Deirdre R. Meldrum

Arizona State University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Papers

Total Citations

142

H-Index

About

Deirdre R. Meldrum is a pioneering researcher whose work bridges robotics, automation, and single-cell biology, with foundational contributions to biomedical engineering and adaptive control systems. She is perhaps best known for her development of vision-based robotic systems capable of selecting and manipulating individual living cells with remarkable precision — work that has garnered significant attention, with her 2010 paper on automated single-cell selection accumulating 88 citations. This research introduced a groundbreaking approach to aspirating and transferring living cells using glass capillary micropipettes guided by visual feedback, enabling sophisticated single-cell analysis that was previously impractical at scale. Her earlier work in automated microwell array cell placement (2008) laid critical groundwork for integrated systems designed to analyze cellular expression and metabolism at the single-cell level, reflecting a sustained commitment to pushing the boundaries of cellular biology instrumentation. Meldrum's career also spans classical control engineering: her 1986 work on model reference adaptive control for flexible robotic manipulators demonstrated early expertise in complex systems engineering. Together, her contributions represent a remarkable trajectory from foundational robotics to cutting-edge biomedical automation, with lasting impact on how researchers study life at its most fundamental scale.