Advanced Microscopy and Biophotonics

The Laboratory of Advanced Microscopy and Biophotonics, led by Dr. Jay R. Knutson, uses optical physics and fluorescence to create better instruments for examining the inner workings of cells and the macromolecular (proteins, lipids, and DNA) complexes within.

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Dr. Jay Knutson

Featured Publications

Intracellular imaging of metmyoglobin and oxygen using new dual purpose probe EYFP-Myoglobin-mCherry.

Authors: Rozhin Penjweini, Branden Roarke, Greg Alspaugh, Katie A Link , Alessio Andreoni, Mateus P Mori, Paul M Hwang, Dan L Sackett, Jay R Knutson
J Biophotonics 2022 Mar 01;15(3):
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Fluorogenic aptamers resolve the flexibility of RNA junctions using orientation-dependent FRET.

Authors: Sunny C.Y. Jeng, Robert J. Trachman 3rd, Florian Weissenböck, Lynda Troung, Katie A. Link, Mette D. E. Jepsen, Jay R. Knutson, Ebbe S. Andersen, Adrian R. Ferré-D'Amaré, Peter J. Unrau
RNA 2021 Apr 01;27(4):433-444
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Direct visualization of the arterial wall water permeability barrier using CARS microscopy.

Authors: Lucotte, B.M., Powell, C., Knutson, J.R., Combs C.A., Malide, Yu, Z, D., Knepper, M., Patel, K.D., Pielach, A., Johnson, E., Borysova, L. , Dora, K.A., Balaban, R.S.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 May 02;114(18):4805-4810
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A simple empirical algorithm for optimizing depletion power and resolution for dye and system specific STED imaging.

Authors: Combs, C.A., Sackett. D.L., Knutson, J.R.
J. Micros. 2019 May 09;274(3):168-176
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Ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopy via upconversion applications to biophysics.

Authors: Xu J, Knutson JR
Meth. Enzymol. 2008 Jan 01;450:159-83
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Meet the Team

Dr. Jay Knutson

Jay Knutson, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Jay Knutson received his M.S. in 1975 and Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Freshwater Institute and from 1980 to 1984, at Johns Hopkins University. Before being named Chief of the Optical Spectroscopy Section in 1999, Dr. Knutson was a senior staff fellow in the NHLBI’s Laboratory of Technical Development from 1984 to 1989, and a research biophysicist in the Laboratory of Cell Biology from 1990 to 1999. He has authored or coauthored more than 107 papers. Dr. Knutson is a member of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrument Engineering and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

He is the former (2021) chair of the Biological Fluorescence Subgroup, Biophysical Society.

He was also elected to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.

Katie Link

Katie Link, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow