Douglas J. Taatjes University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
Dr. Taatjes is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT and a Distinguished Educator in the College of Medicine Teaching Academy. Dr. Taatjes’ main research focus is in the development and use of a variety of microscopy-based imaging techniques and image analysis procedures in the study of cellular secretion, vascular diseases, and environmental lung pathology. These studies include: (1) utilizing atomic force microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and super-resolution microscopy in the investigation of the etiology of the antiphospholipid syndrome in humans (in collaboration with Dr. Jacob Rand, Cornell-Weill College of Medicine); (2) examining aspects of porosome secretory structure and function in pancreatic acinar cells, neuronal cells, and CF-related epithelial cells using transmission electron microscopy, immunoelectron microscopy, confocal scanning laser microscopy, and atomic force microscopy (in collaboration with Dr. Bhanu Jena, Wayne State University); and (3) using multifarious microscopy-based imaging techniques in the study of environmental pathology (in collaboration with members of the Vermont Lung Center). In addition to these primary research efforts, Dr. Taatjes also serves as Director of the Microscopy Imaging Center in the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. This is a College of Medicine Core facility and contains the following equipment: JEOL 1400 transmission electron microscope, JEOL 6060 scanning electron microscope with attached Oxford INCA EDS system, Nikon N-STORM super-resolution microscopy system, Zeiss LSM 510META confocal scanning laser microscope, Olympus BX50 widefield fluorescence imaging system with QImaging Retiga digital camera, Olympus IX70 inverted microscope with QImaging Retiga digital camera, CompuCyte laser scanning cytometer, Arcturus XT-TI laser capture microdissector, Asylum Instruments MFP-3D-BIO atomic force microscope, Applied BioPhysics ECIS (Electric Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing) system, Leica-Aperio VERSA-8 whole slide imager; Caliper Life Sciences IVIS Lumina whole animal imaging system, dedicated Dell computer workstations for image analysis and processing, including image analysis software packages MetaMorph from Universal Imaging (now Molecular Devices), Volocity from Improvision, Inc., and Stereo Investigator from MBF. Moreover, he teaches students in microscopy-based techniques both informally in the laboratory setting and in graduate-level courses offered at the University of Vermont and at The Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, ME.
