iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Found this bird proteinmaxxing; he kept dropping it because it was too heavy 😆

Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

One of the strangest highlights of #ASBMB: While catching up with @yl774.bsky.social on the beach, we saw a random dude with the most beautiful and chill 🐱 in his backpack. Apparently he and his backpack cat have traveled all over the world together. Seemed like a super fun dude and let us pet the 🐈

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Here at National Harbor for #ASBMB to spread the good word about our adaptive optics method for fluorescence microscopy. Come see me and my images Tuesday AM at 9:40!

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

However I wanted to avoid unnecessarily exciting my samples and discovered Rosco filters. Super cheap for a massive sheet (~$10) and can cut-to-size. Available in a huge variety of colors and they even have spectra! Apparently these are commonly used for stage lighting applications in theaters. 2/3

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Sometimes I want to add top off buffer or inspect things in the dark so I got this very cool, super bright light from LED2Work that has a flexarm, fully articulated head that locks in place, and has the strongest magnetic base I have ever seen. 1/3 cc @retof.bsky.social

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Went to the sushi buffet to celebrate hard work paying off over the last few months and got this cookie. It is completely true: My journey into science hasn’t ever been easy, but pursuing worthy challenges has never failed to pay off in multiples.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

I always think of this quote for some reason 😅 like "we're not catching ALL THE PHOTONS" smh 😂

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

DeepPD obtains better de-aberrated images without requiring optical correction, and more completely estimates wavefronts by accounting for nonlinearities in our deformable mirror and other assumptions not captured in our original analytic approach.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

In our new preprint, we combine a deep learning framework with our phase-diverse image acquisition called "DeepPD".

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

We demonstrated that by acquiring few extra images with added optical aberrations ("phase diversities") wavefront sensing can be achieved using an analytic optimization scheme.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Last year we published a simple experimental method for image-based wavefront sensing in fluorescence microscopy using phase diversity. opg.optica.org/optica/fullt...

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Excited to announce the release of a preprint I have been working in collaboration with Magdalena C. Schneider on to improve phase diversity-based wavefront sensing using deep learning. arxiv.org/abs/2504.14157

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Further, you are shown the fact that teams can accomplish feats - like continuously carrying a 200# sand log for over a mile - that individuals cannot. Building a mindset that is team-oriented will take you farther than being a person who is focused solely on their own priorities.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

This order applies even - and especially if you are personally suffering. You are taught to instead look for a teammate to help. If every teammate is looking out for each other instead of themselves, no one is left behind.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

These are all capabilities that scientists need to withstand the challenges that accompany the task of discovering new knowledge through an isolating period of continuous failure. If you have never tried BJJ or any martial art - consider this your sign to take the leap and start!

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

In this article I talk about the role Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has played in my development as a scientist and scholar. BJJ will humble you no matter how smart and strong you are. It requires resilience and humility. It teaches you to problem solve under pressure.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Optical measurement via the Measure app is by far the most slept-on iphone function

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Further, the large axial range means that 3D-TrIm gives an unprecedented view into the motion of single viruses in 3D tissue environments.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

This detail originates from the high speed: trajectories are sampled every 1 millisecond, yielding 1000 localizations per second. 3D, two-photon images acquired simultaneously give context to the particle motion enabling new insights into the pre-binding motion and contacts of viral particles.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

3D-TrIm decouples acquisition for imaging and particle tracking, allowing both acquisitions to be optimized and enabling multiple orders of magnitude faster tracking that is independent of axial extent. Compare the trajectory detail enabled by 3D-TrIm against conventional spinning disk acquisition:

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

This is part 2/4 of my Bluesky intro to my work as a microscopist! You've never seen a virus move like this before: 3D-TrIm (3D Tracking and Imaging) is a revolutionary way to track the motion of viruses and other freely diffusing nanoparticles at high speed over large (>10+ µm) axial ranges

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

The result is that you can arbitrarily choose the volume rate and interpolate the remaining unscanned voxels which are closely-spaced. This enables you to choose your desired balance between imaging rate and quality. Read the paper here: opg.optica.org/oe/fulltext....

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Raster scanning 1 frame at a time is slow. The more planes in your volume the slower it is - and the larger time difference between the bottom and top planes. In 3D-FASTR, the raster and focus scanning are performed at the same time at a rate that creates linear tessellating patterns.

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Courtney Johnson, Ph.D. "Dr. CJ" @ceej64.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Welcome to everyone following me 👋. I think a great way to start off is to share some of my work. Today I start with 3D-FASTR: A faster alternative to conventional point-scan and random access volumetric imaging approaches. opg.optica.org/oe/fulltext....

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