Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics

A national research center for biomedical fluorescence spectroscopy at the University of California, Irvine

PhD and Master's Theses

PhD, Master's, and other theses by former students of the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics (LFD) and students advised by LFD members, from 1987 to present. Access to PDF documents is password protected due to copyright restrictions. Reprints can be requested from the authors.

2021

  1. Lefebvre AEYT.
    The phenotypic investigation of mitochondria in cancer.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2021.
    Advisor: Digman, Michelle
  2. Goudarzi P.
    Characterization of local conformational structure and mechanical properties of chromatin using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and phasor analysis.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2021.
    Advisor: Digman, Michelle

2020

  1. Nguyen DG.
    Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and LAURDAN spectral imaging for dynamically investigating osteoclast differentiation.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2020.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  2. Leemans SW.
    Fluorescence based adaptive optics and multidimensional fluorescence microscopy.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2020.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2019

  1. Pasin S.
    The spectral phasor approach as a potential diagnostic tool for breast cancer.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2019.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Ma N.
    Assessment of embryo health and circulating tumor cell metabolism using the phasor-FLIM approach.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2019.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman

2018

  1. Trinh AL.
    Fluorescence and phosphorescence lifetime imaging microscopy for spatial mapping of tumor behavior.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  2. Murata MM.
    Analyses of the cellular signaling responses to DNA damage and DNA repair factor recruitment using fluorescence lifetimes and fluctuations.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  3. Le I.
    Acute alcohol exposure shifts metabolism of breast cancer cells.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  4. Mah EJ.
    Nanoscale changes for macroscale results: modulation of cancer metabolism and adhesion by the substrate.
    PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  5. Zhang R.
    Altered energy metabolism and nucleating aggregates found in normal cells as a consequence of the cell-to-cell transfer of the pathogenic polyglutamine aggregate from HD diseased cells.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  6. Sameni S.
    Multiphoton imaging and phasor approach to identify new biomarkers in Huntington Disease.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2018.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman

2017

  1. Xiao Z.
    Patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells for Alzheimer's disease model and 3D culture of neurons on a multi-electrode array.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2017.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman

2016

  1. Datta R.
    Label-free fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to study metabolism and oxidative stress in biological systems.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2016.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Kalassery JJ.
    Characterizing lateral diffusion of EGFR using advanced fluorescence spatial correlation functions.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2016.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  3. Alfonso-García A.
    Exploring lipids with nonlinear optical microscopy in multiple biological systems.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2016.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton and Eric O Potma
  4. Rossetta A.
    High frequency digital frequency domain fluorescence lifetime imaging system.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2016.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2015

  1. Bagilthaya SS.
    Spatial-temporal dynamics and metabolic alterations of p53 upon cellular stress.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2015.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman
  2. Pinilla RR.
    Estrogen receptor alpha dynamics and function in mammalian cells.
    Master in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2015.
    Advisor: Michelle A Digman

2013

  1. Chiu CL.
    3D cell-ECM dynamics revealed by innovative fluorescence microscopy methods.
    PhD in Developmental & Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, 2013.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Golfetto O.
    Lifetime and spectral phasors: exploiting Laurdan's fluorescence to characterize cell membranes.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2013.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Arnesano C.
    Living in a digital world: features and applications of FPGA in photon detection.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2013.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  4. Crosignani V.
    Deep Imaging Via Enhanced-Photon Recovery (DIVER).
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2013.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2012

  1. Xu S.
    Characterization of breast cancer using an endogenous tumor spectral marker: high-spectral-resolution diffuse optical spectroscopy and its clinical applications.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2012.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Cutrale F.
    Inclined selective plane illumination microscopy: an efficient microscopy method.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2012.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Santoro Y.
    Breast cancer spatial heterogeneity in near-infrared spectra and the prediction of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2012.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2011

  1. Braun KT.
    Explorations of the properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals: fluorescence enhancement effect and near-infrared resonant modes.
    Bachelor in Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, 2011.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton and Laura C Estrada

2010

  1. Golfetto O.
    Phasor approach to fluorescence lifetime microscopy to measure stem cell differentiation.
    Laurea in Bioengineering, University of Padua, Italy, 2010.
    Advisor: Alfredo Ruggeri
  2. Azartash K.
    Quantifying the pre-corneal tear film thickness and its components.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2010.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Ossato G.
    Protein aggregation in neurodegenerative disease.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2010.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2009

  1. Rossow MJ.
    Analysis of flow using spatial-temporal correlation.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2009.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2008

  1. Cutrale F.
    PALM. Photo-activated localization microscopy.
    Laurea in Physics and Biological Technologies, University of Trento, Italy, 2008.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton and Renzo Antolini
  2. Colyer RA.
    Development of a fluorescence lifetime based method to detect and analyze single molecule reactions in solution.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2007

  1. Lee CY.
    FLIMBox: a novel fluorescence lifetime approach for the confocal microscope.
    PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2007.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Kukreti S.
    Intrinsic spectroscopic tumor markers revealed by double-differential analysis of near-infrared absorption spectra.
    PhD in Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Ossato G.
    Near infrared spectroscopy for breast cancer detection and planning of a new non-contact instrument.
    Laurea in Physics and Biomedical Technologies, University of Trento, Italy, 2007.
    Advisor: Renzo Antolini and Enrico Gratton
  4. Frasnelli E.
    Frequency domain near-infra-red spectroscopy in brain perfusion measurements: development of a non-contact scanning system.
    Laurea in Physics and Biological Technologies, University of Trento, Italy, 2007.
    Advisor: Renzo Antolini and Enrico Gratton

2006

  1. Eckhoff DA.
    Optical characterization of ultrasmall, hydrogen-terminated and carboxyl-functionalized silicon nanoparticles in aqueous environments.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Gupta R.
    Frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy in the human brain.
    PhD in Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.
    Advisor: William W Mantulin
  3. Tanner K.
    "Cat"-ology: spectrally resolved neurophotonics in the mammalian brain and phantom studies.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  4. Celli A.
    Spatial correlation of lipid phase fluctuations in model membranes studied with two-photon fluorescence microscopy.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2005

  1. Majumdar ZK.
    Measurement of internal movements of the Escherichia coli ribosome using Förster resonance energy transfer and microsecond, continuous-flow turbulent mixing in micro-fabricated devices.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.
    Advisor: Robert M Clegg
  2. Tahari AK.
    Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy: ultrasensitive detection in clear and turbid media.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Redford GI.
    Fast fluorescence lifetime imaging using a full-field homodyne system with applications in biology.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.
    Advisor: Robert M Clegg
  4. Machado NG.
    Near-infrared spectroscopy and the swallowing event.
    Master in Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.
    Advisor: Adrienne L Perlman, Enrico Gratton
  5. Cheng MA.
    Characterization of membrane organization and dynamics in giant unilamellar vesicles assembled from rat kidney membrane extracts and fragments.
    PhD in Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.
    Advisor: William W Mantulin

2003

  1. Choi JH.
    Cerebral hemodynamics and its oxygenation: study of their baseline and spontaneous oscillation.
    PhD in Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Holub O.
    Fluorescence lifetime imaging at video rate - a new technique in photosynthesis research.
    PhD in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Technical University of Berlin, 2003.
    Advisor: Robert M Clegg, Gernot Renger

2002

  1. Eid JS.
    Two-photon dual channel fluctuation correlation spectroscopy: theory and application.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Ragan TM.
    Three-dimensional single particle tracking on the two-photon microscope.
    PhD in Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Tan E.
    Dynamics of hairpin ribozyme.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002.
    Advisor: Robert M Clegg
  4. Breusegem SY.
    In vivo investigation of protein interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans by Förster resonance energy transfer microscopy.
    PhD in Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002.
    Advisor: Robert M Clegg
  5. Ruan Q.
    Protein dynamics: studies of adenylate kinase mutants from Escherichia coli and characterization of adenylate kinase isoforms from murine cells. Applications of fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy.
    PhD in Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002.
    Advisor: William W Mantulin, Michael Glaser

2001

  1. Akcakir O.
    Silicon nanoparticle characterization by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Paunescu LA.
    Tissue blood flow and oxygen consumption measured with near-infrared frequency-domain spectroscopy.
    PhD in Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

2000

  1. Filiaci ME.
    Spatial localization and temporal analysis of optical property fluctuations by multiplexed near-infrared photon density waves in turbid media: in vitro and in vivo studies.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1998

  1. Chen Y.
    Analysis and applications of fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy.
    PhD in Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Cerussi AE.
    Quantitative frequency-domain fluorescence spectroscopy in tissues and tissue-like media.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  3. Walker SA.
    Image and optical property reconstruction from noninvasive measurements of turbid media, in vitro and in vivo: a promising method for optical mammography.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  4. Dong CY.
    Applications of pump-probe and two-photon techniques in time-resolved fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1997

  1. Maier JS.
    Diffuse photon transport in tissue-like media: resolution limit for near-infrared imaging and an instrument for clinical spectroscopy of tissues.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Fulmer TJ.
    Spectroscopic studies of protein folding and protein dynamics using single-tryptophan mutants of E. coli adenylate kinase.
    PhD in Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.
    Advisor: William W Mantulin Michael Glaser

1996

  1. French TE.
    The development of fluorescence lifetime imaging and an application in immunology.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1996.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1995

  1. Berland KM.
    Two-photon fluctuation correlation spectroscopy: method and applications to protein aggregation and intracellular diffusion.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Carrero J.
    Dynamics of oxygen penetration and diffusion into horse skeletal myoglobin revealed by quenching of zinc protoporphyrin IX fluorescence.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1994

  1. Fishkin JB.
    Imaging and spectroscopy of tissue-like phantoms using photon density waves: theory and experiments.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1994.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1993

  1. Feddersen BA.
    Digital frequency domain fluorometry and the study of Hoechst 33258 dye-DNA interactions.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Silva N Jr.
    Thermal and denaturation studies of the time-resolved fluorescence decay of human superoxide dismutase.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1989

  1. Vittitow JL.
    Infrared-monitored flash-photolysis of carboxymyoglobin.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton
  2. Piston DW.
    Dynamics of biological macromolecules investigated by fluorescence depolarization.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton

1987

  1. Alcala JR.
    Fluorescence lifetime distributions in proteins.
    PhD in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987.
    Advisor: Enrico Gratton