We are a group of Physicists and Biologists working collaboratively to develop and apply single-molecule and single-cell optical techniques to complex, biological systems. Our efforts range from employing super-resolved localization microscopy, to quantify the abundance and stoichiometry of proteins and nucleic acids within cells, to combining microfluidics with computational microscopy, to study the competitive population dynamics of bacteria. We develop bioimage analytic software, from image filtering, to machine learning and segmentation algorithms, to three-dimensional clustering algorithms. And we apply optical force spectroscopy, with pioneering efforts in axial optical tweezers and passive tethered particle motion assays, to study DNA-protein interactions, gene transcription and genetic silencing.

What's Happening

We are actively recruiting MSc and PhD graduate students for a number of exciting projects from single-molecule imaging of protein organization to studying bacterial population dynamics. Contact josh.milstein@utoronto.ca.

(01/12/23): Tianyi's paper "Spatial exclusion leads to tug-of-war ecological dynamics between competing species within microchannels" is now available in PLoS Computational Biology.

(23/05/23): Zhang's paper on "Extending the Range of Rupture Force Measurements with Axial Optical Tweezers" is now available as a preprint.

(18/04/23): Congratulations Christabel on being awarded a University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) to work in the lab over the summer on antimicrobial treatments in biofilms.