Melissa Skala, PHD
Position title: Professor, Morgridge Institute for Research; Biomedical Engineering
Email: mcskala@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-316-4108
- Organ System/Disease Focus:
- Eye; cardiovascular
- Aligned Research Focus:
- Optical imaging
More Information:
Research Description:
Our goal is to develop optical imaging technologies and quantitative single-cell analysis to understand stem cell behavior, monitor and test engineered tissues. Our techniques are non-invasive and do not require labeling. Current technologies specifically monitor single-cell metabolism, microvessel morphology and blood flow, blood oxygenation, collagen content and architecture, and dynamic interplay between epithelial, stromal, and immune cells. We are particularly interested in organotypic cultures derived from primary human tissues for high-throughput drug screening, especially in cancer.
Selected References:
- Samimi K, Pasachhe O, Guzman EC, Riendeau J, Gillette AA, Pham DL, Wiech KJ, Moore DL, Skala MC. Autofluorescence lifetime flow cytometry with time-correlated single photon counting. Cytometry A. 2024 Aug;105(8):607-620. PMID: 38943226
- Datta R, Sivanand S, Lau AN, Florek LV, Barbeau AM, Wyckoff J, Skala MC, Vander Heiden MG. Interactions with stromal cells promote a more oxidized cancer cell redox state in pancreatic tumors. Sci Adv. 2022 Jan 21;8(3):eabg6383. PMCID: PMC8782446.
- Walsh AJ, Mueller KP, Tweed K, Jones I, Walsh CM, Piscopo NJ, Niemi NM, Pagliarini DJ, Saha K, Skala MC. Classification of T-cell activation via autofluorescence lifetime imaging. Nat Biomed Eng. 2021; 5(1):77-88. PMCID: PMC7854821.
- Qian T, Heaster TM, Houghtaling AR, Sun K, Samimi K, Skala MC. Label-free imaging for quality control of cardiomyocyte differentiation. Nat Commun. 2021 Jul 28;12(1):4580. PMCID: PMC8319125
- Heaster TM, Humayun M, Yu J, Beebe DJ, Skala MC. Autofluorescence imaging of 3D tumor-macrophage microscale cultures resolves spatial and temporal dynamics of macrophage metabolism. Cancer Res. 2020;80(23):5408-23. PMCID: PMC7718391.