microscopy

Working with the Imaging Concepts Group (University of Glasgow) I am interested in comparing how different computational imaging approaches to calcium imaging effect the analysis of calcium signalling between neurons.

As an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Research Fellow (University of Glasgow) I have begun to explore the challenges of imaging eye development in zebrafish. The two key challenges are the optical power of the eye lens, which focusses light in a way undesirable for imaging, and the light-sensitive nature of the retina.

As Research Assistant to Dr Jonathan Taylor (Glasgow University) I worked on real-time image processing for the synchronisation of 3D images of the in vivo, beating zebrafish heart. Through this project we have developed a technique we call adaptive prospective optical gating. The constant motion of the heart is a major obstacle to live imaging and, in the past, fish have been fixed or their heartbeats have been pharmaceutically slowed down.

As an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Research Fellow (University of Glasgow), I am investigated the use of graph theory, the mathematical background to network science, to understand how networks of neurons change organisation throughout development. In particular, I am developing analysis pipelines for the quantitative exploration of retinal development as measured by multi-electrode array (MEA) recordings and calcium imaging.

At Durham University, my PhD research focussed on the use of mathematical morphology to quantify biological and medical images. One such challenge was the automated detection of ellipse-like objects, such as cell nulcei, in fluorescence microscopy. Working with Philip Jackson and Boguslaw Obara, I developed a new approach to identifying ellipses based on Hilbert-edge detection and ranging (HEDAR) and assumptions based on the shape on an ellipse. My contribution to this work was funded by EPSRC.