We are a group of Physicists and Biologists working collaboratively to develop and apply single-molecule and single-cell optical techniques to complex, biological systems. Our efforts range from employing super-resolved localization microscopy, to quantify the abundance and stoichiometry of proteins and nucleic acids within cells, to combining microfluidics with computational microscopy, to study the single-cell expression and competitive population dynamics of bacteria. We also develop bioimage analytic software, from machine learning and segmentation algorithms to three-dimensional clustering algorithms, and ecological models of bacterial communities.

What's Happening

We are actively recruiting PhD graduate students for a number of exciting projects from single-molecule imaging of protein organization to studying stochastic gene expression, bacterial ecology and microbial dynamics. Contact josh.milstein@utoronto.ca.

(05/08/2026): Just accepted to PLoS Computational Biology: "The influence of cell morphology on the dynamics and stability of model bacterial communities".

(20/05/2026): Our recent review article "Bacterial Competition in Confined and Spatially Structured Habitats" is now online at MBoC.

(26/02/2026): A preprint of our recent work "The influence of cell morphology on the dynamics and stability of model bacterial communities" is now online.

(05/02/2026): Another successful collaboration with the Beharry Lab on novel antimicrobials "A Nitroreductase-Activatable Lapachol Against Bacillus subtilis Unveils Antimicrobial Specificity" was accepted to ChemMedChem.