Milstein Lab @ UofT
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milsteinlab.bsky.social
Milstein Lab @ UofT
@milsteinlab.bsky.social
1.1K followers 530 following 35 posts
Biological Physics at #UofT. We study (primarily) bacteria using single-molecule and single-cell techniques.

http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/milsteinlab
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milsteinlab.bsky.social
Learn more about #INSPIRE, a program we developed at the interface of #biophysics, drug development, #innovation and #entrepreneurship

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmwL...
2025 INSPIRE Scholars Program
YouTube video by Office of VP Research & Innovation at UTM
www.youtube.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:17 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
At long last, are newest article on "Enhancing the applied force and range of axial optical tweezers” is out. #singlemolecule #biophysics

www.cell.com/biophysrepor...
Enhancing the applied force and range of axial optical tweezers
Axial optical tweezers provide a natural geometry for performing biomechanical assays, such as rupture force measurements of protein binding. Axial traps, however, are typically weaker than their late...
www.cell.com
June 29, 2025 at 1:07 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Our experimental lab w/ the Hilfinger lab @uoft.bsky.social are jointly looking to hire a #postdoc in experimental biological #physics. Exploring noise and dynamics within single-cells and bacterial populations. Please share with anyone you think might be interested.
June 17, 2025 at 9:34 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Here’s a great opportunity if you know of anyone looking for a postdoc.
davidasivak.bsky.social davidasivak.bsky.social @davidasivak.bsky.social · Jun 2
Postdoc opportunity!
Join us in heavenly Vancouver (Canada) to develop fundamental nonequilibrium stat mech, thermo, and info theory applied to biomolecular machines and in close collaboration with experiment.
Details: www.sfu.ca/physics/siva...
Postdoc Ad
www.sfu.ca
June 2, 2025 at 4:43 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
This is based on our publication in #BioinformaticsAdvances, but is much much faster, does all the preprocessing for you, and has a nice GUI.

academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
An expectation–maximization approach to quantifying protein stoichiometry with single-molecule imaging
AbstractMotivation. Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is a super-resolution technique capable of rendering nanometer scale images of cellular
academic.oup.com
April 15, 2025 at 7:14 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
If anyone is interested, we’ve developed a nice GUI in Python for molecular counting with #SMLM. Just give it a localization file and it will estimate the monomer/dimer fraction.

github.com/thericshi/pr...
GitHub - thericshi/protein-stoichiometry-quantifier
Contribute to thericshi/protein-stoichiometry-quantifier development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
April 15, 2025 at 7:11 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
A big shout out to everyone who’s marching at today’s #standupforscience events.
March 7, 2025 at 12:27 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Another successful collaboration with the Beharry lab on #antimicrobial photodynamic therapy. This just out in @rscmedchem.rsc.org:
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Nitroreductase-activatable photosensitizers for selective antimicrobial photodynamic therapy
Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) utilizes light, oxygen and a photosensitizer (PS) to enact cell death via the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This mechanism of cell death, via o...
pubs.rsc.org
March 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Milstein Lab @ UofT
ducha-aiki.bsky.social
Sometimes reading Hamming makes me sad, because I recognize myself in this quote.
Question: How much effort should go into library work? Hamming: It depends upon the field. I will say this about it. There was a fellow at Bell Labs, a very, very, smart guy. He was always in the library; he read everything. If you wanted references, you went to him and he gave you all kinds of references. But in the middle of forming these theories, I formed a proposition: there would be no effect named after him in the long run. He is now retired from Bell Labs and is an Adjunct Professor. He was very valuable; I'm not questioning that. He wrote some very good Physical Review articles; but there's no effect named after him because he read too much. If you read all the time what other people have done you will think the way they thought. If you want to think new thoughts that are different, then do what a lot of creative people do - get the problem reasonably clear and then refuse to look at any answers until you've thought the problem through carefully how you would do it, how you could slightly change the problem to be the correct one. So yes, you need to keep up. You need to keep up more to find out what the problems are than to read to find the solutions. The reading is necessary to know what is going on and what is possible. But reading to get the solutions does not seem to be the way to do great research. So I'll give you two answers. You read; but it is not the amount, it is the way you read that counts.
February 25, 2025 at 9:17 AM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Here’s an event I would highly recommend. Just around the corner if you’re in the GTA.
February 19, 2025 at 2:31 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/petitions/de...
Dear Future Premier, science needs to be a priority.
I just signed a letter to put science and evidence-informed decision-making at the heart of our provincial elections!🗳️🔬 In the upcoming elections in Ontario, it's crucial that our future premiers pr...
actionnetwork.org
February 6, 2025 at 6:52 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Lots of #imaging and #microscopy workshops coming up in Canada. Just thought I would share. Thanks @bioimagingna.bsky.social and #CanadaBioimaging
February 6, 2025 at 3:49 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Here’s a bit more information on #INSPIRE2024. Feel free to print out and post.
January 21, 2025 at 6:48 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Registration for #INSPIRE2025 is open to all #Physics, #Chemistry, and #Biology undergraduates with an interest in Quantitative Biological and Translational Sciences. Work directly in labs @uoft.bsky.social @uoftmississauga.bsky.social while also learning about #innovation and #entrepreneurship.
January 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Look what I just found in my mailbox. It’s nice to finally see this is print.
January 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Pleased to see that #SpinUP made the news. Lot’s of innovative research translation efforts happening here @uoftmississauga.bsky.social @uoft.bsky.social

www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Why Canada excels at medical tech startups
The Globe and Mail offers the most authoritative news in Canada, featuring national and international news
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 10, 2024 at 4:46 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Forget a clean room, we can do most of our larger feature #microfluidics on a resin based #3Dprinter. Here’s a PDMS mold for a serpentine mixer that you can even bake at 120C.
Serpentine mixer mold
December 9, 2024 at 6:18 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Finally starting to get this system working. While these movies might not look too impressive, they make me feel good. #microfluidics #biophysics
December 4, 2024 at 2:51 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
We’re looking to hire a theoretical #biological #physicist at either the Assistant or Associate professor level. The post closes soon, so please spread the word. #Toronto is a great place to live and work.

jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
Assistant Professor - Theoretical Biological Physics
Assistant Professor - Theoretical Biological Physics
jobs.utoronto.ca
November 21, 2024 at 11:53 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Congrats to Zhang and Tianyi on successfully pulling off their #PhDs! Now I need more students…so if you know of anyone...
November 18, 2024 at 3:19 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
And here’s a movie of one of our microchannel competition experiments. It shows how spontaneous ordering of the cells can lead to a quasi-stable, mixed bacterial community.
November 14, 2024 at 5:26 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Oh, and finally, our side hustle is working with medicinal chemists to develop novel #antimicrobials. Here’s our latest effort with Andrew Beharry's lab

chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Antimicrobial Efficacy of Photocaged β‐Lapachone in Bacillus subtilis Biofilms
Photocaged β-lapachone uncages effectively in B. subtilis biofilms using λ=420 nm light, causing catalase inhibition, leading to inhibition of growth. With antimicrobial resistance on the rise, an al....
chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 13, 2024 at 10:42 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
And the other half of our time is spent developing single-molecule imaging, with a particular emphasis on counting molecules and defining the oligomerization state of membrane proteins (particularly #GPCRs).
November 13, 2024 at 7:11 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
We have also been developing ecological theories of bacterial competition within confined environments
November 13, 2024 at 7:07 PM
milsteinlab.bsky.social
Our most recent work looked at the mechanical effects on competition between two model bacteria competing for space and resources within microchannels.
November 13, 2024 at 7:05 PM