My lab and I are an inter-disciplinary research team who develop smart sensor technology to probe delicate and hard to reach systems. At the interface of chemistry, engineering, biophysics and mathematics, we create innovative tools and use them to study biology and our environment.
Parastoo Hashemi
In Vivo Neurotransmitter Measurements
We are interested in neurotransmitters that are involved in mood and emotional processes, in particular serotonin, histamine, glutamate and GABA. We are designing and engineering novel analytical microdevices to measure these four messengers and combining our tools with animal behavior, confocal imaging, molecular biology and computational analysis to tackle some of neuroscience’s most pressing issues.
In Vivo Platforms for Trace Metal Analysis
Trace metals play crucial and dynamic roles in physiology, and in particular in the brain. We are developing ultra-fast, ultra selective detection schemes to measure vital (e.g. Cu(II) and Zn(II)) and harmful (e.g. Pb(II)) metals in vivo. We hare interested in the role that our environment plays in the etiology of neuropsychiatric disease and are studying the transport, fate and effects on neurotransmission of environmental toxins.