Past Research

The first research experience I had involved testing the physiological electromagnetic properties of Ampullary Canals of Lorenzini in bamboo sharks. The ampullary canals are neat little organs that act like electromagnetic band pass filters. These act as a sort of "sixth sense." Instead of dead people, these canals detect the electromagnetic signals produced by the nerves of predators and prey. This project was in conjunction with a experimental physics class I had at the University of Puget Sound. I modeled the canal, then designed and built an apparatus to test the voltage characteristics of the canal tissue in-vitro.

I also assisted Dr. Rand Worland in developing a novel physics experiment to demonstrate the characteristics and theory behind Lissajou patterns. This involved a little guerrilla engineering of a spark table and a double pendulum. This was a lot of fun, even though I got shocked a lot (we were running 30,000 volts through the system, producing a 3 cm arc), but that's what undergraduates are for! If you want to check it out, here is the reference. I'm listed in the acknowledgments.

Rand S. Worland, Matthew J. Moelter. Two-Dimensional Pendulum Experiments Using a Spark Generator. The Physics Teacher . 38, 489-492 (2000).


After my physics degree at the University of Puget Sound, I interned at the Institute of Systems Biology (Started by Dr. Leroy Hood). I worked for the Technology Development team helping to engineer their Ink-Jet microarrayer. The above picture (the one with the ISB in dots) is a DNA microarray arrayed with the arrayer developed there. That's where this whole microarray thing got started.

I carried the topic over to Washington University in St. Louis when I transferred to complete my Dual Degree Program. I was involved in an independent study under Dr. Frank Yin. My research here involved looking for a way to quantify DNA hybridization spots using atomic force microscopy.