Ariel Alperstein
Resources and Links
Biography
B.A. Skidmore College 2014
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison 2020
Postdoctoral Researcher University of Minnesota 2020-2022
Research Overview
My overall goal is to mentor a vibrant research team focused on developing new ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy techniques for investigating biological systems on the sub-micron scale. We will expand the frontier of chemically specific sub-diffraction limited spectroscopy and address a series of interesting and important science questions focused on understanding how protein structures and interactions at the nanoscale influence overall cellular and tissue health. More specifically, my group will develop new super-resolution stimulated Raman and two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy methods. We will investigate how microplastics influence protein structure, protein-chaperone interaction structures, and kinetics of drug transport using 2DIR and SRS measurements from the bulk proteins in solution to cell and tissue images.
I am currently interested in students of all chemistry and biochemistry pathways. Students have the opportunity to learn a diverse set of skills including but not limited to optics, instrumentation development, instrument coding, data analysis, live cell culture/assays, cell/protein/tissue preparation, image analysis, biochemical assays, amino acid/peptide synthesis and purification.
