Kidan Tadesse

BioE Ph.D. Defense Presentation

Time and Date: 10:30 AM, Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Location: Krone Engineered Biosystems Building, Conference Room 3029

https://gatech.zoom.us/j/95720085733

Meeting ID: 957 2008 5733

Advisor: Shu Jia, Ph.D. (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)

Thesis Committee:

Ahmet F. Coskun, Ph.D. (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)

Brooks Lindsey, Ph.D. (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University)

Farzad Fereidouni, Ph.D. (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine)

Brian S. Robinson, M.D., PhD. (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine)

Towards scalable multifocal super-resolution imaging

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy enables visualization of subdiffractional biological structure, but extending these capabilities to larger and more topographically heterogeneous specimens introduces challenges in instrumentation complexity, axial coverage, and imaging throughput. This dissertation presents the systems-level development of multifocal super-resolution microscopy platforms designed to address these limitations. First, three-dimensional multifocal scanning microscopy (3D-MSM) establishes a simplified sample-scanning architecture that achieves approximately twofold lateral and axial resolution enhancement with optical sectioning. Next, resonant multifocal scanning microscopy (RSM) incorporates rapid axial refocusing and continuous sample translation to extend super-resolution imaging across larger axial and lateral ranges while maintaining approximately twofold lateral resolution enhancement. Finally, these capabilities are integrated into an automated imaging framework that combines extended-depth large-area survey imaging, scalable computational reconstruction and analysis, coordinate-aware target selection, and targeted three-dimensional super-resolution acquisition. Together, this work advances multifocal super-resolution microscopy from localized volumetric imaging toward more scalable interrogation of complex biological and pathology-relevant specimens.