Nicholas grew up in Melbourne Australia, where he completed a Master of Nanotechnology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) at La Trobe University studying a combination of physics, chemistry and biology. His Masters work involved using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for the electrical analysis of mineral samples for photovoltaic applications.

He completed his PhD in physics within the Australian Research Councils’ Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) under the supervision of Prof. Brian Abbey and Prof. Keith Nugent. His research focused on the development of a computational microscopy technique, ptychography, to measure the stress/strain within biological samples.

Following his PhD Nicholas worked as a PostDoc at the Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) with Prof. Alberto Diaspro, exploring novel approaches to label free microscopy within a multi-modal microscope. He was particularly interested in exploring improvements to the technique of ptychography to advance its spatial and temporal resolution towards refractive index imaging.

Nicholas is passionate about facilitating cross-disciplinary research projects, utilising his experience in building and modifying microscopy systems for the imaging and understanding of biologically significant research.