Wesley Legant

Wesley Legant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. His research focuses on developing advanced imaging tools and microfabricated platforms to study cellular and tissue-level mechanics, particularly in 3D environments. Key areas include super-resolution microscopy, cell migration mechanisms, and engineered microtissues for studying mechanobiology. Legant holds appointments in both Pharmacology and the joint Biomedical Engineering department with NC State.

Education: PhD in Bioengineering (University of Pennsylvania, 2012) and BS in Biomedical Engineering (Washington University in St. Louis, 2005). Awards include the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2019), Packard Fellowship, and Beckman Young Investigator recognition.

Research interests span three core areas: 1) novel microscopy techniques like adaptive optics and lattice light-sheet imaging for live-cell observation, 2) mechanistic studies of cell migration in complex matrices using traction force microscopy, and 3) microfabricated platforms to investigate tissue-matrix interactions. His lab collaborates across disciplines to address fundamental biology questions with engineering innovations.

• Awards: Packard Fellow (2019), NIH Innovator Award (2019), Beckman Investigator (2019), Searle Scholar (2019)
• Labs: Jointly affiliated with Pharmacology and Biomedical Engineering departments; develops custom imaging instrumentation
• Grants: NIH funding supporting multi-scale microscopy and mechanobiology projects