Parallel on-axis holographic phase microscopy of biological cells and unicellular microorganism dynamics

I teach, mentor, and advise for Duke's Undergraduate Studies in Neuroscience program, and serve as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neuroscience. I also direct the Summer Neuroscience Program of Research in the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. I earned my Ph.D. in molecular biology from Case Western Reserve University. After graduate school, I came to Duke University to receive postdoctoral training in the Neurobiology Department, where my research focused on identifying molecular mechanisms that underlie learning-related synaptic plasticity.

As the director of the Summer Neuroscience Program, I provide mentorship and professional development opportunities for undergraduate research fellows. My courses use a variety of team-based learning activities to promote critical thinking skills, foster collaboration among students, and create an engaging, student-centered classroom experience. As a co-PI in the Duke Team-Based Learning lab, I study the impacts of collaborative learning on student performance and classroom dynamics.

Dr. Wax's research interests include optical spectroscopy for early cancer detection, novel microscopy and interferometry techniques.

The study of intact, living cells with optical spectroscopy offers the opportunity to observe cellular structure, organization and dynamics in a way that is not possible with traditional methods. We have developed a set of novel spectroscopic techniques for measuring spatial, temporal and refractive structure on sub-hertz and sub-wavelength scales based on using low-coherence interferometry (LCI) to detect scattered light. We have applied these techniques in different types of cell biology experiments. In one experiment, LCI measurements of the angular pattern of backscattered light are used to determine non-invasively the structure of sub-cellular organelles in cell monolayers, and the components of epithelial tissue from freshly excised rat esophagus. This work has potential as a diagnostic method for early cancer detection. In another experiment, LCI phase measurements are used to examine volume changes of epithelial cells in a monolayer in response to environmental osmolarity changes. Although cell volume changes have been measured previously, this work demonstrates for the first time the volume of just a few cells (2 or 3) tracked continuously and in situ.