Professor
| Phone: | 848-445-6598 |
| Fax: | 732-445-3753 |
| Email: | nboustan@soe.rutgers.edu |
| Office: | BME-320 |
Office Hours: By appointment
Website: Bio-Optics Laboratory
Education
Distinguished Post-doctoral Fellow, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1998-2001
Ph.D., Medical Engineering/ Medical Physics, Harvard - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 1997
S.M., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991
S.B., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988
Honors
- 2006 - Johnson & Johnson Discovery Award, Rutgers University
- 2006 - Rutgers nominee for the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering, a national competition by invitation only, limited to 2 nominations per school, for outstanding faculty
- 2006 - Rutgers nominee for the Searle Scholars Program, a national competition by invitation only, limited to 2 nominations per school, for outstanding young faculty
- 2002 - International Society for Analytical Cytology (ISAC) President’s Award for Excellence
- 2002 - Conference Travel Grant, OSA Topical Meeting on Biomedical Optics
- 1998-2001 - Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
- 1990-1992 - Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology MEMP Fellowship
- 1988 - Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, MIT Chapter
Professional Affiliations
- Optical Society of America
- Biophysical Society
- International Society for Analytical Cytology
- Biomedical Engineering Society
Research Interests
Our research is focused on developing novel, minimally invasive optical imaging technology to track signaling pathways and analyze the function of genes within living cells. Our work lies at the interface of optics and cell biology and combines instrumentation design, microscopy, tissue culture, genetic manipulation, and numerical simulation of optical phenomena, such as light scattering by cells and organelles. We are currently engaged in defining optical parameters that characterize mitochondrial morphological alterations during cell death. One of our long-term goals is to understand the relationship between gene expression and subcellular structure and dynamics during cell death and early cancer development.
Selected Publications
1. R.M. Pasternack, J-Y. Zheng, N.N. Boustany, “Detection of mitochondrial fission with orientation-dependent optical Fourier filters”, Cytometry Part A. 79A: 137-148 (2011). doi: 10.1002/cyto.a.21011 The results of this article were selected for inclusion in the “In This Issue” features. Boustany cv- 110901
2. R.M. Pasternack, B. Rabin, J-Y. Zheng and N.N. Boustany, “Quantifying subcellular dynamics in apoptotic cells with optical Gabor-like filtering”, Biomedical Optics Express, 1 (2), 720–728 (2010). (invited). doi:10.1364/BOE.1.000720
3. R.M. Pasternack, J-Y. Zheng, N.N. Boustany, “Optical Scatter Changes at the Onset of Apoptosis Are Spatially Associated with Mitochondria”, Journal of Biomedical Optics Letters. 15 (4), 040504 (2010). doi: 10.1117/1.3467501 This article was selected for the Sep. 1 2010 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
4. J-Y. Zheng and N.N. Boustany, “Alterations in the characteristic size distributions of subcellular scatterers at the onset of apoptosis: effect of Bcl-xL and Bax/Bak”, J. Biomedical Optics, 15 (4), 045002 (2010). doi: 10.1117/1.3462933 This article was selected for the Aug. 1 2010 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.
5. N.N. Boustany, S.A. Boppart, V. Backman, “Microscopic Imaging and Spectroscopy with Scattered Light”, Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 12, 285-314 (2010). (invited) doi: 10.1146/annurev-bioeng-061008-124811
6. N.N. Boustany, R.M. Pasternack, J-Y. Zheng “Optical scatter microscopy based on two-dimensional Gabor filters”, Journal of Visualized Experiments (2010),(40),pii: 1915, http://www.jove.com/index/details.stp?id=1915 doi:10.3791/1915
7. J-Y. Zheng, R.M. Pasternack, N.N. Boustany, “Optical scatter imaging with a digital micromirror device”, Optics Express, 17 (22), 20401-20414 (2009). doi:10.1364/OE.17.020401
8. P.I. Reyes, Z. Zhang, HH Chen, ZQ Duan, J. Zhong, G. Saraf, YC Lu, O. Taratula, E. Galoppini, N.N. Boustany, “A ZnO Nanostructure-Based Quartz Crystal Microbalance Device for Biochemical Sensing”, IEEE Sensors Journal, 9 (10), 1302-1307 (2009). doi:10.1109/JSEN.2009.2030250
9. R.M. Pasternack, Z. Qian, J-Y. Zheng, D.N. Metaxas, N.N. Boustany, “Highly sensitive size discrimination of submicron objects using optical Fourier filtering based on two-dimensional Gabor filters”, Optics Express, 17(14), 12001-12012 (2009). doi:10.1364/OE.17.01200 On Aug. 7 2009, results of this article were featured on the Technical Insights, Sensor Technology Alert Services, of the Frost & Sullivan Website.
10. R.M. Pasternack, Z. Qian, J-Y. Zheng, D.N. Metaxas, E. White, N.N. Boustany, “Measurement of Subcellular Texture by Optical Gabor-Like Filtering with a Digital Micromirror Device”, Optics Letters, 33(19), 2209-2211 (2008). Erratum in Optics Letters, 34(13), 1939 (2009). doi:10.1364/OL.33.002209, erratum doi:10.1364/OL.34.001939 This article was selected for the Nov. 1 2008 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, and for the Dec. 2008 issue (Vol. 3 Issue 12) of The Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics.