Cohen's lab develops genetically encoded fluorescent voltage indicators and all-optical electrophysiology ('Optopatch') to simultaneously stimulate and image membrane voltage in individual neurons and cardiomyocytes at the single-cell and network level, combining protein engineering, optics, and theory to push the temporal and spatial resolution of bioelectrical imaging well past conventional patch-clamp limits.

Fletcher combines optical and force microscopy (AFM, optical tweezers) with purified-protein and single-cell assays to measure the mechanics of cell movement and immune-cell activation, and has also developed low-cost imaging instrumentation (foldscopes, phone-based microscopes) for global health.

Jones's group develops optical tweezers instrumentation for biological applications. Research directions: (1) Single-cell mechanics — using optical traps to apply calibrated forces to cells and measure viscoelastic properties relevant to cancer invasion and immune response; (2) Motor protein biophysics — measuring force-velocity curves of kinesin/myosin motors at the single-molecule level; (3) Optical sorting — holographic optical tweezers for cell sorting by mechanical phenotype; (4) Instrument development — fast-switching AOD-based traps, quantitative phase imaging combined with force measurement. Sensitive to pN forces, combining biosensing with fundamental biophysics.

Pincet uses optical-tweezer single-molecule force spectroscopy and single-molecule imaging to quantify the energetics and kinetics of protein-membrane interactions underlying vesicle docking and fusion (synaptotagmin/SNARE machinery), and — as a 2020 ERC Synergy laureate — is testing whether the secretory pathway is organized as self-assembling 2D liquid-crystalline protein domains. The lab combines force-clamp optical tweezers with real-time single-molecule imaging for unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution of individual protein-membrane binding events.

Prentiss's group works on cold-atom light-pulse interferometry for compact, potentially fieldable inertial sensors (gravimeters/gyroscopes), alongside a parallel biophysics program using optical tweezers and single-molecule methods to study DNA and cell mechanics. The atom-interferometric sensing work is squarely in the quantum-sensing gravimetry/inertial-navigation tradition alongside cold-atom-gradiometer and atom-chip clock efforts elsewhere in the field.

Reece runs UNSW's optical trapping and nanophotonics laboratory. The group combines optical tweezers with spectroscopy and microfluidics to characterise individual nanoparticles and cells: trapping and spectroscopically interrogating plasmonic core-satellite assemblies (with Gooding and Tilley), measuring single-cell mechanics, and building porous-silicon and photonic-crystal resonant structures for label-free biosensing where the analyte shifts a cavity resonance. 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 — optical trapping is the standard way to hold a nanoscale sensor — including a nanodiamond hosting an NV ensemble at pT/sqrt(Hz) — at a controlled position inside a cell or fluid, and levitated-nanodiamond spin-mechanics is an active field that this group's capabilities map onto almost exactly. Strong practical fit for a bio-oriented quantum sensing candidate.

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.