Wesley Legant, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC Department of Pharmacology and the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, received a grant called “Observing Molecules in Context with 4Pi Lattice Light Sheet Nanoscopy” as part of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s (CZI) Dynamic Imaging projects.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) fosters collaboration between scientists and engineers, develop new technologies, and build support for basic scientific research.
Their imaging program aims to drive the development of new imaging tools in order to observe biological processes in the hopes of unlocking new understandings of human health and disease.
Wesley Legant, PhD, an assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine’s Departments of Pharmacology and Biomedical Engineering, and Joerg Bewersdorf from Yale University, have received a grant called “Observing Molecules in Context with 4Pi Lattice Light Sheet Nanoscopy” as part of CZI’s Dynamic Imaging projects.
The team’s new project aims to develop a new microscope that can observe single molecule dynamics while simultaneously providing ultrastructural context about the local microenvironment in live cells and tissues.
At UNC, Legant develops tools to better understand living specimens at single molecule, cellular, and tissue level length scales. As part of his work, he works closely with cell and developmental biologists, physicists, mathematicians and software developers at both UNC and outside institutes.
Specifically, he is interested in the development and application of novel fluorescent imaging modalities, investigation of how mechanical forces drive cell migration through complex three-dimensional environments, and generation of microfabricated platforms to precisely control the cellular microenvironment.
Read the full announcement from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative here.