Alioscka Sousa, Ph.D. Research Fellow Supramolecular Structure and Function Section Laboratory of Cellular Imaging and Macromolecular Biophysics Bldg. 13, Rm. 3E73 Tel: 301-594-5346 Fax: 301-435-4699 E-mail: sousaali@mail.nih.gov

---

Research Interests

• Development and application of unconventional imaging modes in electron tomography of biological specimens, including special, 3-D reconstruction of micrometer-thick sections using axial Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) tomography
• Correlative light-electron microscopy of biological structures
• Mass measurement of macromolecular assemblies with quantitative STEM imaging
• Quantitative characterization of nanomedicine delivery systems by electron microscopy
• Biological interactions of nanoparticle-bioconjugates

Publications

Sousa AA, Leapman RD. Development and application of the STEM for the biological sciences. Ultramicroscopy. In press.

Sousa AA, Morgan JT, Brown PH, Adams A, Zhang G, Ackerson CJ, Kruhlak MJ, Leapman RD. Synthesis, characterization and direct intracellular imaging of ultrasmall and uniform glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles. Small. In press.

Sousa AA, Leapman RD. Mass mapping of amyloid fibrils in the electron microscope using STEM imaging. In, Nanoimaging: Methods and Protocols (Ed: Sousa AA, Kruhlak MJ). Humana/Springer. In press.

Norlin N, Hellberg M, Filippov A, Sousa AA, Grobner G, Leapman RD, Almqvist N, Antzutkin ON. Aggregation and fibril morphology of the artic mutation of Alzheimer’s Ab peptide by CD, TEM, STEM and in situ AFM. J. Struct. Biol. In press.

Fera A, Dosemeci A, Sousa AA, Yang C, Leapman RD, Reese TS. Direct visualization of CamKII at postsynaptic densities by EM tomography. J. Comp. Neurology. In press.

Aronova MA, Sousa AA, and Leapman RD. EELS characterization of radiolytic products in frozen samples. Micron, 42:252-256, 2011.

Chen X, Nelson CD, Li X, Winters CA, Azzam R, Sousa AA, Leapman RD, Gainer H, Sheng M, and Reese TS. PSD-95 is required to sustain the molecular organization of the postsynaptic density. J Neurosci, 31:6329-6338, 2011.

Sousa AA, Azari AA, Zhang G, and Leapman RD. Dual-axis electron tomography of biological specimens: extending the limits of specimen thickness with bright-field STEM imaging. J Struct Biol, 174:107-114, 2011.

Venzo A, Antonello S, Gasco JA, Guryanov I, Leapman RD, Perera NV, Sousa AA, Zamuner M, Zanella A, Maran F. Effect of the charge state on the nuclear magnetic resonance of monodisperse Au25[S(CH₂)₂Ph]₁₈z clusters. Anal Chem, 83: 6355-6362, 2011.

Bhirde AA, Liu G, Jin A, Iglesias R, Sousa AA, Leapman RD, Gutkind JS, Lee S, Chen X. Combining portable Raman probes with nanotubes for theranostic applications. Theranostics, 1: 310-321, 2011.

Bhirde AA, Patel S, Sousa AA, Patel V, Molinolo AA, Ji Y, Leapman RD, Gutkind JS, Rusling JF. Distribution and clearance of PEG-single-walled carbon nanotube cancer drug delivery vehicles in mice. Nanomedicine, 5:1535-1546, 2010.

Aronova MA, Sousa AA, Zhang G, and Leapman RD. Limitations of beam damage in electron spectroscopic tomography of embedded cells. J Microsc, 239:223-232, 2010.

Bhirde AA, Sousa AA, Patel V, Azari AA, Gutkind JS, Leapman RD, and Rusling JF. Single-molecule imaging and quantification of a platinum-based drug attached to carbon nanotubes. Nanomedicine, 4:763-772, 2009.

Bhirde AA, Patel V, Gavard J, Zhang G, Sousa AA, Masedunskas A, Leapman RD, Weigert R, Gutkind JS, and Rusling JF. Selective targeting of squamous cell cancer using EGF-directed carbon nanotube-based delivery. ACSNano, 3:307-316, 2009.

Hohmann-Marriott MF, Sousa AA, Azari AA, Glushakova S, Zhang G, Zimmerberg J, and Leapman RD. Nanoscale 3D cellular imaging by axial scanning transmission electron tomography. Nature Methods, 6:729-731, 2009.

Sarin H, Kanevsky AS, Wu H, Sousa AA, Wilson CM, Aronova MA, Griffiths GL, Leapman RD, and Vo HQ. Physiologic upper limit of pore size in the blood-tumor barrier of malignant solid tumors. J Transl Med, 7:51, 2009.

Sengonul M, Sousa A, and Libera M. Selective adsorption of surface-modified ferritin on a phase-separated polymer blend. Coll Surf B: Biointerfaces, 73:152-155, 2009.

Sousa AA, Aronova MA, Wu H, Sarin H, Griffiths GL, and Leapman RD. Determining molecular mass distributions and compositions of functionalized dendrimer nanoparticles. Nanomedicine, 4:391-399, 2009.

Sousa AA, Hohmann-Marriott MF, Zhang G, and Leapman RD. Monte Carlo electron-trajectory simulations in bright-field and dark-field STEM: implications for tomography of thick biological specimens. Ultramicroscopy, 109:213-221, 2009.

Kim G, Sousa AA, Meyers D, and Libera M. Nanoscale composition of biphasic polymer nanocolloids in aqueous suspension. Microsc Microanal, 14:459-468, 2008.

Sarin H, Kanevsky AS, Wu H, Brimacombe KR, Fung SH, Sousa AA, Auh S, Wilson CM, Aronova MA, Leapman RD, Griffiths GL, Sharma KL, and Hall MD. Effective transvascular delivery of nanoparticles across the blood-brain tumor barrier into malignant glioma cells. J Trans Med, 6:80, 2008.

Sousa AA, Hohmann-Marriott MF, Aronova MA, Zhang G, and Leapman RD. Determination of quantitative distributions of heavy-metal stain in biological specimens by annular dark-field STEM. J Struc Biol, 162:14-28, 2008.

Aronova MA, Kim YC, Harmon R, Sousa AA, Zhang G, and Leapman RD. Three-dimensional elemental mapping of phosphorus by quantitative electron spectroscopic tomography. J Struct Biol, 160:35-48, 2007.

Sousa AA, Aronova MA, Kim YC, Dorward LM, Zhang G, and Leapman RD. On the feasibility of visualizing ultrasmall immunogold labels in biological specimens by STEM tomography. J Struct Biol, 159:507-522, 2007.

Sousa AA and Leapman RD. Quantitative STEM mass measurement of biological macromolecules in a 300 kV TEM. J Microsc, 228:25-33, 2007.

Kim G, Sousa A, Meyers D, Shope M, and Libera M. Diffuse polymer interfaces in lobed nanoemulsions preserved in aqueous media. J Am Chem Soc, 128:6570-6571, 2006.

Sousa A, Schut J, Kohn J, and Libera M. Nanoscale morphological changes during hydrolytic degradation and erosion of a bioresorbable polymer. Macromolecules, 39: 7306-7312, 2006.

Sousa A, Sengonul M, Latour R, Kohn J, and Libera M. Selective protein adsorption on a phase-separated solvent-cast polymer blend. Langmuir, 22:6286-6292, 2006.

Sousa A, Aitouchen A, and Libera M. Water mapping in hydrated soft materials. Ultramicroscopy, 106:130-145, 2006.

Kozlovskaya V, Ok S, Sousa A, Libera M, and Sukhishvili SA. Hydrogen-bonded polymer capsules formed by layer-by-layer self assembly. Macromolecules, 36:8590-8592, 2003.
 

Back to Top