Research Areas - (169) Quantum Biology / Biosensing

Full path: Biology > Biophysics > Quantum Biology / Biosensing

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics – Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne UniversitΓ© | Optical Imaging in Complex Media Group (Gigan Group / LKB) @ Sorbonne
Summary:

Gigan leads the Optical Imaging group at LKB, pioneering wavefront shaping and computational imaging through scattering media. Research directions: (1) Wavefront shaping / transmission matrix β€” measuring the ~10^5 optical modes of a scattering sample's transmission matrix to focus and image through highly scattering biological tissues; roadmap on deep tissue imaging (J. Phys. Photonics 2022, lead author); (2) Multimode quantum optics through complex media β€” spatially multimode squeezed states transmitted through scattering media for quantum-enhanced imaging; (3) Optical computing / AI β€” using multiple scattering as a physical neural network for reservoir computing and nonlinear machine learning (LightOn spin-off, 2016); (4) Neurophotonics applications β€” focusing through the skull for deep brain imaging. Two ERC grants (2011, 2017). Optica Fellow. IUF member (2016–2021).

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics / LKB | PICO Group (Gigan Lab) @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Sylvain Gigan's PICO (Photonics, Information, and Complexity) group focuses on imaging through and with complex and scattering media. Research: (1) wavefront shaping through scattering media β€” adaptive optics and transmission matrix approaches for deep-tissue fluorescence imaging; (2) multimode quantum optics through complex media β€” pushing quantum light through scattering and multi-mode fibres; (3) analogue computing with random optical scattering media. Key for biosensing: deep tissue imaging at high spatial resolution and quantum-enhanced light manipulation.

Department(s)/lab(s): Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering | Goldys Nanoscale Biophotonics Group @ UNSW
Summary:

Goldys was Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics and now leads a nanoscale biophotonics group in Biomedical Engineering. The programme is about extracting diagnostic information from very weak optical signals inside cells and tissue: luminescent and upconverting nanoparticle probes with long lifetimes that allow time-gated, background-free detection; hyperspectral unmixing of native cellular autofluorescence (NADH, FAD, porphyrins) as a completely label-free readout of cell state, which she has pushed toward clinical use in reproductive medicine and cancer; and nanoparticle-mediated therapy. Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β€” DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β€” time-gated luminescence and NV relaxometry are two solutions to the same problem β€” how to read a faint, specific signal out of an autofluorescent, optically hostile biological background β€” and her clinical translation experience is exactly the missing capability in most quantum-biosensing groups. Preferred attribute present: advanced/label-based imaging with a genuine human-application pathway.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Chemistry | Gooding Biosensors and Surface Chemistry Group @ UNSW
Summary:

Gooding is one of the world's most-cited biosensor scientists (inaugural editor-in-chief of ACS Sensors) and runs a group of over thirty researchers spanning surface chemistry, electrochemistry and nanomedicine. The sensing programme that matters here is the move from ensemble to digital, single-molecule-resolved detection: nanoparticle-tethered electrochemical sensors in which single binding events are counted rather than averaged, nanopore blockade sensors for protein biomarkers such as PSA, amplification-free nucleic-acid detection, and antifouling surface chemistries that make any of this work in real biological fluid. He has a strong commercialisation record (AgaMatrix glucose sensors). Positioned against the established body of NV-ensemble quantum sensing work β€” DEER, nanoscale NMR and T1 relaxometry protocols operating at pT/sqrt(Hz) field sensitivity β€” his single-molecule-counting philosophy is the biosensing analogue of moving from a pT/sqrt(Hz) NV ensemble to single-spin detection: in both cases the sensitivity gain comes from resolving individual events rather than improving an averaged signal. He is also the obvious collaborator for anyone trying to functionalise a diamond or nanoparticle quantum sensor for a real analyte.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics & Astronomy – Photon Science Institute | Graham Group (SERS and Nanoplasmonic Biosensing) @ Manchester
Summary:

Graham's group develops SERS-based nanoplasmonic sensing platforms for biomedical applications. Research directions: (1) SERS nanogap substrates β€” engineering colloidal gold and silver nanostructure clusters with reproducible, high-enhancement nanogaps for single-molecule SERS detection; (2) In vivo SERS β€” intravenous SERS nanotags for tumor imaging and multiplexed biomarker detection in living organisms; (3) Microfluidic SERS β€” integrating SERS probes in microfluidic channels for continuous monitoring of circulating biomarkers; (4) Quantitative SERS β€” calibration strategies for absolute analyte quantification for clinical diagnostics. Extreme sensitivity (single-molecule) relevant to quantum-enhanced optical sensing.

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Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (LKB) | Polarised Helium, Quantum Fluids and Solids Team @ ENS Paris
Summary:

Grucker works on optically-pumped, spin-exchange hyperpolarized helium-3 for quantum-fluid physics and biomedical MRI contrast, part of LKB's polarized-helium team that historically bridges fundamental AMO physics with clinical lung-imaging applications.

Department(s)/lab(s): BioNanoscience / Kavli Institute of Nanoscience | Kristin Grußmayer Lab β€” Super-Resolution Microscopy @ TU Delft
Summary:

Kristin Grußmayer (Assistant Professor, BioNanoscience, 2021) develops super-resolution microscopy tools. Research: (1) SOFI (super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging) β€” camera-based super-resolution using photon statistics; (2) multi-plane super-resolution and quantitative phase imaging β€” combined modalities for 3D sub-diffraction imaging; (3) new fluorescence probe classes for SMLM; (4) AI-driven smart microscopy for automated phenotype detection. Marie Curie Fellow (EPFL, Lasser group). Group established 2021.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Biological Physics) | Chromatin Dynamics Lab @ Oxford
Summary:

Gruszka's Chromatin Dynamics Lab combines real-time single-molecule imaging with biochemistry and biophysics (including in Xenopus egg-extract systems) to study how epigenetic information carried by nucleosomes is disassembled and re-established during DNA replication. The lab is actively recruiting postdoctoral fellows.

Department(s)/lab(s): Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics | Donhee Ham Research Group @ Harvard
Summary:

Ham's group builds CMOS integrated-circuit platforms spanning scalable, chip-based NMR spectrometers (including impedance-tuned microwave loops for controlling dense NV-diamond spin ensembles, developed with Ronald Walsworth) and CMOS intracellular microelectrode arrays that record from thousands of neurons in parallel β€” a dual quantum-sensing/bioelectronic-sensing program built around scaling sensitive spin- and electrode-based sensors onto integrated circuits.

Department(s)/lab(s): Chemistry | Han Lab @ UIUC
Summary:

Develops microfluidics and imaging-based spatial-omics technologies for high-resolution, high-throughput assays and modeling of complex biological systems, including bottom-up construction of synthetic cells.