Jennifer Curtis

Professor

Education

Ph.D., Physics, University of Chicago, 2002 B.A., Physics, Columbia University, 1997

Honors & Awards

2015                        Georgia Tech College of Science Faculty Mentor Award

2010                        NSF Faculty Early Development CAREER Award

2004                        Alexander von Humbolt Fellow

2002                        Annual James Franck Institute Graduate Symposium, 2nd place

2001                        Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Travel Award

1999                       Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Fellow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.

1998                       GAANN Fellowship

1997                        NCAA Postgraduate Academic Scholarship

1996                        Melvin Schwartz Physics Scholarship, Columbia University 

Research

Cell biophysics. Cell mechanics of adhesion, migration and dynamics. Immunophysics and immunoengineering. Hyaluronan glycobiology. Hyaluronan synthase. Physics of tissues. 

For a detailed overview, visit our group website.

Papers

Frustrated phagocytosis in J774 macrophages ends in distinct non-muscle myosin II contraction. D.T. Kovari, W. Wei, R. Fogg, J.-S. Toro, J.E. Curtis, under review.

Cell surface access is modulated by tethered bottlebrush proteoglycans. P.S. Chang, L.T. McLane, R. Fogg, J. Scrimgeour, J.S. Temenoff, A. Granqvist, J.E. Curtis, under review.

Nanopatterning reconfigurable magnetic landscapes via thermally assisted scanning probe lithography. E. Albisetti, D. Petti, M. Pancaldi, M. Madami, S. Tacchi, J.E. Curtis, W. P. King, A. Papp, G. Csaba, W. Porod, P. Vavassori E. Riedo and R. Bertacco,​ Nature Nano. DOI:10.1038/NNANO.2016.25 (2016).

Beads on a string: Structure of bound aggregates of globular particles and long polymer chains. A. Souslov, J.E. Curtis, P.M. Goldbart, Soft Matter, 11, 8092-8099 (2015).

Speed dependence of thermochemical nanolithography for grey scale patterning. K.M. Carroll, M. Desai, A. Giordano, W.P. King, E. Riedo, J.E. Curtis, ChemPhysChem 15 (12), 2530-2535 (2014).

Heparin coating for controlled biomolecule presentation to mesenchymal stem cell spheroids. J. Lei, L.T. McLane, J.E. Curtis and J.S. Temenoff, ​Biomater. Sci., DOI: 10.1039/C3BM60271K (2014).

Parallelization of thermochemical nanolithography.  K.M. Carroll, X. Lu, S. Kim, Y. Gao, H. Kim, S. Somnath, L. Polloni, R. Sordan, W. King, J.E. Curtis, E. Riedo, ​Nanoscale 6, 1299-1304 (2014).

Spatial organization and mechanical properties in the pericellular matrix on chondrocytes. L.T. McLane, P. Chang, A. Granqvist, H. Boehm, A. Kramer, J. Scrimgeour, J.E. Curtis, Biophys. J., 104(5), 986–996 (2013).

Fabricating nanoscale chemical gradients with thermochemical nanolithography. K.M. Carroll, A.J. Giordano, D. Wang, V.K. Kodali, J. Scrimgeour, W.P. King, S.R. Marder, E. Riedo, J.E. Curtis,  Langmuir 29 (27), 8675-8682, (2013).

How vinculin regulates force transmission. D.W. Dumbauld, T.T. Lee, A. Singh, J. Scrimgeour, C.A. Gersbach, E.A. Zamir, J. Fu, C.S. Chen, J.E. Curtis, S.W. Craig, and A.J. Garcia, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 110 (24) 9788-9793 (2013).

A Generalized Approach for Measuring Microcapsule Permeability with Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching. J. Scrimgeour, A. San Miguel, J.E. Curtis and S.H. Behrens, J. Mater. Sci., 48, 2215-2223 (2013).

Aberration Correction in Wide-field Fluorescence Microscopy by Segmented-pupil Image Interferometry. J. Scrimgeour and J.E. Curtis,  Opt. Exp., 20, 14534-14541 (2012).

Selected for publication in the Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics (VJBO), 7 (8) (2012).

Nanopatterning Technique for Advanced Materials. S.R. Marder, J.E. Curtis, E. Riedo, SPIE Newsroom, DOI: 10.1117/2.1201207.004305 (2012).

Non-Perturbative Chemical Modification of Graphene for Protein Micropatterning. V.K. Kodali, J. Scrimgeour, S. Kim, J.H. Hankinson, K.M. Carroll, W.A. de Heer, C. Berger, J.E. Curtis,  Langmuir. 27 (3), 863-865 (2011).

Microfluidic dialysis cell for biophysical characterization of solvent-responsive soft bio-materials. J. Scrimgeour, J.K. Cho, V. Breedveld, J.E. Curtis, Soft Matter 7, 4762–4767 (2011).

Smart Colloidosomes with a Dissolution Trigger. A. San Miguel, J. Scrimgeour, J.E. Curtis, S. H. Behrens, Soft Matter 5, 3163-3166 (2010).

Photobleaching-Activated Chemical Micropatterning on Self-Assembled Monolayers. J. Scrimgeour, D. Kovari, V. Kodali, and J. E. Curtis, J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 22, 194103 (2010).

Force measurements with a translating holographic optical trap. L.T. McLane, K. M. Carroll, J. Scrimgeour, M. D. Bedoya, A. Kramer, J. E. Curtis.  SPIE Proceedings, 77621J-77621J-10 (2010).

Analyzing the mesoscopic structure of pericellular coats on living cells. H. Boehm, T.A. Mundinger, V. Hagel, C.H.J. Boehm, J. E. Curtis, J. P. Spatz, MRS Proceedings 1274, QQ02-03 (2010).

ThermoChemical NanoLithography of Multi-Functional Nanotemplates for Assembling Nano-Objects. D. Wang, V. Kodali, W. D. Underwood, J. E. Jarvholm, T. Odaka, S. C. Jones, M. Rumi, Z. Dai, W. P. King, S. R. Marder, J. E. Curtis and E. Riedo,  Adv. Funct. Mat., 19, 3696-3702 (2009). [Front cover of journal issue]

Biomimetic Models of the Actin Cortex. T. Haraszti, S. Schulz, K. Uhrig, R. Kurre, W. Roos, C.H.J. Schmitz, J.E. Curtis, T. Maier, A.E.-M. Clemen, and J.P. Spatz,  Biophysical Rev. & Lett. 4, 17-32 (2009).

Optical force sensor array in a microfluidic device based on holographic optical tweezers.  K. Uhrig, R. Kurre, C. Schmitz, J.E. Curtis, T. Haraszti, A.E.-M. Clemen and J.P. Spatz, Lab on a Chip, 9, 661-668 (2009).

Mapping the mechanics and macromolecular organization of hyaluronan-rich cell coats. H. Boehm, T.A. Mundinger, C.H.J. Boehm, V. Hagel, U. Rauch, J.P. Spatz, J.E. Curtis,  Soft Matter 5, 4331-4337 (2009).

Biomimetic models of the actin cytoskeleton. C. Mohrdieck, F. Dalmas, E. Arzt, R. Tharmann, M. M. A. E. Claessens, A. R. Bausch, A. Roth, E. Sackmann, C. H. J. Schmitz, J.E. Curtis, W. Roos, S. Schulz, K. Uhrig, J. P. Spatz, Small 3, 1016-1022 (2007).  [Inner cover art]

Cell-assisted assembly of colloidal crystallites. V.K. Kodali, W. Roos, J. P. Spatz and J.E. Curtis, Soft Matter 3, 337-348 (2007).

Highlighted by Chemical Biology in “Cell Structure Made Crystal Clear?” Vol. 2, ISSN 1747-1605 (2007).

Tuning the orbital angular momentum in optical vortex beams. C.H.J. Schmitz, K. Uhrig, J.P. Spatz and J.E. Curtis, Opt. Exp. 14, 6604 (2006).

 High-precision positioning of holographic optical tweezers. C.H.J. Schmitz, J.P. Spatz and J.E. Curtis, Opt. Exp., 13(21), 8678-8685 (2005).

Symmetry dependence of holograms for optical trapping. J.E. Curtis, C.H.J. Schmitz and J.P. Spatz, Opt. Lett., 30(16) 2086-2088 (2005).

Getting a Grip: Hyaluronan-mediated cellular adhesion. J.E. Curtis and J.P. Spatz, SPIE Proceedings, 5514, 455 (2004).

Constructing and probing a biomimetic models of the actin cortex with holographic optical tweezers. C.H.J. Schmitz, J.E. Curtis, and J.P. Spatz, SPIE Proceedings, 5514, 446 (2004).

Modulated optical vortices. J.E. Curtis and D.G. Grier, Opt. Lett. 28(11) 872-874 (2003).

The structure of optical vortices. J.E. Curtis and D.G. Grier, Phys. Rev. Lett., 90, 133901 (2003).

Dynamic holographic optical tweezers. J.E. Curtis, B.A. Koss and D.G. Grier, Opt. Commun. 207, 169-175 (2002). 

Other Publications

Patents

Thermochemical nanolithography of multi-functional templates for selective assembly of bioactive proteins, D. Wang, E. Riedo, V. K. Kodali, J. E. Curtis, W. D. Underwood II, T. Okada, S. C. Jones, M. Rumi, S. R. Marder, R. Szoszkiewicz, and W. P. King, US Provisional Patent 61/182190 (2009).

Use of multiple optical tweezers for pumping, mixing and sorting, J. E. Curtis, B. A. Koss and D. G. Grier, U. S. Patent 7,176,445, The University of Chicago (2007)

Transverse optical accelerator and generalized optical vortices, D. G. Grier and J. E. Curtis; U. S. Patent 7,109,473, The University of Chicago (2006); U. S. Patent 7,232,989, The University of Chicago (2007)

Multiple optical vortices for manipulating particles, J. E. Curtis, B. A. Koss and D. G. Grier; U. S. Patent 6,995,351, The University of Chicago (2006)

Apparatus for using optical tweezers to manipulate materials, D. G. Grier, E. R. Dufresne, J. E. Curtis and B. A. Koss; U. S. Patent 6,626,546, The University of Chicago (2003). U. S. Patent 6,846,084, The University of Chicago (2005); U. S. Patent 7,104,659, The University of Chicago (2006)

Use of multiple optical vortices for pumping, mixing and sorting, J. E. Curtis, B. A. Koss and D. G. Grier; U. S. Patent 6,737,634, The University of Chicago (2004). U. S. Patent 6,858,833, The University of Chicago (2005).

Memberships & Committees

Editorial Board Member, Biophysical Journal

American Physical Society, Biophysical Society, International Society for Hyaluronan Science