Kelley designs nanostructured electrochemical biosensors -- including antifouling 'spiky' nanoelectrodes -- for amplification-free, point-of-care detection of nucleic acids and proteins (e.g. bacterial mRNA), aiming to replace slow, lab-based amplification assays with rapid electronic diagnostics deployable at the bedside.
Keyser's group uses solid-state and DNA-origami nanopores for resistive-pulse single-molecule sensing, with a current focus on multiplexed RNA identification using barcoded DNA nanostructures, in close collaboration with Jeremy Baumberg's plasmonics group. The lab combines physics, nanofabrication and molecular biology to push nanopore sensing toward diagnostic applications.
Studies the physical rules governing bacterial gene expression using single-molecule and quantitative live-cell imaging approaches.
Klenerman develops and applies single-molecule fluorescence and scanning-probe methods (including nanopipette scanning ion-conductance microscopy and a single-objective oblique-plane light-sheet microscope) to study protein misfolding and aggregation in neurodegenerative disease, alongside his earlier work co-inventing next-generation DNA sequencing.
Gijsje Koenderink (Full Professor, BioNanoscience) investigates active and passive mechanics of the cytoskeleton. Research: (1) active matter — motor-filament composite networks generating spontaneous mechanical activity; (2) cell mechanics — cytoskeletal contributions to cell shape, migration, and division; (3) biomaterials — designing synthetic cytoskeletal analogues; (4) optical tweezers and AFM rheology of reconstituted networks. Spinoza Prize 2021. ERC Advanced Grant.
Prof. Kozorovitskiy (Neurobiology) studies neuromodulation and plasticity in the striatum and basal ganglia, with a distinctive emphasis on developing and applying advanced optical imaging methods. Imaging technique innovations: (1) Oblique plane illumination (OPI / scanned oblique plane illumination, SOPi) microscopy — a single-objective light-sheet technique achieving tilt-invariant volumetric imaging for rapid 3D capture of fluorescently labeled neural structures without mechanical tilting; (2) Two-photon fluorescence imaging and two-photon glutamate/neuromodulator photorelease for single-synapse resolution in live tissue; (3) Near-infrared genetically-encoded calcium indicators (with Verkhusha group) for in vivo multi-color neural recording with reduced photobleaching. The lab's technical contributions are centered on extending the spatial and volumetric resolution of live-tissue fluorescence imaging. Irving M. Klotz Research Professor of Neurobiology; Beckman Young Investigator 2015.
Designs programmable DNA nanodevices as quantitative fluorescent reporters to map second messengers in real time inside specific organelles of living cells. Research directions: (1) DNA origami ion-sensing nanodevices for pH, Cl-, Ca2+, HOCl, and membrane voltage with single-organelle addressability; (2) targeting nanodevices to endosomes, lysosomes, mitochondria, and ER to dissect organelle biology and disease mechanisms; (3) in vivo deployment in C. elegans and Drosophila. NIH Director's Pioneer Award 2022.
Kuimova pioneered the use of fluorescent 'molecular rotor' probes combined with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) to quantitatively map intracellular microviscosity in live cells and tissue, with applications spanning photodynamic therapy, membrane biophysics and G-quadruplex DNA imaging.
Kukura invented mass photometry, a label-free interferometric-scattering microscopy technique that mass-images single biomolecules in solution with precision rivalling native mass spectrometry; his group continues to expand the technique's hardware, analysis (including deep learning) and range of biomolecular applications, in close collaboration with Justin Benesch.
Kuncic works across medical physics and nanoscale systems: nanoparticle-enhanced radiotherapy and dosimetry (where high-Z nanoparticles act as local dose amplifiers and the physics question is energy deposition at nanometre scales), nanoparticle contrast agents and theranostics, and — separately — neuromorphic nanowire networks as physical computing substrates. The medical-physics thread is the relevant one here: it is about quantifying and imaging what a nanoscale probe does inside tissue. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work — DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity — the nanoparticle-in-tissue problem she works on is the same delivery-and-quantification problem that determines whether an in-cell nanodiamond sensor operating near the pT/sqrt(Hz) regime reports anything biologically meaningful. Borderline inclusion; a candidate would be bringing quantum sensing to her, not the reverse.