We build novel imaging technologies
The Lew Lab builds advanced imaging systems to study biological and chemical systems at the nanoscale. Our technology leverages innovations in applied optics, signal and image processing, design optimization, and physical chemistry. We partner with scientists and engineers across all disciplines to develop technologies to solve unmet needs in science, medicine, and society.
We stand up for science
The Lew Lab is a team of inventors, thinkers, and problem solvers working at the intersection of science and technology.
Creating impactful technology is our passion
Lab news
The Lew Lab welcomed W. E. Moerner, WashU Class of 1975, to campus
during his
50th Reunion celebration!
Yuanxin
gave a talk on “Tracking single molecule dynamics in
condensates”
at the
Center for Biomolecular Condensates
retreat.
Yiyang and Matt gave talks at the “Optica Biophotonics Congress: Optics in the Life Sciences” in Coronado, California.
- Matt's talk was titled “Single-Molecule Orientation-Localization Microscopy: New
Approaches and Applications” (NM1C.1).
- Yiyang spoke on “Combining Excitation and Emission Modulation Resolves the
Angular Separation between a Pair of Dipole Emitters” (NM1C.4).
A big collaborative paper between our lab, the
Knowles Lab at the University of Cambridge, and the Pappu Lab is
now online in Nature Communications! Yuanxin assisted Nadia
and Mina with probing anisotropies at the interfaces of RNA
condensates by tracking the movements of single YO-PRO-1
molecules! Read about it here:
“Differential interactions determine anisotropies at interfaces
of RNA-based biomolecular condensates”
Matt visited the
qDNA research group
at Boise State University to give
an invited seminar in the Micron School of Materials Science
and Engineering. Thanks to Keitel Cervantes-Salguero and the qDNA group for the
invitation and being great hosts!
A new polarized dual-view inverted selective-plane illumination
microscope (pol-diSPIM), coupled with engineering insights
provided by its imaging model, offers an exciting way forward.
Read Matt's commentary, now online in PNAS!
“Painting rich six-dimensional pictures using polarized
fluorescence microscopy” [Open Scholarship]
Matt gave a
talk in the Biophysical Evening series
hosted by WashU Biophysics and Biochemistry. Thanks to Ella Mozier
and Madison Stringer for the invitation!
Congratulations to Yiyang, whose study is now online in
Phys. Rev. Lett.!
- Read about how it is impossible for polarization microscopes to
distinguish a pair of molecules from a single molecule: “Resolving the Orientations of and Angular Separation Between a
Pair of Dipole Emitters”
- News coverage from McKelvey Engineering: “In molecular imaging, details matter”
After a long saga, our study of inhomogeneities within
biomolecular condensates, a collaboration with the
Pappu lab and the
Center for Biomolecular Condensates, is now online in Nat. Phys.! Congratulations and thanks
to Dr. Tingting Wu and Dr. Matt King for leading and persevering
through the process to get this work in print.
- Read about how tracking single fluorogens enables us to
characterize “dynamic nanoscale hubs” within
condensates: “Single-fluorogen imaging reveals distinct environmental and
structural features of biomolecular condensates”
- News coverage from The Source: “A closer look at biomolecular ‘Silly Putty’”