I develop new microscopes which can directly image individual biological molecules at work in living cells. This technology has lots of applications so I collaborate with many life scientists but I focus on questions related to diabetes and cells ability to sense and respond to signals, including glucose and insulin. Here I use model yeast and mouse cells, to observe the protein molecules which transport glucose or switch genes on and off. I try to understand how they work in healthy cells or when things go wrong in diseases like diabetes.

I started my scientific career as a physicist before applying these skills to the life sciences, where many of the most interesting scientific problems are left to solve. I worked with many great groups at the Universities of Oxford and York and collaborated with many others around the world. I applied to NUAcT to start my own independent lab at a world class university which supports the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research and maintains a collegiate and inclusive environment. The fellowship will give me the time, space and resources to establish a really exciting program of research.

I design and build new optical microscopes which can image the individual molecules of life at work in living cells. These single-molecule microscopes utilise high contrast fluorescence techniques to label different molecules in cells. The videos and images require a lot of computational image analysis to try to understand what they mean so I also write a lot of software. I’ve applied these techniques to many life and health science problems. Working with many excellent collaborators, I have investigated transcription factors in yeast (eLife, Faraday Discussions, FEMS letters), DNA replication in E.coli (eLife), division in S. Aureus (eLife, Physical Biology), the Epidermal Growth Factor (bioArXiv), human immune signalling (Frontiers of Immunology) and toxins (FASEB) and more

For microscopists, I utilise many super resolution and other techniques including: Narrowfield/Slimfield, TIRF, FRAP, PALM, STORM, confocal, EM, Optical and magnetic tweezers.

• Wollman AJM, Hedlund EG, Shashkova S, Leake MC. Towards mapping the 3D genome through high speed single-molecule tracking of functional transcription factors in single living cells. Methods 2020, 170, 82-89.
• Haapasalo K, Wollman AJM, de Haas CJC, van Kessel KPM, van Strijp JAG, Leake MC. Staphylococcus aureus toxin LukSF dissociates from its membrane receptor target to enable renewed ligand sequestration. The FASEB Journal 2019, 33(3), 3807-3824.
• Wollman AJ, Shashkova S, Hedlund EG, Friemann R, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Erratum: Correction: Transcription factor clusters regulate genes in eukaryotic cells (eLife (2017) 6 PII: e45804). eLife 2019, 8, e45804.
• Lee JE, Syeda A, Wollman A, Leek V, Zawadzki P, Maxwell A, Leake M. In vivo single-molecule imaging of DNA gyrase. In: JOINT 12th EBSA Congress and 10th ICBP – IUPAP Congress. 2019, Madrid, Spain: Springer.
• Stracy M, Wollman AJM, Kaja E, Gapinski J, Lee J-E, Leek VA, McKie SJ, Mitchenall LA, Maxwell A, Sherratt DJ, Leake MC, Zawadzki P. Single-molecule imaging of DNA gyrase activity in living Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Research 2019, 47(1), 210-220.
• Syeda AH, Wollman AJM, Hargreaves AL, Howard JAL, Bruning J-G, McGlynn P, Leake MC. Single-molecule live cell imaging of Rep reveals the dynamic interplay between an accessory replicative helicase and the replisome. Nucleic Acids Research 2019, 47(12), 6287-6298.
• Shashkova S, Wollman A, Hedlund E, Hohmann S, Leake M. Single-molecule Slimfield microscopy for realtime dissection of protein-protein interactions, stoichiometry and mobility directly in live eukaryotic cells. In: 44th FEBS Congress: From Molecules to Living Systems. 2019, Krakow, Poland: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Sun Y, Wollman AJM, Huang F, Leake MC, Liu L-N. Single-organelle quantification reveals stoichiometric and structural variability of carboxysomes dependent on the environment. Plant Cell 2019, 31(7), 1648-1664.
• Shashkova S, Wollman AJM, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Characterising Maturation of GFP and mCherry of Genomically Integrated Fusions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Bio-Protocol 2018, 8(2), e2710.
• Miller H, Cosgrove J, Wollman AJM, Taylor E, Zhou Z, O'Toole PJ, Coles MC, Leake MC. High-speed single-molecule tracking of CXCL13 in the B-follicle. Frontiers in Immunology 2018, 9, 1073.
• Lund VA, Wacnik K, Turner RD, Cotterell BE, Walther CG, Fenn SJ, Grein F, Wollman AJM, Leake MC, Olivier N, Cadby A, Mesnage S, Jones S, Foster SJ. Molecular coordination of Staphylococcus aureus cell division. eLife 2018, 7, e32057.
• Miller H, Zhou Z, Shepherd J, Wollman AJM, Leake MC. Single-molecule techniques in biophysics: A review of the progress in methods and applications. Reports on Progress in Physics 2018, 81(2), 024601.
• Hedlund EG, Wollman AJM, Shashkova S, Hohmann S, Leake MC. 3D millisecond tracking of single-molecule fluorescent protein translocation in eukaryotic cells. In: 19th IUPAB and 11th EBSA Congress. 2017, Edinburgh: Springer.
• Dunn KE, Leake MC, Wollman AJM, Trefzer MA, Johnson S, Tyrrell AM. An experimental study of the putative mechanism of a synthetic autoomous rotary DNA nanomotor. Royal Society Open Science 2017, 4(3), 160767.
• Beattie TR, Kapadia N, Nicolas E, Uphoff S, Wollman AJM, Leake MC, Reyes-Lamothe R. Frequent exchange of the DNA polymerase during bacterial chromosome replication. eLife 2017, 6, e21763.
• Shashkova S, Wollman AJM, Hedlund EG, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Single-molecule microscopy of Staphylococcal pore-forming toxins on live mammalian cells. In: 19th IUPAB and 11th EBSA Congress. 2017, Edinburgh: Springer.
• Shashkova S, Wollman AJM, Leake MC, Hohmann S. The yeast Mig1 transcriptional repressor is dephosphorylated by glucose-dependent and -independent mechanisms. FEMS Microbiology Letters 2017, 364(14), fnx133.
• Shashkova S, Wollman AJM, Hedlund EG, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Transcription factor clusters regulate gene expression in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In: 19th IUPAB and 11th EBSA Congress. 2017, Edinburgh: Springer.
• Wollman AJM, Shashkova S, Hedlund EG, Friemann R, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Transcription factor clusters regulate genes in eukaryotic cells. eLife 2017, 6, e27451.
• Wollman AJM, Miller H, Foster S, Leake MC. An automated image analysis framework for segmentation and division plane detection of single live Staphylococcus aureus cells which can operate at millisecond sampling time scales using bespoke Slimfield microscopy. Physical Biology 2016, 13(5), 055002.
• Haapasalo-Tuomainen K, Wollman A, de Haas C, Aerts P, van't Veld E, Strijbis K, Wubbolts R, van Kessel K, Leake M, van Strijp J. Characterization of the stoichiometry of the complex formed by Staphylococcal toxin LukSF and human C5a receptor. In: XXVI ICW Kanazawa 2016: XXVIth International Complement Workshop. 2016, Kanazawa, Japan: Cell Press.
• Miller H, Wollman AJM, Leake MC. Designing a single-molecule biophysics tool for characterising DNA damage for techniques that kill infectious pathogens through DNA damage effects. In: Mark C. Leake, ed. Biophysics of Infection. New York: Springer, 2016, pp.115-127.
• Miller HL, Wollman AJM, Dunn KE, Hirst AM, Antoranz Contera S, Johnson S, O'Connell D, O'Toole P, Tyrrell AM, Leake MC. Developing a Single-Molecule Fluorescence Tool to Quantify DNA Damage. In: 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society. 2016, Los Angeles, CA: Cell Press.
• Hedlund EG, Shashkova S, Wollman AJM, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Real-Time 3D Imaging at the Single Molecule Level of Signal Transduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiæ Responding to Environmental Changes. In: 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society. 2016, Los Angeles, CA: Cell Press.
• Wollman AJM, Leake MC. Single-molecule narrow-field microscopy of protein-DNA binding dynamics in glucose signal transduction of live yeast cells. In: Mark C. Leake, ed. Chromosome Architecture: Methods and Protocols. New York: Humana Press Inc, 2016, pp.5-15.
• Wollman AJM, Syeda AH, McGlynn P, Leake MC. Single-molecule observation of DNA replication repair pathways in E. coli. In: Mark C. Leake, ed. Biophysics of Infection. New York: Springer, 2016, pp.5-16.
• Wollman AJM, Shashkova S, Hedlund E, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Transcription factor clustering in live yeast cells. In: 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society. 2016, Los Angeles, CA: Cell Press.
• Hedlund E, Shashkova S, Wollman A, Hohmann S, Leake MC. A novel approach to simultaneously tracking two species of single fluorescent molecules in 3D with high temporal resolution using astigmatic microscopy and its application to tracking Snf1/Mig1 signal transduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In: 27th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology. 2015, Levico Terme (Trento), Italy: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Shashkova S, Wollman A, Hedlund E, Leake MC, Hohmann S. Control of the transcriptional repressor Mig1 in the glucose repression pathway. In: 27th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology. 2015, Levico Terme (Trento), Italy: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Zhou Z, Miller H, Wollman AJM, Leake MC. Developing a new biophysical tool to combine magneto-optical tweezers with super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Photonics 2015, 2(3), 758-772.
• Wollman AJM, Nudd R, Hedlund EG, Leake MC. From Animaculum to single molecules: 300 years of the light microscope. Open Biology 2015, 5(4).
• Wollman AJM, Leake MC. Millisecond single-molecule localization microscopy combined with convolution analysis and automated image segmentation to determine protein concentrations in complexly structured, functional cells, one cell at a time. Faraday Discussions 2015, 184, 401-424.
• Wollman AJM, Shashkova S, Hedlund E, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Observing Signal Transduction Directly at the Single-Molecule Level in Live Eukaryotic Cells. In: 59th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society. 2015, Baltimore, MD: Cell Press.
• Wollman AJM, Miller H, Zhou Z, Leake MC. Probing DNA interactions with proteins using a single-molecule toolbox: Inside the cell, in a test tube and in a computer. Biochemical Society Transactions 2015, 43, 139-145.
• Miller H, Zhou Z, Wollman AJM, Leake MC. Superresolution imaging of single DNA molecules using stochastic photoblinking of minor groove and intercalating dyes. Methods 2015, 88, 81-88.
• Hedlund EG, Shashkova S, Wollman AJM, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Single-Molecule Transcription Factor Dynamics in Saccharomyces cerevisiæ Glucose Sensing. In: 58th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society. 2014, San Francisco, CA: Cell Press.
• Wollman AJM, Shashkova S, Welkenhuysen N, Hedlund EG, Hohmann S, Leake MC. Time-Resolved Single Cell, Sub-Cellular Compartmentalized Proteomics, Combining Precise Microfluidics, Deconvolution and Ultrasensitive Single-Molecule Microscopy. In: 58th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society. 2014, San Francisco, CA: Cell Press.
• Wollman AJM, Sanchez-Cano C, Carstairs HMJ, Cross RA, Turberfield AJ. Transport and self-organization across different length scales powered by motor proteins and programmed by DNA. Nature Nanotechnology 2014, 9(1), 44-47.