Jeffrey Moffitt: Imaging the microbe-host interface with genomic microscopy

April 7, 2025

Location:

4:00pm–5:00pm

In person: MIT 56 Room 180
Zoom Alternative: https://mit.zoom.us/j/95558995260

Summary: Massive multiplexed RNA imaging provides the ability to merge the strengths of genomic methods with those of high-resolution optical microscopy, revealing both the spatial organization of intact tissues as well as the expression profiles that define cell type and state. Here I will discuss the use of one such method, MERFISH, to explore the cellular and spatial remodeling in the mammalian gut during inflammation and to define the heterogenous response of individual bacteria to a variety of stimuli including the variable stimuli experienced in different locations within the mammalian gut.

Bio: Jeff Moffitt received his PhD in Physics from the University of California Berkeley. During his PhD with Dr. Carlos Bustamante, he built an angstrom-scale resolution optical tweezers and used this instrument to define the mechanochemical process by which a bacteriophage packages its genome. His postdoctoral training was with Dr. Xiaowei Zhuang, and during this time, he co-developed methods for massively multiplexed RNA imaging. His lab at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School continues to build genome-scale imaging methods with the goal of understanding interactions between microbe and host in a range of contexts. Jeff is a Pew Biomedical Scholar and is a co-founder of Vizgen, Inc.