About Us

Situated in the heart of one of the nation’s leading life science hubs, and close to University of Pennsylvania and Pennovation center, Cytomem is located at the Lankenau Institute of Medical Research with access to world class research facilities, enabling us to support a wide range of biotech and pharmaceutical contract research. Our experts have many years of experience and track record in applying experimental methods in membrane biophysics, surface chemistry, advanced imaging, and quantitative biology to create unique solutions for quantitative molecular characterization in life sciences. Hence, we are singularly positioned to be your ideal research support partner for visualizing and characterizing biomolecular interactions, spatiotemporal organization and kinetics of biological reactions in living systems and reconstituted membrane mimics down to the single molecule level.

Wan-Chen Lin, PhD

Dr. Lin's expertise spans several disciplines including advanced high resolutionmicroscopy and spectroscopy for quantitative biology, atomic force microscopy, self assembling proteolipidbilayers (synthetic cell membranes) and membrane biophysics. She advises academic groups, biotechnology companies and biopharmaceutical companies in the application of these techniques in biosensors, determination of binding kinetics and functional activity of membrane tethered proteins including drug efficacy, and estimation of the impact of spatial-temporal organization in cell signaling. Wan-Chen has a Ph.D. in biophysics with over 20 years of experience in the field of membrane biophysics. Her work has been published in several high impact journals including Science and PNAS. She is interested in developing innovative solutions in the areas of pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology products and devices.

Scientific Advisors

Hung-Jen Wu

Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University

Dr. Wu uses nanostructured materials and analytical tools to develop diagnostic techniques for medical applications. His laboratory recently focuses on understanding the influences of multivalency and cell membrane environment on pathogen-host cell recognition. The applications of his techniques include, infectious diseases screening, exploring cell membrane function, and targeted drug delivery.

Specialties:

• Development of specialized image processing programs and data analyses using Matlab & Fortran
• Microscopy: TEM, SEM, XRD, optical, dark field, TIRF, and confocal microscopy
• Spectroscopy: UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, ellipsometry, FTIR, MALDI mass spectrometer
• Particle sizing and molecular weight measurements: dynamic and static light scattering
• Colloids and surface science, rheology, emulsion, and phase behavior
• Controlling self-assembly of colloidal particles and surface functionalization
• Chemistry synthesis: polymeric, silica, and metal particles, porous materials (silica, titanium oxide, etc.)
• Computational modeling: Monte Carlo, Brownian dynamics simulations, Mie scattering modeling
• Numerical methods, statistical methods, regression analyses

Ariel G. Notcovich

CTO, Biolog, Inc

Ariel is an accomplished life science executive, with a wide experience in all aspects and stages of product development for life science markets, having worked in startup as well as in corporate environments. Ariel founded ProteOptics during his graduate studies in Physics at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and served as its CTO and CEO. The company developed a multichannel Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging system for the label-free analysis of molecular interactions. ProteOptics was acquired by Bio-Rad Laboratories. Ariel successfully managed the integration, establishing his team as the innovation center for Bio-Rad Life Sciences Group. As a visionary and entrepreneurial leader of Bio-Rad R&D, he created the Protein Technologies R&D group to develop innovative products for life sciences markets. Products developed in Ariel’s group included systems, instrumentation, software, consumables and reagents for imaging, chromatography, gel electrophoresis and blotting, protein interactions and other product lines.

Jay T. Groves

Professor, Dept. Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

Founder and Board of Directors, Ilytica

Dr. Groves has a broad background in physical chemistry and materials science as well as a long history of applying these skills to solve problems in cell membrane biology and signal transduction. He invented the patterned supported membrane technology as well as its integration with living cells to create spatial mutations, in which the geometrical arrangement of molecules inside otherwise chemically identical living cells is altered in a controlled way. Additionally, his research program has emphasized the advancement of optical tools including fluorescence spectroscopy, microscopy, and single molecule imaging to quantitatively analyze biological signaling processes on both reconstituted and living cell membranes.

Marjorie Longo

Emeritus Professor, Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis

Dr. Longo developed and combined quantitative microscopy and engineering techniques to gain knowledge of the structure, transport, thermodynamics, and mechanics of synthetic lipid bilayer membrane and monolayer systems. These serve as models of real biological membranes, and in some cases have technological applications that are easily identified (e.g. drug delivery devices). Her research has focused on domains/rafts in lipid bilayer membranes, functional biomembrane architectures in mesoporous materials, and lipid monolayer stabilized micron-scale bubbles.

Sam Pazhanisamy

Dr. Sam Pazhanisamy is an expert in the field of mechanistic enzymology, especially applying various kinetic techniques and binding assays to understand the mechanism of action of enzymes and receptors. He has over two decades of experience in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs. He was a founding scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA, and progressed to Director of Enzymology. At Vertex, his group was engaged in developing and supporting in-vitro biochemical assays for lead-identification (high throughput) and lead-optimization in multiple therapeutic areas - anti-bacterial anti-viral, cancer, immunology, and CNS and supporting regulatory IND filings. The in-vitro assays in different analytical formats ranged from spectroscopic, fluorometric, radiometric, mass spec., HPLC and SPR assays. He leverages his expertise in bioorganic chemistry and biophysical chemistry touniquely solve problems at the interface of chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmaceutical chemistry. He holds PhD degree from University of Kansas.

Publications

Selected Publications

W. E. Martinez, J. E. Arenas, L. Mok, N. Y. Wong, M. M. Lozano, W.-C. Lin, M. G. Gutierrez, R. S. Chavera, J. G. McGivern, "Bioelectronic Measurement of Target Engagement to a Membrane-Bound Transporter." SLAS Discov, Sep;26(8):1004-1013 (2021).

W. Y. C. Huang, Q. Yan, W.-C. Lin, J. K. Chung, S. D. Hansen, S. M. Christensen, H.-L. Tu, J. Kuriyan, J. T. Groves, “Phosphotyrosine-mediated LAT assembly on membranes drives kinetic bifurcation in the recruitment dynamics of the Ras activator SOS.” PNAS, 113(29):8218-8223 (2016).

L. Iversen, H.-L. Tu, W.-C. Lin, S. M. Christensen, S. M. Abel, J. Iwig, H.-. Wu, J. Gureasko, C.Yu, C. Rhodes, R. S. Petit, A. K. Chakraborty, J. Kuriyan, J. T. Groves, “Molecular Kinetics. Ras Activation by SOS: Allosteric Regulation by Altered Fluctuation Dynamics,” Science, 345(6192):50-54 (2014).

W.-C. Lin, L. Iversen, H.-L. Tu, C. Rhodes, S. M. Christensen, J. S. Iwig, S. D. Hansen, W. Y. C. Huang, and J. T. Groves, “H-Ras Forms Dimers on Membrane Surfaces via a Protein-Protein Interface," PNAS, 111 (8): 2996-3001 (2014).

H.-J. Wu, J. Henzie, W.-C. Lin, C. Rhodes, Z. Li, E. Sartorel, J. Thorner, P. Yang, J. T. Groves, "Membrane-Protein Binding Measured with Solution-Phase Plasmonic Nanocube Sensors," Nat. Methods, 9:1189-1191 (2012).

T. Lohmueller, L. Iversen, M. Schmidt, C. Rhodes, H.-L. Tu, W.-C. Lin, and J. T. Groves, "Single Molecule Tracking on Supported Membranes with Arrays of Optical Nanoantennas," Nano Letters, 12(3):1717-1721 (2012).

W.-C. Lin, C.-H. Yu, S. Triffo, and J. T. Groves, "Supported Membrane Formation, Characterization, Functionalization, and Patterning for Application in Biological Science and Technology," Current Protocols in Chemical Biology, 2(4): 235-269 (2010).

Other Publications

K. Biswas, K. Hartman, C. Yu, O. Harrison, H. Song, A. Smith, W. Huang, W.-C. Lin, Z. Guo, A. Padmanabhan, S. Troyanovsky, M. Dustin, L. Shapiro, B. Honig, R. Zaidel-Bar, J. T. Groves, “E-cadherin junction formation involves an active kinetic nucleation process.” PNAS, 112(35):10932-7 (2015).

Q. Xu, W.-C. Lin, R. S. Petit, and J. T. Groves, “EphA2 Receptor Cctivation by Monomeric Ephrin-A1 on Supported Membranes,” Biophysical Journal, 101(11): 2731-2739 (2011).

E. L. Goksu, B. Nellis, W.-C. Lin, J. Satcher, J. T. Groves, S. Risbud, M. L. Longo, "Effect of Support Corrugation on Silica-Xerogel Supported Phase-Separated Lipid Bilayers," Langmuir, 25(6): 3713-3717 (2009).

E. L. Goksu, J. M. Vanegas, C. D. Blanchette, W.-C. Lin, and M. L. Longo, “AFM for Structure and Dynamics of Biomembranes,” Biochimica et BiophysicaActa (BBA) – Biomembranes, 1788: 254-266 (2009).

C. D. Blanchette, W.-C. Lin,C. A. Orme, T. V. Ratto, and M. L. Longo, “Domain Nucleation Rates and Interfacial Line Tensions in Supported Bilayers of Ternary Mixtures Containing Galactosylceramide,“ Biophysical Journal, 94: 2691-2697 (2008).

W.-C. Lin, C. D. Blanchette, T. V. Ratto, and M. L. Longo, “Lipid Domains in Supported Lipid Bilayer for Atomic Force Microscopy,” invited in Methods in Membrane Lipids, editor A. Dopico, Humana Press, 503-514, (2007).

C. D. Blanchette, W.-C. Lin,C. A. Orme, T. V. Ratto, and M. L. Longo, “Using Nucleation Rates to Determine the Interfacial Line Tension of Symmetric and Asymmetric Lipid Bilayer Domains,” Langmuir (Letter) 23: 5875-5877 (2007).

W.-C. Lin, C. D. Blanchette, T. V. Ratto, and M. L. Longo, “Fluid-Phase Chain Unsaturation Controlling Domain Microstructure and Phase in Ternary Lipid Bilayers Containing GalCer and Cholesterol,” Biophysical Journal 92: 2831-2841 (2007).

C. D. Blanchette, W.-C. Lin, T. V. Ratto, and M. L. Longo, “Galactosylceramide Domain Microstructure: Impact of Cholesterol and Nucleation/Growth Conditions,” Biophysical Journal 90: 4466-4478 (2006).

W.-C. Lin, C. D. Blanchette, T. V. Ratto, and M. L. Longo, “Lipid Asymmetry in DLPC/DSPC-Supported Lipid Bilayers: A Combined AFM and Fluorescence Microscopy Study,” Biophysical Journal 90: 228-237 (2006).

C.-H. Lee, H.-Y. Mong, and W.-C. Lin, “Non-Interferometric Wide-Field Optical Profilometry with Nanometer Depth Resolution,” Optics Letters27, 1773 (2002).

C.-H. Lee, W.-C. Lin, and J. Wang, “All-Optical Measurements of the Bending Rigidity of Lipid-Vesicle Membranes across Structural Phase Transitions,” Physical Review E 64, 020901(R) (2001).

C.-H. Lee, W.-C. Lin, and J. Wang, “Using Differential Confocal Microscopy to Detect the Phase Transition of Lipid Vesicle Membranes,” Optical Engineering 40, 2077 (2001).