Beyond Acquisition: Solving Big-data Bottlenecks for Biologists
Award Imaging Scientist
Funding Cycle Cycle 2
Investigator
Nicholas Condon, PhD
The University of Queensland (Institute for Molecular Bioscience Microscopy Facility)
Bio
Nicholas completed his PhD in the lab of Professor Jennifer Stow at The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) in Brisbane, Australia in 2018, where he used advanced imaging methods, such as the lattice light-sheet microscope, to study the dynamic membrane environment of immune cells. Nicholas identified a novel mechanism for macropinocytosis (how cells drink and eat), which may have implications for manipulating the immune system in disease. Nicholas is a Senior Microscopist in the IMB Microscopy Core Facility and the Australian Cancer Research Foundation-funded Cancer Ultrastructure and Function Facility (CUFF). He collaborates with researchers from biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and ecology to use advanced microscopic methods and analysis techniques that enable novel scientific discoveries. Through his position, Nicholas has evolved into a technologist, helping to plan and develop the tools and high performance computing required to manage, move, process, analyse, and visualize big microscopy data.
Project Description
Recent advances in light microscopy have allowed researchers to capture larger image volumes with more channels and labels, for longer periods of time, and at higher frequencies than ever before—resulting in large (often terabyte-sized) data acquisitions. This project aims to bring together existing and novel tools to help break the big data bottlenecks biologists face by unlocking large-scale parallel computing to speed up and automate processing of microscopy data in a simplified, accessible way. This project will also improve the digital literacy of research biologists through targeted workshops and training on imaging methodologies, analysis, and visualization.