My research is quite cross-disciplinary. The majority of biological studies have focused on biochemical or genetic understanding of biological processes, however understanding the relevant physical processes is also important. Proteins physically do things, and to understand the biology, we must start to think about proteins as machines, as well as considering their biochemical properties and genetic regulation.  We will soon know the Human Genome, we already know the Drosophila and the C. Elegans Genomes, and yet are very far from understanding how proteins work, and how the exquisitely ordered structures we observe in cells, embryos,  and developed organisms come about. Cytoskeletal processes such as transport are important in the creation of this order, and my lab is attempting to develop and apply physical tools to quantify transport as it occurs in living cells. 
 
 

1983-87B.A. with honors, University of Chicago, Physics.

1988-95Ph. D., University of Texas at Austin, Physics.

1995Physiology Course, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole.

1999-2000 Postdoctoral Fellow in Developmental Biology with Dr. Eric Wieschaus.

1995-1999            Postdoctoral Fellow in Molecular Biology with Dr. Steve Block.

Built dual-beam optical tweezers with nm resolution position detector.Used tweezers with video-enhanced DIC microscopy to study transport in Drosophila embryos.Found developmental regulation of vesicle stalling force, and a mutant, klar, that coordinates motor activity

Studied fast fracture in PMMA and glass.Developed an electrical resistive coating technique to measure crack length with high spatial (0.1 mm) and temporal (0.05 ms) resolution.Discovered a velocity-dependent instability in fast fracture causing micro-crack branching, resulting in lower than expected velocity of crack advance.

Studied pattern development in soap froths, and high Rayleigh number convection in water.Discovered propagating temperature waves in the boundary layer. 

As a graduate student I studied fast fracture, discovering that cracks move slower than predicted by theory because of the appearance of patterns of microcracks (frustrated attempted branching) that appear at a critical velocity, and dissipate energy.Towards the end of my graduate degree I became fascinated by cellular function, and started to learn more about biological organization at the cellular level. I switched to biophysics as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton, in the lab of Dr. Steven Block.

1995-presentTrained/Supervised three undergraduates in our laboratory at Princeton

1997Senior teaching assistant at Princeton, teaching Bio 214, a biology class for biology majors with 350 students.Gave weekly review lectures, had office hours, and graded exams.

1997One of four lecturers at ‘Youth Leadership 1997’, a NJ-statewide conference for about 250 high school students.I lectured on Cloning, and helped students discuss some of the moral issues associated with biotechnology.

1988-95Teaching assistant at the University of Austin, introductory physics.

1993-95T trained/supervised a new graduate student.

1996-NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship.

1994University of Texas Graduate Professional Advancement Award.

1993University of Texas Graduate Professional Advancement Award. 

1983-85National Merit Scholarship.

Go to the publications button on the left hand side of the main screen; it is kept up to date.