معرفی
Adam Cohen is Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics at Harvard University, where he also serves as CPB Co-Head Tutor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. His laboratory is located at 12 Oxford Street, Mallinckrodt M115, Cambridge, MA.
Dr. Cohen's research works at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and biology, developing novel physical tools to study molecules and cells. His lab pioneered fluorescent voltage-indicating proteins that enable optical mapping of neural activity, opening doors to all-optical electrophysiology and large-scale brain activity mapping. His work spans voltage imaging technologies, excitability and microcircuits, synthetic electrophysiology, membrane and DNA mechanics, and voltage imaging throughout life across diverse biological systems from bacteria to mammalian tissues.
The Cohen Lab's recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward increasingly sophisticated optical techniques for measuring and manipulating biological systems. Their work shows significant advances in two-photon voltage imaging, far-red fluorescent indicators, dendritic integration mapping, and optogenetic control of developmental signaling. A notable trend is the integration of computational methods with optical approaches, as seen in compressed sensing techniques and machine learning-based signal extraction.
- NIH New Innovator Award
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Obama
- Sackler Prize in Chemistry
- Technology Review Magazine Top 35 US Technological Innovators under 35
- Popular Science Brilliant Ten top young scientists
Dr. Cohen actively mentors numerous students and postdocs across multiple projects, including developing tickertape-like protein assemblies for neural recording, studying dendritic integration, and performing wide-area all-optical electrophysiology. His lab has secured significant funding through NIH, HHMI, and other prestigious sources to support their innovative work at the physics-biology interface. The Cohen Lab maintains strong collaborations with numerous research groups, including those of Alex Schier, Bernardo Sabatini, and Robert Campbell.
The Cohen Lab operates as a highly interdisciplinary research environment combining optics, protein engineering, chemistry, electrophysiology, simulation, and theory. They work at multiple biological scales from individual molecules to whole organisms, with major focus areas including neural electrical signaling, mechanical signaling in cells, and physical forces in embryonic development. Their technological innovations have created entirely new approaches for studying biological systems that were previously inaccessible to direct measurement.
