During a special event on Tuesday, Apr. 30, investigator Melissa Skala and her team opened their lab doors for a group of enthusiastic, science-curious donors and supporters to take a closer look at the beautiful world of microscopy and biomedical imaging.
“Our lab was very excited about welcoming everybody into the space. We don’t often have adults here, we do a lot of outreach with younger kids,” says Alexa Heaton, assistant scientist in the Skala Lab. “It’s really good practice for all of us to be sharing our work in a very broad way, big picture and not getting too technical.”
Guests interacted with Skala Lab scientists to learn how to sort cells from a single drop of a sample and how to visualize cells under a microscope with UV light and lasers.
Through thoughtful questions and engaging conversations, attendees developed a stronger understanding how innovative imaging methods are being harnessed for direct patient care and improving health in areas like heart disease, retinal disease, immunology and cancer.
“It was really great to hear the spread of questions that our attendees brought with them,” Heaton says. “You could tell some of them may not be scientists, but are really engaged in reading what’s out there in both medical research and other scientific research, and they really want to be part of it.”
View photos of the event below.
The Skala Lab 
Guests make their way to the lower level of the Discovery Building, where the biomedical imaging labs are located. 
Melissa Skala gives her opening remarks and introduces her lab's research in cutting-edge biomedical engineering and optical imaging. 
Attendees enter the biomedical imaging lab area. 
Postdoc Amani Gillette demonstrates the single-cell sorter. 
A drop of sample containing sorted cells. 
Graduate student Andy Zhang shows human heart muscle cells, grown from stem cells, beating together under a microscope. 
Attendees take a closer look at the properties of light to understand how the Skala Lab uses fluorescent imaging in their research. 
Postdoctoral Fellow Danielle Desa assists attendees with using a specialized instrument for eye exams to image the grooves of their fingerprints. 
Members of the Skala Lab share poster presentations highlighting their research, demonstrating various applications of biomedical imaging to enrich patient care and improve health.