Michael D. Mason

Prof. Michael D. Mason
Prof. Michael D. Mason
 Professor
Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Program Coordinator

  • B.S. (Chemistry) University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, 1994
  • B.S. (Physics, minor in Mathematics) University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, 1995
  • Ph.D. (Chemistry) University of California – Santa Barbara, 2000

Phone: 207.581.2344
Fax: 207.581.2323
Email: michael.mason@maine.edu

Research Interests

Photophysics of nanoparticles and molecular nanoprobes • single molecule imaging • time-resolved single photon spectroscopic imaging techniques

Current Research

  • Development of Single Molecule/Nanoparticle Time-Resolved Imaging Microspectroscopy

In all high resolution imaging techniques there is a continuing drive to increase the amount of signal, and therefore information, obtained. In general, these techniques fall into one of two categories: High quantum efficiency time-resolved single photon counting, or much lower efficiency spectroscopies using dispersion type monochrometers/spectrometers. In fact, some combination of these techniques represents the potential for the greatest information density: the temporal behavior, energy, and in a scanning format, the point of origin within a 3-dimensional sample of each photon. Recently, this effort has been advanced using single-photon counting techniques coupled with high efficiency optics providing <ns time resolution and simultaneous, though severely limited,energy resolution. By further extending these techniques to the single molecule level, where the underlying photophysics of the probe fluor are carefully characterized, the quantum mechanical nature of the fluor can be used to statistically analyse the photon stream revealing the underlying physical and chemical processes within the system of interest with a resolution not previously obtained. Unlike traditional spectroscopies, the sub-ensemble nature of the single molecule experiment is uniquely sensitive to rare events and random fluctuations which are otherwise washed out in bulk measurements due to their low relative probability and the use of experimental averaging.

  • Raman Active Nanoparticles
  • Optical Methods for Characterization of Nanoparticles

  • Synthesis and Characterization of Bio-Active Nanoprobes for Cancer Detection

  • Development of Simultaneous Fluorescence and Sum-Frequency Imaging Microscope

  • Characterization of Morphology and Thermodynamic Properties of Mesoporous Membranes Using Single Molecule Methods

  • Development and Application of Sub-Diffraction Limited Optical Imaging Methods

  • Single Molecule Characterization of Bio- and Bio-Mimetic Membranes

  • Early Detection and Real-Time Imaging of Cancer

  • Development of Long-Circulating and Cancer Targeted Metal Nano-Bioconjugates

  • Development of Anisotropic Conducting Nanoparticles for Electronic Polymeric Devices

 

Selected Publications

Publications of Prof. Michael D. Mason (PDF)