David graduated with a BS in Bioengineering from Rice in 2002. He worked as a research associate in the Anvari Lab for 2 years until July, 2004. He is currently a medical student at Baylor College of Medicine. His webpage while at Rice is provided below:
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Our group uses membrane tethers in order
to study the mechanical
properties
of outer hair cells (OHCs). By analyzing the forces applied
and the subsequent
change in tether length it is possible to derive some membrane
characteristics.
Optical tweezers are used to hold in place a polystyrene bead affixed
to an OHC while the cell is moved away by a piezoelectric
stage. As
the cell translates a tether is formed whose force can be calculated
using instantaneous
photodetector data. I am involved in the development of a
program
capable of combining the tether formation process with the
photodetector data
in order to maintain a constant tether force. This
force-clamp program
permits experiments to be conducted under static rather than dynamic
tether conditions.
I am also involved in the study of the electromechanical properties
of outer hair cells. Experiments are conducted to analyze the
effects
of membrane potential on tether force. This is achieved by
combining the
force-clamp program with the patch-clamp process. The later
technique permits
the controlling of the voltage potential across a cell
membrane. The
static tether force and membrane potential experiments provide data
that allow
for a better understanding of OHC electromotility.
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Research
Interests:
Optical Tweezers, laser therapy and diagnostics, biomedical optics,
computer programming
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David
R Murdock
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