Develops single-cell and mass-spectrometry imaging technologies to discover and map neuropeptides and other small-molecule signaling agents involved in cell-cell communication.
Tempelaar develops theory and simulation methods (surface-hopping and vibronic exciton models) for two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy, explaining how vibronic coupling sustains excitonic coherence in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes such as the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex and LH2, and extending these ideas to singlet fission and organic-semiconductor aggregates. He is a faculty affiliate of Northwestern's Institute for Quantum Information Research and Engineering (INQUIRE).
Tilley directs the UNSW Electron Microscope Unit and runs a nanomaterials group whose distinctive capability is in-situ liquid-cell TEM: watching nanoparticle nucleation, growth and catalytic transformation in real time inside the microscope, in liquid, rather than inferring mechanism from before-and-after snapshots. The synthetic side produces magnetic and plasmonic nanoparticles used as biosensor labels and MRI contrast agents, largely in collaboration with Gooding and Reece. 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 group is a supplier and characteriser of the nanoparticle probes that in-cell quantum sensing depends on — including the magnetic-nanoparticle labels whose stray fields a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV sensor would actually detect — and the liquid-cell TEM capability is a rare way to validate what those particles are doing in situ. Borderline inclusion (materials characterisation rather than sensing), kept for the collaborative infrastructure it represents.
Uses ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopy to study structural dynamics of biomolecules. Directions: (1) 2D IR spectroscopy of protein folding, water dynamics, and membrane systems with sub-100-fs time resolution; (2) single-molecule FRET for resolving conformational heterogeneity in proteins and nucleic acids; (3) development of ultrafast mid-IR laser sources and pulse shaping for 2D spectroscopy. Resolves dynamics inaccessible to other methods.
Wasielewski's group uses ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer within covalently linked organic donor-acceptor molecules to generate pairs of entangled electron spins (spin-correlated radical ion pairs) that behave as optically-initialized, microwave-addressable molecular qubits. Building on this platform, the group demonstrated explicit quantum sensing of electric fields via molecular-recognition-induced changes in a spin-correlated radical pair, alongside DNA-hairpin-hosted spin-qubit pairs and chirality-induced spin selectivity effects -- extending photosynthetic radical-pair chemistry into a designed quantum-sensing and quantum-information platform.
Develops multidimensional coherent spectroscopy methods, including label-free multidimensional optical imaging/contrast techniques applied to cancerous tissue and nanoscale heterostructures.
Yang's experimental physical chemistry lab designs new instrumentation to track single proteins, nanoparticles, and other emitters in three dimensions in real time within complex, heterogeneous environments, including a recent time-gated two-photon platform for high-speed 3D single-particle tracking. His group applies these single-molecule tracking and orientation-resolved imaging tools to protein conformational dynamics, functional nanostructures, and active-matter systems.
Develops multidimensional (2D IR/visible) ultrafast spectroscopy and new ultrafast optical microscopies, applying temporally- and spatially-resolved coherent spectroscopy to protein structure/dynamics and label-free tissue imaging.
Zare's group develops laser and mass-spectrometric methods -- including single-cell mass spectrometry and mass spectrometry imaging of neuropeptides -- to chemically profile individual cells and tissue sections with high molecular specificity, alongside long-standing work in microdroplet and chiral-selective chemistry.
Zuerch combines tabletop attosecond/femtosecond XUV sources with photoemission electron microscopy to image ultrafast magnetic, electronic, and structural dynamics in quantum materials with combined nanometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution. The lab is actively recruiting postdocs.