Min Xu Receives NSF CAREER Award
By Kayla Papakie
Min Xu, an assistant professor in the Computational Biology Department, received nearly $540,000 to develop computational methods for integrating two imaging techniques used to visualize microscopic objects inside cells.
Cryo-electron tomography uses electrons to develop three-dimensional images of small, complex objects, while fluorescent microscopy uses light to do the same. Integrating the two techniques will allow researchers to inspect the structures, molecular identities and spatial patterns of objects inside single cells.
Xu's work will inform new methods for modeling how a cell's many components are organized and interact with one another, giving researchers a better understanding of complex cellular processes that are applicable to a broad range of biological studies.
For more information about the NSF CAREER awards, visit the foundation's funding website.
This excerpt originally appeared as a story on SCS News.