Alex de Marco

I did my Ph.D. at EMBL in Heidelberg, where I focused on the development of cryo-Electron Tomography and Subtomogram Averaging to allow large-scale structural studies on heterogeneous and pleomorphic samples. I then applied this technique to analyze different stages of the replication cycle in HIV-1.

Immediately after my Ph.D., I joined FEI Company (now ThermoFisher Scientific) where I have been responsible for the development of hardware and software solutions for Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM).

Currently, I am working as A/Professor at Monash University. Here the main focus of my research is on the development of new methods (and associated hardware/software) to perform molecular resolution imaging in biological samples.

The goal of my research is to allow structural biology on proteins directly in their native environment: the cell. In order to succeed, I combine a variety of imaging techniques: from super-resolution light microscopy to cryo-Electron Tomography; together with cutting-edge microfluidics.

Currently, the core of the lab is the "world-first" multigas plasma Focused Ion Beam. This unique instrument is capable of highly efficient direct lithography on a variety of materials, including cryo-preserved biological tissue. 

The lab is currently composed of a mixture of biologists, physicists and engineers, therefore, the interests span from developing new methods, all the way to designing and prototyping microlenses. 

For more information about the research activities and open position visit our Lab webpage

www.demarco-lab.com