Publications

Books

Introductory Biomedical Imaging: Principles and Practice from Microscopy to MRI. B.A. Scalettar & J.R. Abney (2022) CRC Press. ISBN 9781032328195.

Imaging is everywhere. We use our eyes to see and cameras to take pictures. Scientists use microscopes and telescopes to peer into cells and out to space. Doctors use ultrasound, X-rays, radioisotopes, and MRI to look inside our bodies. If you are curious about imaging, open this book to learn the fundamentals.

Imaging is a powerful tool in fundamental and applied scientific research and also plays a crucial role in medical diagnostics, treatment, and research. This undergraduate textbook introduces cutting-edge imaging techniques and the physics underlying them. Elementary concepts from electromagnetism, optics, and modern physics are used to explain prominent forms of light microscopy, as well as endoscopy, ultrasound, projection radiography and computed tomography, radionuclide imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging. The book also covers digital image processing and analysis. Theoretical principles are reinforced with illustrative homework problems, applications, activities, and experiments, and by emphasizing recurring themes, including the effects of resolution, contrast, and noise on image quality. Readers will learn imaging fundamentals, diagnostic capabilities, and strengths and weaknesses of techniques.

This textbook had its genesis, and has been vetted, in a Biomedical Imaging course at Lewis & Clark College and is designed to facilitate the teaching of similar courses at other institutions. It is unique in its coverage of both optical microscopy and medical imaging at an intermediate level, and exceptional in its coverage of material at several levels of sophistication.

Research Articles

How a gap junction maintains its structure. J. Braun, J.R. Abney & J.C. Owicki (1984) Nature. 310:316–318.
Lateral interactions among membrane proteins: valid estimates based on freeze-fracture electron microscopy. J. Braun, J.R. Abney & J.C. Owicki (1987) Biophys. J. 52:427–439.
Lateral interactions among membrane proteins: implications for the organization of gap junctions. J.R. Abney, J. Braun & J.C. Owicki (1987) Biophys. J. 52:441–454.
Theoretical comparison of the self diffusion and mutual diffusion of interacting membrane proteins. B.A. Scalettar, J.R. Abney & J.C. Owicki (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 85:6726–6730.
Self diffusion of interacting membrane proteins. J.R. Abney, B.A. Scalettar & J.C. Owicki (1989) Biophys. J. 55:817-833.
Mutual diffusion of interacting membrane proteins. J.R. Abney, B.A. Scalettar & J.C. Owicki (1989) Biophys. J. 56:315–326.
An ‘exact’ integral equation approach to the inverse problem in two-dimensional fluids. J.R. Abney & J.C. Owicki (1989) Chem. Phys. Lett. 164:73–76.
On the measurement of particle number and mobility in nonideal solutions by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. J.R. Abney, B.A. Scalettar & C.R. Hackenbrock (1990) Biophys. J. 58:261–265.
Dynamics, structure, and function are coupled in the mitochondrial matrix. B.A. Scalettar, J.R. Abney & C.R. Hackenbrock (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 88:8057–8061.
Evanescent interference patterns for fluorescence microscopy. J.R. Abney, B.A. Scalettar & N.L. Thompson (1992) Biophys. J. 61:542–552.
Determinants of the translational mobility of a small solute in cell cytoplasm. H.P. Kao, J.R. Abney & A.S. Verkman (1993) J. Cell Biol. 120:175–184.
Calculation of resonance energy transfer in crowded biological membranes. D.B. Zimet, B.J.-M. Thevenin, A.S. Verkman, S.B. Shohet & J.R. Abney (1995) Biophys. J. 68:1592–1603.
Fluctuations and membrane heterogeneity. J.R. Abney & B.A. Scalettar (1995) Biophys. Chem. 57:27–36. (Special issue on “Molecular Crowding”)
Chromatin dynamics in interphase nuclei and its implications for nuclear structure. J.R. Abney, B. Cutler, M.L. Fillbach, D. Axelrod & B.A. Scalettar (1997) J. Cell Biol. 137:1459–1468.
Real-time imaging of the dynamics of secretory granules in growth cones. J.R. Abney, C.D. Meliza, B. Cutler, M. Kingma, J.E. Lochner & B.A. Scalettar (1999) Biophys. J. 77:2887–2895.

Teaching Articles

Saving your student’s skin: undergraduate experiments that probe UV protection by sunscreens and sunglasses. J.R. Abney & B.A. Scalettar (1998) J. Chem. Ed. 75:757–760.
Biomedical imaging in the undergraduate physics curriculum: module on optical microscopy. B.A. Scalettar & J.R. Abney (2015) Am. J. Phys. 83:711–718.

Invited Review Articles

Theories of protein-lipid and protein-protein interactions in membranes. J.R. Abney & J.C. Owicki (1985) in Progress in Protein-Lipid Interactions, eds. A. Watts and J.J.H.H.M. de Pont (Elsevier, Amsterdam), Vol. 1, pp. 1–60. (ISBN 0-444-80630-X)
Molecular crowding and protein diffusion in biological membranes. B.A. Scalettar & J.R. Abney (1991) Comments Mol. Cell. Biophys. 7:79–107.
Molecular crowding and protein organization in biological membranes. J.R. Abney & B.A. Scalettar (1993) in Thermodynamics of Membrane Receptors and Channels, ed. M.B. Jackson (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida), pp. 183–226. (ISBN 0-8493-6908-8)