People

Marcel Bruchez

Marcel Bruchez

Director, Professor of Chemistry and Biological Sciences

Dr. Bruchez develops new approaches to paint living cells and organisms to reveal their inner workings. As a graduate student, he modified quantum dots – nanometer-sized crystal particles – so that they could be used to tag proteins and label cells. After graduate school, he founded Quantum Dot Corporation, which grew these materials into a significant and commercially successful tool for single molecule biological detection and for multicolor analysis of cells, ultimately acquired by Invitrogen Corporation. At Carnegie Mellon University, Dr. Bruchez is extending the limits of fluorescent microscopy and fluorescent probes, and is applying these tools to the study of how protein synthesis, trafficking and degradation is coordinated and regulated in biological systems, and using photochemical tools to measure and manipulate biological processes in living organisms.

Dr. Bruchez holds 30 patents, has published 74 peer-reviewed papers and has received numerous recognitions for his work. Science recognized his development of quantum dots for biological detection as one of the Top Ten Scientific Innovations of 2003. In 2006, Dr. Bruchez received the Lord Rank Prize for Optoelectronics for “realization of quantum dot nanocrystals as biological labels.”

Dr. Bruchez received a B.S. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Graduate Students

Biologists

Lydia Perkins

Lydia Perkins

Ph.D. Student, Biological Sciences

Daniel Ackerman

Daniel Ackerman

Ph.D. Student, Biological Sciences

Iris Yank

Iris Yank

Ph.D. Student, Biological Sciences

Chemists

Alex Carpenter

Alex Carpenter

Ph.D. Student, Chemistry

Dmytrio Kolodieznyi

Dmytrio Kolodieznyi

Ph.D. Student, Chemistry

Huaxia Shi

Huaxia Shi

Ph.D. Student, Chemistry

Pingping Liang

Pingping Liang

Ph.D. Student, Chemistry

Scientists and Postdocs

Brigitte Schmidt, Ph.D.

Brigitte Schmidt, Ph.D.

Senior Chemist

Cheryl Telmer, Ph.D.

Cheryl Telmer, Ph.D.

Senior Molecular Biologist

Christopher Szent-Gyorgyi, Ph.D.

Christopher Szent-Gyorgyi, Ph.D.

Senior Molecular Biologist

Greg Fisher, Ph.D.

Greg Fisher, Ph.D.

Senior Cell Biologist

Dorsin Chang

Dorsin Chang

Molecular Biologist

Xiaohong Tan, Ph.D.

Xiaohong Tan, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Scholar, Chemistry

Alumni

  • Taylor Canady, PhD 2017 (Institute of genomic biology Fellow with Prof. Brian Cunningham and Prof. Andrew Smith in liquid biopsy, UIUC)
  • Matharishwan Naganbabu, PhD 2017 (Postdoc with Evan Miller, UC Berkeley)
  • Bruce Feldman, MS 2017 (Engineer III, Sunrise Labs)
  • Chris Pratt, PhD 2016 (Postdoc with Peter Penzes lab, dept. of physiology Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University)
  • Jianjun He, PhD 2016 (Scientist, Abmart)
  • Yi Wang, PhD 2015 (Postdoc with Ellis Reinherz, Harvard University)
  • Jonathan deWerd, MS 2015 (Software Engineer, Sensus)
  • Saumya Saurabh, PhD 2014 (Postdoc with W.E. Moerner, Stanford University)
  • Anmol Grover, PhD 2013 (Consultant, Putnam Associates)
  • Suvrajit Maji, PhD 2012 (Postdoc with Joachim Frank, Columbia University)
  • Qi Yan, PhD 2012 (Biology Director, Sharp Edge Labs)
  • Rowena Mittal, PhD 2010 (Product and VC Consulting, R.Mittal Consulting)