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.
Ting's lab invented proximity-dependent enzymatic labeling technologies (APEX, TurboID) that map the spatial proteome and transcriptome of living cells with organelle-level resolution, and develops genetically encoded fluorescent/voltage biosensors -- engineering biology's own molecular machinery into quantitative optical reporters.
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.
Upadhyayula (trained with Eric Betzig at Janelia) develops multifunctional adaptive-optical super-resolution microscopy and the large-scale computational pipelines needed to reconstruct terabyte- to petabyte-scale 3D subcellular dynamics datasets. The group is actively recruiting postdocs.
Vafabakhsh uses single-molecule FRET to resolve the conformational dynamics of membrane receptors and channels -- including class C GPCRs, adhesion GPCRs, and potassium channels -- as they gate and signal, and applies related single-molecule methods to viral DNA packaging motors and synaptic protein complexes, aiming to build a quantitative, multi-scale picture of synaptic protein organization from the single-molecule to the synapse level.
Willem Vanderlinden uses high-resolution biophysical tools to study protein-nucleic acid interactions. Research: (1) magnetic tweezers for pN-scale force and torque measurements on single DNA molecules and nucleoprotein complexes during retroviral integration, DNA supercoiling, and chromatin remodelling; (2) high-speed AFM imaging of nucleoprotein complexes and chromosomal organisation; (3) quantitative single-molecule statistical analysis of DNA topology. His approach provides cutting-edge spatial resolution to study chromatin biophysics and mobile DNA elements at the single-molecule level.
Vandsburger develops molecular and functional cardiac MRI methods, including CEST-based sensors, to noninvasively image myocardial metabolism, fibrosis, and remodeling with the specificity usually associated with molecular probes rather than conventional anatomical MRI. The lab is actively recruiting postdocs.
Vedral leads the Quantum Devices and Biosystems group, working at the intersection of quantum information and biology. Research themes include: (1) quantum effects in living systems — studying entanglement and non-classicality in biological organisms such as tardigrades placed in quantum superposition inside superconducting qubits; (2) BMV-type experiments to test whether gravity is a quantum field by measuring gravity-mediated entanglement between two massive quantum superpositions; (3) theoretical frameworks for witnessing quantum effects in complex macroscopic systems. While primarily theoretical, the group actively collaborates with and directs experiments. Borderline: included as the group formally aims for experimental demonstrations of quantum effects in living systems.
Waigh's group applies advanced optical and biophysical techniques to study complex biological fluids and single molecules. Research directions: (1) Microrheology — diffusing wave spectroscopy and optical trapping microrheology to measure viscoelastic properties of biopolymer networks and cytoplasm; (2) Antibody / protein dynamics — tracking single-molecule diffusion of antibodies and receptors in complex biological environments using fluorescence; (3) Non-linear flows of antibodies — studying anomalous diffusion and aggregation of therapeutic antibodies; (4) Neutron and X-ray scattering — structural characterization of complex biofluids at PSI facilities. Bridges soft matter physics and single-molecule biosensing.
Wang develops giant-magnetoresistance (GMR) spin-valve biosensor chips that detect magnetic-nanoparticle-tagged biomolecules with high sensitivity and multiplexing for protein and nucleic-acid diagnostics -- a solid-state magnetic-sensing approach to biosensing that sits alongside NV-ensemble and OPM-based approaches at a very different sensitivity/format tradeoff.