Melissa Skala

Melissa Skala, Ph.D., is the Carol Skornicka Chair of Biomedical Imaging at the Morgridge Institute for Research and a full Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her laboratory pioneers label-free optical imaging technologies—most notably fluorescence-lifetime microscopy and optical coherence tomography—to quantify metabolic heterogeneity in cancer, immune cells and engineered tissues, with direct translation to cell-therapy manufacturing and personalized cancer medicine.

Education

• Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2007, Duke University
• M.S. Biomedical Engineering, 2004, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• B.S. Physics, 2002, Washington State University

Research Focus

The Skala lab develops and applies cutting-edge photonics platforms—including autofluorescence lifetime imaging, optical redox ratio mapping, second-harmonic generation, and light-sheet microscopy—to interrogate metabolic states of single cells and organoids in vitro and in vivo. Major thrusts include:

• Cancer metabolism and immunotherapy response
• Immune cell activation and exhaustion
• Stem-cell and CAR-T manufacturing quality control
• Micro-physiological disease models
• Machine-learning–driven image analysis

Publication Trends

Across >250 peer-reviewed papers since 2004, she has progressed from foundational studies on NAD(P)H/FAD redox imaging in epithelial tissues to recent landmark reports defining metabolic biomarkers for T-cell activation, immune-cell subtyping, and patient-derived cancer organoid drug response. A 2025–2024 cluster emphasizes label-free metabolic monitoring of stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes, neutrophil functional states, and collagen remodeling during immunotherapy.

Scientific Honors

• Fellow, OSA, SPIE, AIMBE (2019)
• Carol Skornicka Chair, Morgridge Institute (2022)
• Daniel M. Albert Chair, Retina Research Foundation (2021)
• Stand Up To Cancer – Sharp Collaboration Award (2017)
• NSF CAREER Award (2016)
• NIH/NCI Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) (2010)

Grants & Team Mentorship

Dr. Skala directs multiple active NIH grants (R01, R35, P30) totaling several million dollars, focusing on metabolic imaging for cancer immunotherapy, stem-cell manufacturing, and infectious disease models. The Skala Laboratory actively recruits and mentors graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations across engineering, oncology and immunology.

Laboratory & Infrastructure

The Skala Lab is equipped with custom-built multimodal optical systems, high-throughput microfluidic platforms, and dedicated animal-imaging suites. Core capabilities include time-correlated single-photon counting, hyperspectral imaging, and AI-driven single-cell analytics.