on discovering the molecular basis for the mechanical properties
of fibrin fibers, networks and sheets.  Fibrin forms the structural backbone of blood clots.  Individual fibrin fibers have remarkable mechanical properties including the ability to strain up to 330% without failing.  The molecular basis of this extensibility is not yet fully understood.  In addition, fibrin networks are known to strain stiffen, but the origins of this phenomenon is not known.  Studying individual fiber mechanics alone and inside 2-D networks will shed light on both issues.

Lamar Mair
lomair[at]email.unc.edu

Research description: I grow aspect-ratio defined magnetic micro- and nano-rods and
wires using a technique known as templated electrodeposition. I study how their
dimensions affect their ability to move through Matrigel, an extracellular matrix (ECM)
mimic, under an applied magnetic field. Increasing the efficacy of transport through
the ECM may enable researchers to better design the shapes of nanoparticles used in
magnetic drug delivery.

Cory Quammen
cquammen[at]cs.unc.edu

I am developing 3D image analysis techniques for fluorescence microscopy that take into account the point-spread function of the microscope. One of the projects related to this work involves fast simulation of fluorescence microscopes.

Ryan Schubert
res[at]cs.unc.edu

I am doing research on video-based bead and poletip autofinding for the high throughput
microscope (Multiscope) project. I also do work on realtime video based 3d bead tracking
using image analysis focus measures.

Adam Shields
arshields[at]gmail.com

We fabricate magnetically actuated nanorod arrays that act as biomimetic cilia. Our ’silia’ are composed of a novel soft polymer- magnetic nanoparticle composite which is magnetic yet retains the polymer’s flexibility. By actuating the silia array with externally applied magnets we have succeeded in producing long-range fluid transport by mimicking the beat of embryonic nodal cilia. The ease of fabrication and high-degree of control over the silia beat will allow us to model ciliary hydrodynamics, in addition to being potentially attractive as a microfluidic pumping and mixing device.

Richard Chasen Spero
rspero[at]physics.unc.edu

I study the mechanical properties of fibrin clots, a biopolymer that helps stem blood flow. These studies primarily involve measurements of microbeads under thermal diffusion and magnetically applied forces. I am also helping to develop high throughput systems for microbead measurements.

Vinay S Swaminathan
vinays[at]email.unc.edu

My interest lies in understanding the role of mechanical forces and external physical cues in cellular response and morphogenesis. Specifically, I am interested in exploring the effects of altered human airway cilia dynamics in diseases like cystic fibrosis where changes in mucus rheology results in loss of function of cilia potentialy altering cellular response of the Human airway epithelial cells. I am also interested in the role of mechanical measurements and forces in cellular oncology. It is known that cancerous cells are significantly less stiff compared to their normal phenotypes. However, the exact pathway for this loss of mechanical stability and role of various signaling pathways in invasion and metastatic potential is still an open question which is being explored in our laboratory.