People


Lauren Browning

Lauren Browning

Graduate Student

Lauren Browning joined the Xu Group in August of 2006 as a Ph.D. student in Biomedical Science in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She graduated from Old Dominion University in May of 2006 with her B.S. in Biology.

As a Ph.D. student, she has excelled in graduate level courses including, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Biometry, Advanced Biochemistry, Advanced Analytical Chemistry, Frontiers in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and Applied Spectroscopy. For her research, she has been involved in: designing and performing novel methods for synthesis of stable and uniform nanomaterials, developing optical nanoprobes for imaging single live cells and single embryos in real-time, designing nanoparticle probes for imaging of multidrug membrane transporters in single live cells in real-time at single molecule resolution, developing new novel methods for culturing and sustaining embryonic stem cells, and currently is designing and developing optical nanoprobes for studying the mechanisms of cardiac differentiation in human embryonic stem cells. Along with her research, she has taken on the role as laboratory manager for the Xu group.

Selected publications:

1. K. Lee, P. Nallathamby, L. Browning, C. J. Osgood, X. Xu*, "In vivo imaging of transport and biocompatibility of single nanoparticles in early development of zebrafish embryos", ACS Nano, 1, 133-143 (2007). (Most-Accessed Article of 2007; Featured in Chemical and Engineering News).

2. L. Browning, K. Lee, T. Huang, P. Nallathamby, J. Lowman, X. Xu*, "Random walk of single gold nanoparticles in zebrafish embryos leading to stochastic toxic effects on embryonic developments", Nanoscale 1, 138-152 (2009).

3. L. Browning, T. Huang, X. Xu, "Electric pulses to prepare feeder cells for sustaining and culturing of undifferentiated embryonic stem cells", Biotechnology Journal, 5, 588-595 (2010).

4. K. Lee, L. Browning, T. Huang, F. Ding, P. Nallathamby, X. Xu*, "Probing multidrug ABC membrane transporters of single living cells using single nanoparticle plasmonic optical probes" Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 397, 3317-3328 (2010).