Laureate Lecture Series

Xiaowei Zhuang, PhD, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics at Harvard University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will be the next speaker in the 2014 Laureate Lecture Series, a yearlong program highlighting some of the top biomedical researchers in their fields. Dr. Zhuang’s lecture, “Bioimaging at the Nanoscale—Single-Molecule and Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy,” will take place at noon on Wednesday, June 4, in Lecture Room 6, Scaife Hall.

Dr. Zhuang is a biophysicist widely recognized for her work in the development and application of advanced optical imaging techniques for studying biological systems. In particular, she and colleagues invented a super-resolution fluorescence imaging method, Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), which breaks the diffraction limit. Traditional light microscopes, which are great for observing living cells, lack the power to image smaller objects in fine detail. STORM allows researchers to resolve 20-nanometer objects—a substantial improvement over the 200-nanometer resolution limit imposed by conventional light microscopy. STORM has enabled the discovery of novel subcellular structures. Dr. Zhuang’s lab has also developed and applied single-molecule approaches to investigate the structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules, with emphasis on how proteins and nucleic acids interact and how protein-nucleic acid complexes function.

Dr. Zhuang received her BS in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China and her PhD in physics from University of California, Berkeley. She completed postdoctoral training in biophysics at Stanford University. In 2001, she became an assistant professor at Harvard University, where she was promoted to full professor in 2006. She joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as an investigator in 2005. Dr. Zhuang has received numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the Coblentz Award, the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, the American Physical Society Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics, and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics. Dr. Zhuang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow of American Association of the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

		Xiaowei Zhuang, PhD Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics, Harvard University Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bioimaging at the Nanoscale: Single- Molecule and Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy Wednesday, June 4, 12 Noon Scaife Hall, Lecture Room 6 Xiaowei Zhuang, PhD, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics at Harvard University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will be the next speaker in the 2014 Laureate Lecture Series, a yearlong program highlighting some of the top biomedical researchers in their fields. Dr. Zhuang’s lecture, “Bioimaging at the Nanoscale—Single-Molecule and Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy,” will take place at noon on Wednesday, June 4, in Lecture Room 6, Scaife Hall. Dr. Zhuang is a biophysicist widely recognized for her work in the development and application of advanced optical imaging techniques for studying biological systems. In particular, she and colleagues invented a super-resolution fluorescence imaging method, Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), which breaks the diffraction limit. Traditional light microscopes, which are great for observing living cells, lack the power to image smaller objects in fine detail. STORM allows researchers to resolve 20-nanometer objects—a substantial improvement over the 200-nanometer resolution limit imposed by conventional light microscopy. STORM has enabled the discovery of novel subcellular structures. Dr. Zhuang’s lab has also developed and applied single-molecule approaches to investigate the structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules, with emphasis on how proteins and nucleic acids interact and how protein-nucleic acid complexes function. Dr. Zhuang received her BS in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China and her PhD in physics from University of California, Berkeley. She completed postdoctoral training in biophysics at Stanford University. In 2001, she became an assistant professor at Harvard University, where she was promoted to full professor in 2006. She joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as an investigator in 2005. Dr. Zhuang has received numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003, a Sloan Research Fellowship, the Coblentz Award, the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, the American Physical Society Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics, and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics. Dr. Zhuang is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a fellow of American Association of the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.