The Prescher Lab

Expanding the imaging toolkit to spy on cellular communication


Our research team is crafting novel probes to "spy" on cells and decipher their communications in vivo. Cellular networks drive diverse aspects of human biology, ranging from immune function to memory formation. Breakdowns in these networks also underlie numerous pathologies. While cell-cell interactions play key roles in human health and disease, the mechanisms by which cells transact information in vivo are not completely understood. The number of cells types involved, the timing and location of their interactions, the molecular cues exchanged, and the long-term fates of the cells remain poorly characterized in most cases. We are designing and deploying custom tools to visualize cellular networks in real time—and with molecular precision—in physiologically relevant environments. Collectively, our work is decoding cellular communications relevant to infectious disease, cancer metastases, and immune function.


News and Events

March 2024

  • Kat defended her thesis! Congratulations Dr. Townsend!
  • Congrats to lab alum Prof. Colin Rathbun! His lab is moving to the Claremont Colleges here in SoCal!

February 2024

  • Graduate students Alessandra and Melody officially join the lab! Welcome!

January 2024

  • Congrats to lab alum Dr. Drew Ferreira who accepted a new position at Vilya!
  • Congrats to Kat, her review article was accepted at Neurophotonics!
  • Happy holidays! We celebrated with a fun holiday group lunch.
  • Congrats to our undergrads, Beatrice, Kelly, Katrina, and Casey! They were selected to receive UROP funding for their research projects!

December 2023

  • We had a great time bowling with our rotation students! Check out the cool photo!
  • Congrats to lab alumna Dr. Sierra Williams! She was elected to the national executive board for the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry!

November 2023

  • Congrats to Kat, Tanya, Beatrice, Anna, and our collaborators in the Schnermann and Mills labs! Our paper was just accepted at JOC.
  • We had a successful Luciferase Summit with the Leconte group! Looking forward to next year!

October 2023

  • Congrats to lab alumna Suha! She accepted an optical engineer position at Northrop Grumman.
  • Congrats to lab alumna Carly! She just accepted a Senior Scientist position in the biocatalysis group at Pfizer!