Administration
Erik Jorgensen, Ph.D., Faculty Director
Advanced Microscopy Facility
801-585-7677
jorgensen@biology.utah.edu
The Jorgensen lab studies the molecular mechanisms of synaptic transmission using the nematode C. elegans and the mouse, and invests a great deal of effort in the development of new microscopy techniques, both in fluorescence and electron microscopy. First, the lab was an early adopter of the Bewersdorf bi-plane 3D super-resolution fluorescence microscope; and Vutara Microscopes was a spin-off from the lab. Second, the lab developed a method, called nano-fEM, to quantitatively localize proteins in electron micrographs at 20 nm precision by combining super-resolution microscopy with electron microscopy. Third, the lab pioneered high-pressure freezing methods followed by freeze substitution that preserved morphology for electron microscopy. Finally, they combined optogenetics with high-pressure freezing and electron microscopy to create a technique known as 'flash-and-freeze’. 'Flash-and-freeze’ allows one to stimulate cells using optogenetics and then freeze them within milliseconds, to generate a frame-by-frame flip book of the synapse at work.
for selected publications on microscopy see:
Jorgenson Lab Publications
David Belnap, Ph.D., Director
Electron Microscopy Core
801-585-1242
David.Belnap@utah.edu
Xiang Wang, Ph.D., Director
Fluorescence Microscopy Facility
Cell Imaging Core
801-587-7964
Xiang.wang@cores.utah.edu
