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
April 2023
- Welcome to Nicola, a visiting scholar from the Wagenknecht group in Germany!
March 2023
- Congrats to lab alumn Colin Rathbum! He recieved a near-perfect score on his first NIH R15 application as a professor.
- Congrats to lab alumn Dave Row! Previously a senior scientist in protein engineering at Merck, he just accepted a new position with Aliada Therapeutics in Boston to work on drug delivery into the brain.
- Congrats to lab alumna Anna Love! She was awarded an NIH fellowship for her postdoctoral work in the Moore lab at Scripps!
February 2023
- Congrats to lab alumn Brendan Zhang! He took a new position at Thermo Fisher working on LNP delivery platforms.
- Congrats to Kat, Robby, and our collaborators in the Potma lab! Our manuscript on enhancing alkyne-based Raman tags can now be viewed in Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
- Congrats to Anna, Kat, Lila, Tanya, alumni Carly and Zi, and our collaborators in the Schernmann and Mills labs! Our work on red-shifted coumarin luciferins can now be viewed online!
January 2023
- Graduate student Halley Lin-Jones officially joins the lab! Welcome!
- The lab went on a group outing to the bowling alley to celebrate the new year! Check out the photos.
- Pharm Sci rotation student Omar Ocegueda joins the lab for the winter quarter. Welcome!
- Congrats to lab alumn Zi! He was awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship for his work in the Wells lab at UCSF, and he was also selected for LSRF funding!
- Congrats to Anna, Kat, Lila, Tanya, alumni Carly and Zi, and our collaborators in the Schernmann and Mills labs! Our work on red-shifted coumarin luciferins was accepted at JACS. More updates to come!
- Congrats to lab alumna Sierra and our collaborators in the Leconte group! Their work on improved analyses for orthogonal bioluminescent tools was accepted at ChemBioChem. Check it out here!