Nikita Pak

Nikita received his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and then completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. His research interests are mechatronics, automation, and instrumentation. While in the Boyden lab, he focused on the creation of new kinds of automated surgery robot and more powerful kinds of microscope for 3-D imaging of neural activity. He then moved on to become an associate at a multi-disciplinary engineering and scientific consulting firm.

Publications

In Vivo Optical Clearing of Mammalian Brain

bioRxiv | 2024

Giovanni Talei Franzesi*, Ishan Gupta*, Ming Hu, Kiryl Piatkveich, Murat Yildirim, Jian-Ping Zhao, Minho Eom, Seungjae Han, Demian Park, Himashi Andaraarachchi, Zhaohan Li, Jesse Greenhagen, Amirul Muhammad Islam, Parth Vashishtha, Zahid Yaqoob, Nikita Pak, Alexander D. Wissner-Gross, Daniel Martin-Alarcon, Jonathan Veinot, Peter T. So, Uwe Kortshagen, Young-Gyu Yoon, Mriganka Sur**, Edward S. Boyden** (2024) In Vivo Optical Clearing of Mammalian Brain, bioRxiv 2024.09.05.611421; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.05.611421 (*, equal contribution; ** co-senior authors)

Expansion Sequencing: Spatially Precise In Situ Transcriptomics in Intact Biological Systems

Science | 2021

Alon S*, Goodwin DR*, Sinha A*, Wassie AT*, Chen F*, Daugharthy ER**, Bando Y, Kajita A, Xue AG, Marrett K, Prior R, Cui Y, Payne AC, Yao CC, Suk HJ, Wang R, Yu CJ, Tillberg P, Reginato P, Pak N, Liu S, Punthambaker S, Iyer EPR, Kohman RE, Miller JA, Lein ES, Lako A, Cullen N, Rodig S, Helvie K, Abravanel DL, Wagle N, Johnson BE, Klughammer J, Slyper M, Waldman J, Jané-Valbuena J, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Regev A; IMAXT Consortium, Church GM***+, Marblestone AH***, Boyden ES***+ (2021) Expansion Sequencing: Spatially Precise In Situ Transcriptomics in Intact Biological Systems, Science 371(6528):eaax2656. (* equal contribution, ** key contributions to early stages of project, *** equal contribution, +co-corresponding authors)

Sparse decomposition light-field microscopy for high speed imaging of neuronal activity

Optica | 2020

Young-Gyu Yoon*, Zeguan Wang*, Nikita Pak, Demian Park, Peilun Dai, Jeong Seuk Kang, Ho-Jun Suk, Panagiotis Symvoulidis, Burcu Guner-Ataman, Kai Wang**, and Edward S. Boyden** (2020) Sparse decomposition light-field microscopy for high speed imaging of neuronal activity, Optica 7(10):1457-1468. (* equal contributors, ** equal contributors)

Precision Calcium Imaging of Dense Neural Populations via a Cell-Body-Targeted Calcium Indicator

Neuron | 2020

Shemesh OA*, Linghu C*, Piatkevich KD*, Goodwin D, Celiker OT, Gritton HJ, Romano MF, Gao R, Yu CJ, Tseng HA, Bensussen S, Narayan S, Yang CT, Freifeld L, Siciliano CA, Gupta I, Wang J, Pak N, Yoon YG, Ullmann JFP, Guner-Ataman B, Noamany H, Sheinkopf ZR, Park WM, Asano S, Keating AE, Trimmer JS, Reimer J, Tolias AS, Bear MF, Tye KM, Han X, Ahrens MB, Boyden ES (2020) Precision Calcium Imaging of Dense Neural Populations via a Cell-Body-Targeted Calcium Indicator, Neuron 107(3):470-486. (*, equal contribution)

A robotic multidimensional directed evolution approach applied to fluorescent voltage reporters

Nature Chemical Biology | 2018

Piatkevich KD*, Jung EE*, Straub C, Linghu C, Park D, Suk HJ, Hochbaum DR, Goodwin D, Pnevmatikakis E, Pak N, Kawashima T, Yang CT, Rhoades JL, Shemesh O, Asano S, Yoon YG, Freifeld L, Saulnier JL, Riegler C, Engert F, Hughes T, Drobizhev M, Szabo B, Ahrens MB, Flavell SW, Sabatini BL, Boyden ES (2018) A robotic multidimensional directed evolution approach applied to fluorescent voltage reporters, Nature Chemical Biology 14(4):352-360. (*, co-first authors)

Iterative expansion microscopy

Nature Methods | 2017

Chang, J.-B., Chen, F., Yoon, Y.-G., Jung, E. E., Babcock H., Kang J.-S., Asano S., Suk H.-J., Pak N., Tillberg P.W., Wassie A., Cai D., Boyden E.S. (2017) Iterative expansion microscopy, Nature Methods 14:593-599.

Closed-loop, ultraprecise, automated craniotomies

Journal of Neurophysiology | 2015

Pak N, Siegle JH*, Kinney JP*, Denman DJ, Blanche TJ, Boyden ES (2015) Closed-loop, ultraprecise, automated craniotomies, Journal of Neurophysiology 113(10):3943-53. (*, equal contribution)