Orlando Combita-Heredia
Research Operations Analyst
Department: Biomedical Engineering
About Me:
Pioneer researcher with 15+ years of experience in the field of Entomology. I, specifically use mites as model organisms to answer questions about behavior, evolution, and symbiotic relationships. Throughout my career, I've applied different tools such as molecular, morphological, and comparative methods to study evolutionary relationships among mites, in a systematics framework. I use a battery of microscopy techniques, including differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC), Confocal Laser Scan Microscopy (CLSM), Low-Temperature Scan Electron Microscopy (LT-SEM), Cryo Scanning Electron Microscopy (Cryo-SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Synchrotron X-ray microtomography (SR-mCT) to study sexual selection and feeding mechanisms in mites. I apply different software to analyze data, such as PAUP, TNT, MUSCLE, etc., for systematics and FIJI, Cinema 4 D, Imaris, Drishti, MeshLab, 3D Slicer, Adobe Suite, among others, for image visualization and 3D reconstruction.
Currently I am working in the Nanomedicine lab developing new venues of research that combine parasites, nanotechnology and imaging
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