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Aaron M. Goldfain (Fed)
Aaron Goldfain is an applied physicist in the Nanostructure Fabrication and Measurement Group in Gaithersburg, MD. He has broad experience developing in quantitative imaging methods and in characterizing particles and surfaces with light.
He is currently co-leading a project to develop new light-scattering-based microscopy techniques to characterize nanoparticles. In addition to providing better measurements of nanoparticle reference materials, this project aims to lower the costs and speed the development of new gene therapy treatments by providing novel, multi-attribute measurements of individual gene delivery nanoparticles at high-throughputs.
He previously was a member of the Sensor Science Division at NIST where his research projects included measuring the directional reflectance of materials at UV-C wavelengths, developing methods for acquiring accurate algae reflectance spectra in the lab and field, and characterizing diffuse optical materials with the NDOSI instrument. He started at NIST as an NRC Postdoc in the Molecular and Bio-Photonics Group in Boulder, CO. There, he investigated photoacoustic imaging methods and optical methods for ultrasound detection. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University where he used interferometric optical microscopy to study the assembly and disassembly of viruses.
Programs/Projects
- Light Scattering Microscopy of Gene Delivery Particles
- Optical Properties of Materials
- Gene Delivery Systems
- Diffusely Scattering Optical Materials
Research Opportunities
We are actively seeking postdoctoral candidates for the light scattering microscopy of gene delivery particles project. See our PREP postdoc posting. More details can be found on the project webpage.
Post-doctoral, graduate, undergraduate, and high-school research candidates are encouraged to contact Aaron Goldfain by email aaron.goldfain [at] nist.gov (aaron[dot]goldfain[at]nist[dot]gov) to discuss project opportunities and fellowships.
NRC postdoctoral fellowship opportunities are listed here. More information on the NRC program can be found here.
Summer research opportunities for undergraduates may also be found on the SURF program website.
Selected Publications Prior to NIST
- R. Förster, S. Weidlich, M. Nissen, T. Wieduwilt, J. Kobelke, A. Goldfain, T. Chiang, R. Garmann, V. Manoharan, Y. Lahini, M. Schmidt. “Tracking and Analyzing the Brownian Motion of Nano-objects Inside Hollow Core Fibers.” ACS Sensors. 5 3 (2020).
- R. Garmann, A. Goldfain, V. Manoharan. “Measurements of the self-assembly kinetics of individual viral capsids around their RNA genome.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116 45 (2019).
- A. Goldfain, R. Garmann, Y. Jin, Y. Lahini, V. Manoharan. “Dynamic measurements of the position, orientation, and DNA content of individual unlabeled bacteriophages.” J. Phys. Chem. B. 120 26 (2016).