Dr. Clark has been working with intracellular nanosensors since she developed the concept of PEBBLE nanosensors in graduate school under Prof. Raoul Kopelman. She was then lucky to work as a postdoctoral fellow on an NIH Postdoc Fellowship under the mentorship of Les Loew. There, she learned much more about handling biological samples as well as microscopy including confocal, 2-photon, NSOM and TIRF. As a PI, Dr. Clark has worked not only to develop novel nanosensors for biological analysis, but she has been as interested in the biological measurements as in the chemistry development. Her research has been funded from an R01 to develop sodium nanosensors for cardiomyocyte imaging, as well as institutional start-up funds and funding from DARPA to apply nanosensors to in vivo applications. She has published a number of manuscripts as a PI, mentored students at all levels (graduate through high school) and has a real understanding of the administrative tasks associated with research. Taking on a new role as an Associate Professor at Northeastern University, Dr. Clark was happy to find a greater opportunity for working with students and collaborators to apply nanosensors to new biological discoveries. Since starting at NU two years ago, her research has resulted in several publications and featured in the media, including articles in the Wall Street Journal, Technology Review, Wired and a live interview on CNN. She is also very proud to mentor two postdocs who have been awarded NIH F32 grants while in her lab.
Heather A. Clark, PhD
Associate Professor
Northeastern University
Northeastern University