Leonel Malacrida is a biophysicist, Associate Professor at the School of Medicine of Uruguay’s Universidad de la República, and founding director of the Advanced Bioimaging Unit, a joint initiative of the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo and the university’s Hospital de Clínicas. The unit develops imaging instruments and methods and provides microscopy services and hands-on training to researchers across Uruguay and Latin America.
His path to bioimaging began during his PhD in Uruguay, where he studied how pulmonary surfactant, the thin film that helps keep the lung’s air sacs open, works at the molecular level. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics at the University of California, Irvine, he began developing quantitative microscopy methods to tackle questions like this. His work now spans phasor-based fluorescence lifetime and hyperspectral imaging, including the open-source PhasorPy project, and the development of microscopes that can image cells deep within scattering tissues. Leonel helped found Latin America Bioimaging to expand access to advanced microscopy and training across the region. He also co-founded and leads In-Depth Focus, a Uruguayan spin-off developing the DIVER microscope for rapid tissue assessment during cancer surgery.Scientific field: Biophysics
Microscopy background: Optical System Development
Posted by Leonel Malacrida, on 27 October 2021
