Luke Vistain, Ph.D., is a Technical Specialist in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group, where he assists in the preparation and prosecution of US and foreign patent applications as well as assisting in patentability, validity, infringement, and freedom-to-operate analysis. His technical areas of expertise include organic synthesis, nanotechnology, biochemistry, DNA sequencing, microscopy, immunology, and antibody chemistry.

Luke received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Northwestern University. His thesis work focused on the development of gadolinium chelates for the detection of proteins via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Specifically, Luke created a MRI reporter gene by using organic and nanoparticle synthesis to deliver a payload of gadolinium chelates to the HaloTag® protein.

He then progressed to a Postdoctoral Scholar position at University of Chicago. There, Luke and his colleagues invented Proximity Sequencing, a method to measure hundreds of protein complexes from single cells using DNA sequencing. This was achieved by use DNA-conjugated antibodies to incorporate a proximity ligation assay into single-cell sequencing methods. Finally, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Disease (NIAID), he developed an antibody-based assay to detect protein complexes in intact tissue using confocal microscopy. Before graduate school, Luke received his B.A. in Biochemistry from New York University

Technical Publications

  • Vistain, L., Keisham, B., Xia, J., Phan, H. V., Tay, S., Proximity sequencing for the detection of mRNA, extracellular proteins and extracellular protein complexes in single cells. Nature Protocols. (2024)
  • Xia, J.*, Phan, H. V.*, Vistain, L.*, Computational prediction of protein interactions in single cells by proximity sequencing. PLoS Computational Biology. (2024)
  • *Vistain, L., *Phan, H.V., Keisham, B., Jordi, C., Chen, M., Reddy, S.T., Tay, S. Quantification of proteins, protein complexes, and mRNA in single cells by proximity-sequencing. Nature Methods. (2022)
  • Vistain, L., Tay, S., Single-Cell Proteomics. Trends in Biochemicals Sciences, (2021)
  • Lilley, L.M., Kamper, S., Caldwell, M., Chia, Z.K., Ballweg, D., Vistain, L., Krimmel, J., Mills, T.A., MacRenaris, K., Lee, P., Waters, E.A., Meade, T.J. Self-Immolative Activation of β-Galactosidase-Responsive Probes for In Vivo MR Imaging in Mouse Models. Angewandte Chemie, (2020).
  • Drayman, N., Patel, P., Vistain, L., Tay, S. HSV-1 Single-Cell Analysis Reveals the Action of Anti-Viral and Developmental Programs in Distinct Sub-Populations. Elife, (2019)
  • Lin, J., Jordi, C., Son, M., Van Phan, H., Drayman, N., Abasiyanik, MF., Vistain, L., Tu, H. L., Tay, S. Ultra-Sensitive Digital Quantification of Proteins and mRNA in Single Cells. Nature Communications, (2019)
  • Vistain, L., Rotz, M., Rathore, R., Preslar, A. T., Meade, T. J., Targeted Delivery of Gold Nanoparticle Contrast Agents for Reporting Gene Expression by Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Chemical Communications, (2016)
  • Vistain, L.*, Yamamoto, N., Rathore, R., Cha, P., Meade, T. J., Targeted Inhibition of Snail Activity in Breast Cancer Cells by Using Co(III) -Ebox Conjugate. ChemBioChem, (2015)
  • Pagadala, V., Vistain, L., Symersky, J., and Mueller, D.M., Characterization of the mitochondrial ATP synthase from yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae. Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, (2011)

  • Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Northwestern University
  • B.A., Biochemistry, New York University