Lisa Miller

Brookhaven National Laboratory

National Synchrotron Light Source II
Bldg. 743, Room 3L101
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

(631) 344-2091
lmiller@bnl.gov

Preferred Gender Pronouns (PGPs): she, her

Research | Education | Appointments | Publications

Research Activities

Lisa Miller's research focuses on the study of the chemical makeup of cells and tissues using synchrotron-based infrared and x-ray imaging. Her work has three primary research areas: (1) understanding how the nanostructure and chemical composition of bone affect its mechanical properties in osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, (2) elucidating the role of metal ions in protein misfolding and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease and Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, and (3) optimizing nutrient availability in the rhizosphere of plants for improved biomass production.

Education

• Ph.D. 1995: Biophysics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY)
• M.S. 1992: Chemistry, Georgetown University (Washington, DC)
• B.S. 1989: Chemistry, John Carroll University (Cleveland, OH)

Professional Appointments

• Manager of User Services, Communications, Education, and Outreach, NSLS-II, Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Affiliated Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University
• Affiliated Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University

COMMITTEES

• Scientific Advisory Committee, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource
• Scientific Advisory Committee, Diamond Light Source
• Proposal Review Panel, ELETTRA
• Proposal Review Panel, Canadian Light Source

Selected Publications

• Ambi A, Stanisavljevic A, Victor TW, et al (2023) Evaluation of Copper Chelation Therapy in a Transgenic Rat Model of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy. ACS Chemical Neuroscience 14:378–388. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00483
• Victor-Lovelace TW, Miller LM (2022) The development and use of metal-based probes for X-ray fluorescence microscopy. Metallomics 14:. https://doi.org/10.1093/mtomcs/mfac093
• Lowery AW, Ambi A, Miller LM, Boreyko JB (2022) Reducing Frost during Cryoimaging Using a Hygroscopic Ice Frame. ACS Omega 7:43421–43431. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c03083
• Victor TW, O'Toole KH, Easthon LM, Ge M, Smith RJ, Huang X, Yan H, Chu YS, Chen S, Gursoy D, Ralle M, Imperiali B, Allen KN, Miller LM (2020) Lanthanide-Binding Tags for 3D X-ray Imaging of Proteins in Cells at Nanoscale Resolution. Journal of the American Chemical Society 142:2145–2149. doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b11571
• Crooks EJ, Irizarry BA, Ziliox M, Kawakami T, Victor T, Xu F, Hojo H, Chiu K, Simmerling C, Van Nostrand WE, Smith SO, Miller LM (2020) Copper stabilizes antiparallel β-sheet fibrils of the amyloid β40 (Aβ40)-Iowa variant. Journal of Biological Chemistry 295:8914–8927. doi: 10.1074/jbc.ra119.011955
• Zhu X, Victor TW, Ambi A, Sullivan JK, Hatfield J, Xu F, Miller LM, Van Nostrand WE (2020) Copper accumulation and the effect of chelation treatment on cerebral amyloid angiopathy compared to parenchymal amyloid plaques. Metallomics 12:539–546. doi: 10.1039/c9mt00306a
• Victor TW, Easthon LM, Ge M, O'Toole KH, Smith RJ, Huang X, Yan H, Allen KN, Chu YS, Miller LM (2018) X-ray Fluorescence Nanotomography of Single Bacteria with a Sub-15 nm Beam. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31461-y
• Graziano V, Miller L, Yang L (2018) Interpretation of solution scattering data from lipid nanodiscs. Journal of Applied Crystallography 51:157–166. doi: 10.1107/s1600576717018441
• Victor T, Delpratt N, Cseke SB, Miller LM, Cseke LJ (2017) Imaging Nutrient Distribution in the Rhizosphere Using FTIR Imaging. Analytical Chemistry 89:4831–4837. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b04376
• Gürsoy D, Hong YP, He K, Hujsak K, Yoo S, Chen S, Li Y, Ge M, Miller LM, Chu YS, De Andrade V, He K, Cossairt O, Katsaggelos AK, Jacobsen C (2017) Rapid alignment of nanotomography data using joint iterative reconstruction and reprojection. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12141-9
• Cai Y, Zhang K, Kim H, Hou G, Zhang X, Yang H, Feng H, Miller L, Ralph J, Liu C-J (2016) Enhancing digestibility and ethanol yield of Populus wood via expression of an engineered monolignol 4-O-methyltransferase. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11989
• Miller LM, Gragg M, Kim TG, Park PS-H (2015) Misfolded opsin mutants display elevatedβ-sheet structure. FEBS Letters 589:3119–3125. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2015.08.042
• Gelfand P, Smith RJ, Stavitski E, Borchelt DR, Miller LM (2015) Characterization of Protein Structural Changes in Living Cells Using Time-Lapsed FTIR Imaging. Analytical Chemistry 87:6025–6031. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b00371
• Acerbo AS, Kwaczala AT, Yang L, Judex S, Miller LM (2014) Alterations in Collagen and Mineral Nanostructure Observed in Osteoporosis and Pharmaceutical Treatments Using Simultaneous Small- and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering. Calcified Tissue International 95:446–456. doi: 10.1007/s00223-014-9913-0
• Bourassa MW, Brown HH, Borchelt DR, Vogt S, Miller LM (2014) Metal-deficient aggregates and diminished copper found in cells expressing SOD1 mutations that cause ALS. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00110
• Stavitski E, Smith RJ, Bourassa MW, Acerbo AS, Carr GL, Miller LM (2013) Dynamic Full-Field Infrared Imaging with Multiple Synchrotron Beams. Analytical Chemistry 85:3599–3605. doi: 10.1021/ac3033849
• Bourassa MW, Miller LM (2012) Metal imaging in neurodegenerative diseases. Metallomics 4:721. doi: 10.1039/c2mt20052j
• Acerbo AS, Carr GL, Judex S, Miller LM (2012) Imaging the Material Properties of Bone Specimens Using Reflection-Based Infrared Microspectroscopy. Analytical Chemistry 84:3607–3613. doi: 10.1021/ac203375d
• Leskovjan AC, Kretlow A, Lanzirotti A, Barrea R, Vogt S, Miller LM (2011) Increased brain iron coincides with early plaque formation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. NeuroImage 55:32–38. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.073
• Leskovjan AC, Kretlow A, Miller LM (2010) Fourier Transform Infrared Imaging Showing Reduced Unsaturated Lipid Content in the Hippocampus of a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease. Analytical Chemistry 82:2711–2716. doi: 10.1021/ac1002728
• Leskovjan AC, Lanzirotti A, Miller LM (2009) Amyloid plaques in PSAPP mice bind less metal than plaques in human Alzheimer's disease. NeuroImage 47:1215–1220. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.05.063