TINKERING TOWARD DISCOVERY
A LOOK INSIDE SCOTT FRASER’S GROUNDBREAKING BIOMEDICAL IMAGING TECHNIQUES
TINY BROWN-FLECKED EGGS REST ATOP nests while fuzzy quail chicks chirp and waddle inside a glass incubator. At a nearby microscope, USC biologist Scott Fraser concentrates on the moving image of a red, veiny quail heart beating inside an egg: thump thump-thump thump. In this case, it’s a quail embryo, but it could be a frog or a zebra fish. Fraser studies organisms’ development and other complex biological events in real time to better understand key interactions. He also looks at the cellular changes involved in disease. Fraser founded the Biological Imaging Center at Caltech in 1991 and brought his lab to USC in 2012. Not only does he study complicated processes like hearts taking shape, but he and his colleagues also developed advanced imaging technologies to watch them happen. With wavy, sandy brown hair, a youthful smile and laid-back personality, Fraser seems more like a surfer than a scientist— until he speaks. He was born in Pasadena, Calif., and reared in nearby Arcadia. His father was a Pasadena police officer; his mother, a secretary and homemaker. His interest in scientific tinkering might have come from his grandfather, a carpenter, and his great-grandfather, who owned a machine shop. “I was pretty certain I wanted to be a scientist from a young age,” Fraser says. “I’ve always either taken things apart or built things. And there are too many stories about me being better at taking things apart than putting them back together. Even today in the lab, I think the postdocs would come up with interesting versions of that story.”
Fraser earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., and his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Steve Kay, dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, lauds Fraser and his accomplishments. “Professor Fraser’s research epitomizes USC’s advance into quantitative biology, which focuses on more than organisms’ genes or cells alone,” says Kay, who has known Fraser for two decades. “Quantitative biology is about interactions and networks, and his world-leading work in measuring and imaging living cells and organisms makes him a vital contributor to this emerging field.” USC’s Faculty Hiring Initiative in the Sciences and Engineering challenges faculty to recruit exceptional scholars such as Fraser. “Professor Fraser is the world’s preeminent developer of new biomedical imaging techniques, and is an experienced leader in facilitating the translation of this work from the lab to practical application,” says Elizabeth Garrett, USC provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. “His arrival at USC underscores our success in advancing a vibrant culture of research.” Fraser was drawn to USC because of the many technologies and disciplines represented within a short walk—and the endless opportunities offered by his new position, he says. “USC has a fantastic combination of schools and programs and talents here that make it possible for us to attack problems that no other place could as powerfully.” —Pamela J. Johnson
A B OV E : E M B RYO C OU RTESY O F TH E C AR NEGIE CO L L ECTIO N F RO M TH E NATIO NAL MUS EUM OF HE ALT H AN D ME DIC IN E , IMAGIN G BY RUS S E LL JAC OB S ; MOUS E IMAGIN G BY RUS S E LL JAC OB S ; RE T IN A IMAGI NG BY JEF F R EY F I NG L ER OP P OS I T E PAG E : 3- D ATL AS O F MO USE D EV ELO P MENT, TE AM L E AD ER SETH RUF F IN S ; VIS UALIZ AT ION OF ALL IMAGE S BY S E T H RUFFIN S
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U S C T R O JA N FA M I LY M AG A Z I N E
summer 2013