Overview
As analytical chemists we have pioneered small-volume chemical measurements at
single cells, electrochemical detection for capillary electrophoresis, novel
approaches for electrochemical imaging of single cells, and new electrochemical
strategies to quantify the contents of individual nanometer vesicles, a cargo
organelle used for neurosecretion. We have also pioneered the development and
application of mass spectrometry imaging for subcellular and neurochemical
analysis. Our work with vesicles has been pioneering in showing that normal full
release from vesicles is mostly partial in nature, defying the 75-year-old axiom of all-
or-none exocytosis, and allowing regulation of cell-to-cell transmission at the level of
vesicular single events during regular normally thought of as “full” exocytosis.
We have specific strengths in 1) imaging including fluorescence, electrochemistry,
and mass spectrometry, 2) biosensing, 3) nanobioengineering, 4) single cell
analysis, and 5) single organelle analysis. Life science applications in our group are
primarily found in neuroscience, membrane biophysics, and single cell
measurements related to neuroscience and cell structure, as well as in vivo
electrochemistry.
