Our team

Luke Hammond is Director of Quantitative Imaging in the Department of Neurology at The Ohio State University. He is an imaging scientist working at the interface of microscopy, quantitative image analysis, and biology, with more than two decades of experience in advanced microscopy for neuroscience and cell biology. His expertise includes establishing and leading advanced imaging platforms that support interdisciplinary biomedical research.

From 2008 to 2017, he led the Advanced Microscopy Facility at the Queensland Brain Institute, a leading neuroscience research institute at The University of Queensland in Australia. He was subsequently recruited to Columbia University in New York, where he helped establish the Cellular Imaging Platform at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia's interdisciplinary neuroscience institute focused on understanding the brain, mind, and behavior, and served as Director of Cellular Imaging. He joined The Ohio State University in 2023.

A major focus of his work has been the development of accessible, reproducible software tools for quantitative biological imaging. His software contributions include OBCOL, a 3D organelle-based colocalization method developed during his early work on protein trafficking at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience; BrainJ and SpinalJ, Fiji-based pipelines for whole-brain and spinal-cord reconstruction and analysis developed at Columbia; and RESPAN, an open-source deep-learning pipeline for neuron and dendrite restoration, segmentation, and analysis. His current work includes developing QLEAN, a quantitative imaging and analysis framework for studying interactions among immune cells, non-neuronal cells, and sensory neurons in the local tissue microenvironment.

At Ohio State, his group builds on this platform- and software-development experience to develop new quantitative imaging methods for complex biological datasets. The group integrates advanced microscopy, image analysis, and computational workflows to study neuroimmune interactions, chemotherapy-induced toxicity, and axon regeneration. He currently serves as Co-Investigator on NIH-funded projects examining damage-associated molecular patterns in chemotherapy-induced toxicity and immune-cell contributions to skin reinnervation after peripheral nerve injury.

Amruta Salunkhe joined the Quantitative Imaging Group in May 2025 as a Research Associate, on a joint appointment with the Shin Lab in the Department of Neurology. Trained in bioengineering at NYU, she builds and analyzes human iPSC-derived sensory neuron systems and neuron-immune co-cultures to dissect mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).

She helps lead method development for human skin biopsy workflows, optimizes multiplex immunostaining panels, and develops quantitative imaging pipelines for intraepidermal nerve fiber (IENF) and neuroimmune markers, enabling robust and reproducible readouts.

Before OSU, Amruta worked at Enceladus Bio, where she advanced all-RNA CRISPR editing in primary and post-mitotic cells and built NGS-based QC assays. She is focused on translational neuroimmunology, building patient-relevant neuron-immune-skin models, extracting quantitative readouts, and translating findings into actionable biomarkers and therapeutic hypotheses.

Jeshua Avila-Estrada joined the Quantitative Imaging Group in February 2026 as a Research Associate, on a joint appointment with the Shin Lab in the Department of Neurology.

Full bio coming soon.

Martin Patel is an undergraduate researcher at The Ohio State University pursuing an Honors B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Philosophy. He works with the Quantitative Imaging Group to develop improved tissue processing, imaging using confocal microscopy, and quantitative analysis methods for studying neuroimmune interactions in mouse hindpaw and human skin biopsy samples.

Alongside science, Martin serves as Vice President of Internal Communications for the Global Leadership Initiative at The Ohio State University, where he develops interdisciplinary leadership skills. He is also a Buckeye Leadership Fellow, an Emergency Medical Technician, and an active volunteer with Campus EMS, reflecting a sustained commitment to applying scientific knowledge in service-oriented contexts. His broader research interests lie at the intersection of neuroimaging, behavioral immunology, and translational medicine, with the long-term goal of pursuing a career in scientific research, and with a parallel interest in advancing the accessibility and public understanding of science.

Outside the lab, he enjoys playing tennis, reading philosophical literature, and exploring and listening to music.