Microscopy Personnel

Jennifer Peters, Ph.D.
Managing Director
jenpete@umich.edu
Phone: 734-936-4912
Dr. Jennifer Peters experience includes nearly 20 years of utilizing microscopy and imaging techniques in a variety of settings including academia, the microscopy industry, and research medicine. She completed her Ph.D. in Bioanalytical Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh in 2001, where her research involved the study of dopaminergic neurotransmission using in vivo voltammetry. In addition to electrochemical studies, her Ph.D. research also utilized electron microscopy to image the brain tissue surrounding microelectrode implantation sites.
Peters is no stranger to the University of Michigan, as it’s where her career in microscopy took root. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Robert T. Kennedy at the University of Florida, she joined Kennedy at the University of Michigan, where he currently serves as the Hobart H. Willard Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Chair of Chemistry. Her research in the Kennedy laboratory utilized a novel live-cell confocal microscopy method to image secretion from pancreatic islets. After completing her postdoc, Peters worked under the direction of Dr. James R. Baker as a staff microscopist at the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biologicals Sciences (M-NIMBS), where she imaged PAMAM dendrimer nanodevices designed to selectively target and deliver therapeutic agents to cancer cells. During this time, she also had the opportunity to utilize instrumentation at the BRCF Microscopy Core and further develop her interests in advanced microscopy techniques.
Most recently, Peters worked in the Cell and Tissue Imaging Center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for training, collaborating, and managing the projects of facility users. She made substantial contributions to users’ projects by applying expertise in both microscopy and image analysis, which resulted in the co-authorship of several high-impact publications. She also participated in the acquisition and installation of all the major imaging systems currently in use in the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital Cell and Tissue Imaging Center.

Nils Walter, Ph.D.
Faculty Director
nwalter@umich.edu
Phone: 734-615-2060
Nils is currently the Francis S. Collins Collegiate Professor of Chemistry, Biophysics, and Biological Chemistry in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He founded and currently directs the unique Single Molecule Analysis in Real-Time (SMART) Center, as well as cofounded and currently codirects the Center for RNA Biomedicine at Michigan. He started his career by receiving his “Vordiplom” (B.S.) and “Diploma” (Masters) from the Technical University of Darmstadt after performing research with Hans-Günther Gassen on the physiochemical characterization of a protein dehyrogenase enzyme. He earned his Dr. Ing. while studying molecular in vitro evolution of DNA and RNA using fluorescence techniques with Nobel laureate Manfred Eigen at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen. For his postdoctoral studies, he turned to RNA enzymes under the guidance of John M. Burke at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. His research interests focus on noncoding RNA through the lens of single molecule techniques. Based on this work, he received the Otto-Hahn medal for Outstanding Researchers of the Max-Planck Society (1995), a Feodor-Lynen Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (1995), a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2004), was elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2011), received the Faculty Recognition (2013) and Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Awards (2015) from the University of Michigan, and became the first RNA Society Mid-Career Award recipient (2017). He took on the Faculty Directorship of the Michigan Medicine BRCF Microscopy Core in April 2020.

Eric Rentchler, Ph.D.
Light Microscopy Lead
erentchl@umich.edu
Phone: 734-764-4360
Eric received his bachelors in chemistry from Adrian College and PhD in chemistry from the University of Kansas, focusing in single molecule spectroscopy non-linear microscopy. Eric comes to the BRCF from the University of Wisconsin, where he worked in the biomedical engineering department doing second harmonic generation imaging of ovarian tissue. Eric works with users on spinning disk confocal, structured illumination microscopy, and time-resolved imaging or spectroscopy applications, as well as image analysis.

Sasha Meshinchi
Senior Light and Electron Microscopy Specialist
meshin@umich.edu
Phone: 734-763-0703
Sasha received an M.S. in Basic Medical Sciences from Wayne State University. Sasha works with users on confocal or multiphoton imaging applications and conventional electron microscopy. He has worked in the core since graduating in 2002.

Binyamin Jacobovitz
Light Microscopy Specialist
Phone: 734-615-2757
Binyamin (Ben) Jacobovitz received an M.S. in Biophysics from the University of Michigan where he designed and validated fluorescent polymer-based nanoparticle sensors for in-vitro and in-vivo imaging. Ben works with users on epifluorescence and confocal microscopy, as well as tissue clearing and expansion microscopy protocols.

Megan Bennett
Electron Microscopy Specialist
megbenne@med.umich.edu
Phone: 734-615-6044
Megan Bennett received her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in microscopy from Central Michigan University in May of 2022. Megan prepares users’ samples for conventional SEM and TEM.
Microscopy Core Advisory Board
Ben Allen
Cell & Developmental Biology
Dawen Cai
Cell & Developmental Biology
Jeffrey Fessler
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Phyllis Hanson
Biological Chemistry
Emmanuelle Marquis
Michigan Center for Materials Characterization
Ann Miller
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Puck (Ryoma) Ohi
Life Sciences Institute, Cell & Developmental Biology
Kaushik Ragunathan
Biological Chemistry
Alnawaz Rehemtulla
Radiation Oncology
Sarah Veatch
Biophysics