Our team is dedicated to advancing the understanding of how stromal cells interact and respond to extracellular fluid forces, surface adhesion factors and 3D microstructure using optics

We have developed a series of novel optical technologies (Spatial Adaptive Imaging and Lithography - SAIL,
,some of which are being translated by Ability Optics Pty Ltd) that permit us to monitor and engineer cellular activities such as adhesion, migration, and aggregation so as to create Micro-Avatar of Tissue (MAT). Our work helps us to gain solutions to produce tissue or organ substitute at scale. 

Self-Driving Imaging
As we design and create new adaptive imaging (volumetric, computational) should be used to increase imaging throughput, we leverage machine learning methods based on user-specified cellular events (cell division, differentiation, cell-cell contact) to drive volumetric imaging autonomously.

MAT Model
Instead of focusing on one type of organ/tissue type, we are currently focus on developing a stroma MAT. Stroma is a multifaceted tissue found in all organs that is essential to support organ function. Stromal cells (i.e. fibroblasts) play a critical role in secreting growth factors or cytokines that either support or send signals to other specialist cells to perform their role (e.g. build tissue niche or fight immunity).  Stromal cells are highly flexible cell types that provide growth factors to other cells in the tissue niche, making them the ideal cells to develop different MAT templates. We use SAIL to create and quantitatively track the biophysical, optical signatures of stromal MAT migrating and navigating through the extracellular space.