Jennifer Waters, Ph.D.

Jennifer Waters, Ph.D.

Lecturer on Cell Biology (HMS)
Director of the Core for Imaging Technology & Education (CITE)
Director of the Cell Biology Microscopy Facility (CBMF)
LHRRB 113
617-432-3542
Core for Imaging Technology & Education (CITE)

Jennifer Waters received her PhD in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998, where she used live quantitative fluorescence microscopy to study mitosis in Dr. Ted Salmon’s lab. After several years of teaching graduate-level optical microscopy courses at Wake Forest University, she joined HMS in 2001 to contribute to the establishment of the Nikon Imaging Center, a core facility dedicated to supporting imaging research. In 2024, reflecting an evolution in its mission and the culmination of a productive partnership with Nikon, the facility was renamed the Core for Imaging Technology & Education (CITE). This change underscores the core's expanded focus on advanced imaging technologies and educational outreach.

Jennifer and her team advise and train researchers on imaging experimental design and execution, and teach microscopy courses and workshops. She also organizes an annual two-week course on Quantitative Imaging at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (since 2011), and received a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Imaging Scientist award in 2019. She has authored multiple educational articles and reviews on quantitative microscopy, edited the book “Quantitative Imaging in Cell Biology” with Torsten Wittmann (UCSF) and creates microscopy educational videos for her YouTube channel “Microcourses”.

Harvard Medical School

Core for Imaging Technology & Education, LHRRB 113

240 Longwood Avenue

Boston, MA 02115

Office phone: 617-432-3542

A high-resolution multimode digital microscope system.
Authors: Authors: Salmon ED, Shaw SL, Waters JC, Waterman-Storer CM, Maddox PS, Yeh E, Bloom K.
Methods Cell Biol
View full abstract on Pubmed
Vertebrate shugoshin links sister centromere cohesion and kinetochore microtubule stability in mitosis.
Authors: Authors: Salic A, Waters JC, Mitchison TJ.
Cell
View full abstract on Pubmed
A high-resolution multimode digital microscope system.
Authors: Authors: Salmon ED, Shaw SL, Waters J, Waterman-Storer CM, Maddox PS, Yeh E, Bloom K.
Methods Cell Biol
View full abstract on Pubmed
Checkpoint signals in grasshopper meiosis are sensitive to microtubule attachment, but tension is still essential.
Authors: Authors: Nicklas RB, Waters JC, Salmon ED, Ward SC.
J Cell Sci
View full abstract on Pubmed
Mad2 binding by phosphorylated kinetochores links error detection and checkpoint action in mitosis.
Authors: Authors: Waters JC, Chen RH, Murray AW, Gorbsky GJ, Salmon ED, Nicklas RB.
Curr Biol
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Localization of Mad2 to kinetochores depends on microtubule attachment, not tension.
Authors: Authors: Waters JC, Chen RH, Murray AW, Salmon ED.
J Cell Biol
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Pathways of spindle assembly.
Authors: Authors: Waters JC, Salmon E.
Curr Opin Cell Biol
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Oscillating mitotic newt lung cell kinetochores are, on average, under tension and rarely push.
Authors: Authors: Waters JC, Skibbens RV, Salmon ED.
J Cell Sci
View full abstract on Pubmed
Association of spindle assembly checkpoint component XMAD2 with unattached kinetochores.
Authors: Authors: Chen RH, Waters JC, Salmon ED, Murray AW.
Science
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The kinetochore microtubule minus-end disassembly associated with poleward flux produces a force that can do work.
Authors: Authors: Waters JC, Mitchison TJ, Rieder CL, Salmon ED.
Mol Biol Cell
View full abstract on Pubmed