Luke.Hammond@osumc.edu
Mr. Hammond was recruited as the Director of Quantitative Imaging in the Department of Neurology in September 2023. Leveraging his previous leadership roles at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute Cellular Imaging Platform (2017-2023) and the Queensland Brain Institute’s Advanced Microscopy Facility (2008-2016), his work at OSU aims to bridge the gap between advanced technology and neuroscience research, by creating innovative imaging and analysis solutions for complex research questions pertinent to neurodegenerative and neuroimmune conditions in the clinic. He widely collaborates with diverse research teams nationally and internationally, where he develops, applies, and disseminates advanced light microscopy and quantitative techniques that enable and accelerate neuroscience research.
Mr. Hammond received his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Psychology from the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2004, followed by a First Class Honors degree in Physiology in 2005, receiving the Douglas HK Lee and Amgen Australia Prizes for highest thesis awarded in the Department of Physiology and Institute for Molecular Biosciences, respectively. He began his PhD in Physiology and Neuroscience with an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship at the University of Queensland in 2006, focusing on novel ultradian rhythms in cells using live imaging and in sensory perception through new measures of perceptual rivalry in the labs of Jennifer Stow and Jack Pettigrew. During this time, he unveiled novel sorting roles for trafficking machinery in the trans-Golgi network and recycling endosomes and developed an automated 3D analysis software tool for quantifying colocalization in organelle sub-compartments (OBCOL).
In 2008, Mr. Hammond deferred his PhD and accepted the exciting role of leading the Advanced Microscopy Facility at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. Under his leadership (2008-2016), the facility expanded dramatically, growing from 10 instruments for widefield and confocal imaging to over 20 specialized instruments for 3D, live, super-resolution, and high-throughput imaging of cells and model organisms, supporting over 100 publications in high impact journals including Nature, Neuron, and Science Translational Medicine.
The experience of building and leading this impactful imaging facility led to an international recruitment by the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University in 2017. Here, Mr. Hammond established an advanced light microscopy imaging and analysis platform for world-leading neuroscience teams. Ultimately serving as Director of Cellular Imaging, he contributed to a diverse range of research efforts including large collaborative circuit mapping projects funded by the NIH’s U19 grant on computational and circuit mechanisms underlying motor control. In this role, he also developed a variety of high-throughput open-source analysis pipelines in Python and ImageJ, including BrainJ SpinalJ, and RESPAN, tools designed for ease of use and deployment for reconstructing and analyzing mouse brains, spinal cords, and dendritic spines, respectively. Leveraging utilizing machine and deep learning through accessible user interfaces, these tools have proven essential for quantifying cells and mesoscale mapping of neuronal projections, advancing research at Columbia University and in the broader neuroscience community as well contributing to novel discoveries published in Cell and Nature Neuroscience.
In addition to his direct contribution to neuroscience research, Mr. Hammond has strived to enhance collaboration and education within the field of microscopy. He has organized and chaired various symposiums and workshops, including workshops for super-resolution imaging, tissue clearing, light-sheet microscopy, and various other imaging and image analysis techniques internationally and nationally. Some of his tutorials and workshops at Columbia (2021) and OSU (2023) are available online, reaching and impacting a broad audience who wish to learn quantitative microscopy.
Research Interests
- Neuro-immune interactions in neurological disorders
- Neuro-skin-immune interactions in acquired peripheral neuropathy
- 3D histocytometry in intact organs and tissue biopsies
- Machine and deep learning applications in biomedical research
Grants and Projects
- 2024-2029 Role of immune cells in skin reinnervation by collateral sprouting after peripheral nerve injury. R01 Research Project Grant (PA-20-185), NINDS