Microscopy

As a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Allyson Sgro, I adapted a novel experimental system using cryolite, a mineral that is refractive-index-matched with water, to visualize cellular slime mold aggregation in complex, 3D environments with confocal microscopy and test hypotheses about the role of environmental features in aggregation. 

This experimental system was inspired by recent work by Kriti Sharma and colleagues using bacteria and fungi, as well as studies of burrowing in marine animals.

These are a few examples of what we saw!