Jerry Chang

Prior to joining the Columbia Chemistry Department, Dr. Jerry Chang was a Senior Research Associate at the Rockefeller University in the laboratory of late Nobel laureate Paul Greengard. He also served as an Adjunct Senior Associate of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center under the Chemical Biology Program. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2012 from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee under the direction of Sandra J. Rosenthal and Randy D. Blakely. The primary focus of his thesis work was tracking the dynamic trafficking of antidepressant-sensitive serotonin transporters (SERTs) with quantum dot-conjugated pharmacological probes at single-molecule level, with insights that could not be gained by conventional population analyses. Jerry's graduate work led him to the Greengard laboratory and Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research at The Rockefeller University, where he worked on developing advanced imaging methods and ultrasensitive detection applications for molecular studies of major depressive disorder and Alzheimer’s disease. Working with a strong team of collaborators in the Greengard lab, over the past ten years he has expanded his expertise in advanced microscopy techniques to include single-molecule spectroscopy, image-based high-content screening in drug discovery, super-resolution microscopy, 3D volume imaging and expansion microscopy for imaging brain pathology in neurodegeneration, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for studying molecular basis of oligomeric forms of tau and amyloid-β linked the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. 

With diverse experience in both large facilities and individual labs, he now joins the PBCF Core as a manager and is excited to pursue his career in a core facility setting where the work is collaborative and provides creative opportunities for scientists working in a range of biophysical and biochemical instruments.