Roshni Cooper
Electrical Engineering
Bio-X SIGF Fellow 2012/2013
Profs. Kang Shen (Biology) and Mark Horowitz (Electrical Engineering)

Synapses, the critical links between neurons and the body, have many intricacies that can be visualized with modern fluorescence imaging. Computer Vision can extract maximal information from these images, by both eliminating subjectivity and human error and also illuminating insights about synapses too complex to capture by eye. Using this visual information to perform forward genetic screens on C. elegans can isolate individual genes linked to synapse apposition, including genes with homologs in humans.  Today, however, accurate and efficient screens are nearly impossible without a significant computational component, which Roshni will be developing through her research as a Bio-X fellow.