EDUCATION
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL PhD in Physics
Developed a method to characterize silicon nanoparticles using laser based optical UV technique using signal analysis of fluctuating photon intensity signal (Fluctuation Correlation Spectroscopy).
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ONT MSc in Theoretical Physics
Developed algorithm to numerically solve PDE governing liquid crystal polymer orientation at phase-boundary.
University of Toronto, Toronto, ONT BSc in Physics and Neuroscience
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Haemonetics, Corp., Braintree, MA
2012-2016
A global biomedical device company that develops and manufactures apheresis as well as blood hemostasis monitoring devices.
Scientist
· Developed prototype laser based device with quadrant photodiode for measuring response of blood to pneumatic perturbation for blood coagulation measurement.
· Produced metrics of platelet quality based on a statistical analysis of study population, demonstrating that an existing product line of test kits could be leveraged, reducing time to market.
· Managed plasma filtration project and successfully demonstrated technical feasibility to partner company.
· Spearheaded computational fluid dynamics R&D at the company, discovering key flow patterns in centrifugal bowl separator and experimentally verifying their existence.
Arryx, Inc., Chicago, IL
2005-2012
A start-up company (later acquired by Haemonetics) that developed microscopy and microfluidic devices and applications using holographic optical trapping in the areas of research, health care and forensics. Holographic optical trapping allows multiple microscopic objects to be moved independently in real time by a laser beam whose wave-front is modified by a spatial light modulator that has its phase profile continually updated by numerically calculated phase patterns.
Scientist
· Built total-internal reflectance back-scattering microscope for high-accuracy bead-surface distance measurement.
· Built optical interferometer with CCD sensor for calibrating spatial light modulator performance.
· Developed multivariate non-linear regression software (C++) for preforming 3D video bead tracking based on physical theory of light scattering (Mie Scattering) allowing high-accuracy video tracking (academic collaboration).
· Developed rapid blood typing technology based on Holographic Microscopy and CCD image analysis of thermal motions of cells on functionalized surfaces (LabVIEW Vision). Developed prototype image analysis algorithm based on statistical analysis of fluctuating pixel intensities.
· Supervised software engineer in graphical processing unit (CUDA on GPU) implementation of video 3D tracking software, realizing an 80x improvement in processing speed.
Molecular Biology Consortium, Chicago, IL 2
004-2005
A non-profit corporation dedicated to applied research in biological science and synchrotron technology.
Post-Doctoral Scientist
· Developed spectroscopic assay based on BRET (Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer) of purified bacterial molecular motor constructs to test for cooperative binding (academic collaboration).
· Purified molecular motor constructs for single-particle image analysis on cryogenic Electron Microscope.
University of Michigan, Biophysical Research Division, Ann Arbor, MI
2002-2004
Post-Doctoral Scientist
· Performed single-molecule fluorescence microscopy experiments of fluorescently labeled protein domain to detect spontaneous protein folding-unfolding events.
· Built single-molecule microscope using frequency doubled mode-locked femtosecond laser source (Titanium-Sapphire).
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dept. of Physics, Urbana, IL
1996-2001
Research Assistant
· Built custom third-harmonic UV microscope for characterizing silicon nanoparticles using Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy. Additionally used two-photon microscopy, Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Fluorescence Lifetime Spectroscopy (frequency-domain), UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and Photon Correlation studies for characterization. Preformed low-temperature spectroscopy studies.
· Assisted visiting scientists in preparing samples as well as designing and preforming experiments at the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics (an NIH supported national resource center).
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dept. of Physics, Urbana, IL
1995-1996
Teaching Assistant
· Demonstrated physics concepts to introductory physics students (for non-science majors) by preforming demonstrations using simple devices.
University of Waterloo, Dept. of Physics, Waterloo, Ont.
1993-1995
Research Assistant
· Developed algorithm and implemented numerical calculation to solve Partial Differential Equations (PDE) for determining the structure of the phase boundary of liquid crystalline polymers (using Fortran on a UNIX workstation).
University of Waterloo, Dept. of Physics, Waterloo, Ont.
1993-1995
Teaching Assistant
· Held tutorial and problem-solving sessions for undergraduate Electricity and Magnetism course for engineers and was teaching assistant for graduate Statistical Mechanics course.
PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
· High-sensitivity measurement of free-protein concentration using optical tweezers, O.Akcakir, C.Knutson, C.Duke, E.Tanner, D.Mueth,J.Plewa,K.F.Bradley, Optical Diagnostics and Sensing VIII, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 6863 (talk and manuscript) (2008).
· Stimulated blue emission in reconstituted films of ultra-small silicon nanoparticles, M.H. Nayfeh, N.P. Barry, J.Therrien, O. Akcakir, E.Gratton, G.Belomoin, Appl. Phys. Lett., 78(8), 1131-1133 (2001).
· Second harmonic generation in microcrystallite films of ultra-small Si nanoparticles, M.H.Nayfeh, O.Akcakir, G.Belomoin, N.P.Barry,J.Therrien, E.Gratton, Appl. Phys. Lett., 77(25): 4086-4088 (2000).
· Detection of luminescent single ultra-small silicon nanoparticles using fluctuation correlation spectroscopy, O.Akcakir, J.Therrien, G.Belomoin, N.P.Barry, J.D.Müller, E.Gratton, M.H.Nayfeh, Appl. Phys. Lett., 76(14): 1857-1859 (2000).
· Detection of luminescent single ultra-small silicon nanoparticles using fluctuation correlation spectroscopy, O.Akcakir, J.Therrien, G.Belomoin, N.P.Barry, J.D.Müller, E.Gratton, M.H. Nayfeh, APS March Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, March 20-24 (talk) (2000).
· High-pressure fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy, J.D.Müller, Y.Chen, J.S.Eid, O.Akcakir, E. Gratton, 78(1 Pt 2), 755-Pos, 44th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, New Orleans, Louisiana (poster) (2000).
· Characterization of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles under two-photon excitation, O.Akcakir, N.P. Barry, E.Gratton, J.Therrien, G.Belomoin, J.D.Müller, M.H.Nayfeh, 44th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, New Orleans, Louisiana (poster) (2000).
· Highly nonlinear photoluminescence threshold in porous silicon, M.H.Nayfeh, O.Akcakir, J.Therrien, Z.Yamani, N.P.Barry, W.Yu, E.Gratton, Appl. Phys. Lett., 75(26), 4112 (1999).
· Isotropic-nematic interface of liquid-crystalline polymers, S.Cui, O.Akcakir, Z.Y.Chen, Physical Review E, Vol. 51, Issue 5, 4548-4557 (1995).
PATENTS
· Methods and apparatuses for detection of positional freedom of particles in biological and chemical analyses and applications in immunodiagnostics, C. Knutson, O. Akcakir, H. Fu (US Patent Number: 9,176,152).
· Surface mapping by optical manipulation of particles in relation to a functionalized surface, C. Knutson, C. Duke, G. Stacey, D. Mueth, E. Tanner, O. Akcakir, H. Fu, R. Lancelot,T. Chakrabarty, K. Bradley (US Patent Number: 8,169,600).
· Apparatus and method for dynamic cellular probing and diagnostics using holographic optical forcing array, O. Akcakir (US Patent Number: 8,149,416).
· Apparatus for optically-based sorting within liquid core waveguides, D. Mueth, E. Tanner, J. Plewa, O. Akcakir (US Patent Number: 7,574,076).
· Apparatus and method for detecting deformability of cells using spatially modulated optical force microscopy, O. Akcakir (US Patent Number: 7,460,240).
· Silicon nanoparticle stimulated emission devices, M.H. Nayfeh, O. Akcakir, N. Barry (US Patent Number: 6,597,496).
· Silicon nanoparticle microcrystal nonlinear optical devices, M.H. Nayfeh, G. Belomoin, N. Barry, O. Akcakir (US Patent Number: 6,456,423).
RECENT TRAINING
· Machine Learning, Coursera (Stanford University) (Nov. 2016).
· Data and Models in Science, Engineering and Business, MIT Professional Education, Cambridge, MA (June 2015).
· Design and Analysis of Experiments, MIT Professional Education, Cambridge, MA (Aug. 2015).
SOFTWARE
· MATLAB IDL R Python C/C++ LabVIEW ANSYS Fluent
