Research Areas - (227) Biophysics

Full path: Biology > Biophysics

Tags:
Department(s)/lab(s): Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology | Molecular Neuroscience Group @ Cambridge
Summary:

Kaminski Schierle heads the Molecular Neuroscience Group, applying super-resolution and functional fluorescence imaging (developed with Clemens Kaminski) to gain molecular-level understanding of protein misfolding in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease models, including live-cell and whole-organism (C. elegans) imaging of amyloid aggregation.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Biological Physics, Condensed Matter Physics) | Gene Machines (Kapanidis Group) @ Oxford
Summary:

Kapanidis' Gene Machines group develops single-molecule fluorescence methods (including ALEX/FRET and super-resolution microscopy) to observe transcription and other gene-expression machinery in real time in bacteria and viruses, and leverages this toolkit to build ultrasensitive DNA-based biosensors for pathogen and antibiotic-resistance detection.

Department(s)/lab(s): School of Chemistry | Kassal Group @ USyd
Summary:

Kassal is the leading Australian theorist of quantum effects in light harvesting. He established the distinction between coherent processes and coherent states in photosynthesis — showing that under incoherent sunlight at steady state, wavelike motion per se does not enhance efficiency, while environment-assisted transport and supertransfer genuinely can — and has since developed a classification of the mechanisms by which coherence (excitonic, vibrational, or of the light field itself) can improve energy transport. He also pioneered quantum-computer algorithms for chemistry. A distinct and directly relevant thread is the theory of spectroscopy with non-classical light: what entangled or squeezed photons can reveal about molecular coherence that classical light cannot. 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 — his work is the theoretical counterpart to the quantum-biology ambitions of the NV community: where NV ensembles at pT/sqrt(Hz) try to detect the magnetic signatures of biological spin chemistry, Kassal asks what quantum coherence is actually doing in those systems and whether quantum light can interrogate it.

Tags:
Department(s)/lab(s): Neurobiology | Kasthuri Lab @ UChicago
Summary:

Kasthuri pioneered automated large-volume serial electron microscopy ('connectomics') to reconstruct complete synaptic wiring diagrams of the brain, and is now exploring synchrotron X-ray and photoemission electron microscopy (with the King lab) to remove imaging-speed bottlenecks and scale reconstructions toward whole-mouse and eventually human brains, comparing development, aging, and species differences. This is squarely the kind of resolution-pushing biological imaging the filter targets, achieving nanometer-scale synaptic resolution across cubic-millimeter-to-whole-brain volumes.

Tags:
Department(s)/lab(s): Chemistry | Kelley Research Group @ Northwestern
Summary:

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.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics (Cavendish Laboratory) | Keyser Lab @ Cambridge
Summary:

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.

Department(s)/lab(s): Physics | Kim Lab @ UIUC
Summary:

Studies the physical rules governing bacterial gene expression using single-molecule and quantitative live-cell imaging approaches.

Department(s)/lab(s): Chemistry (Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry) | Klenerman Group @ Cambridge
Summary:

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.

Department(s)/lab(s): BioNanoscience / Kavli Institute of Nanoscience | Gijsje Koenderink Lab — Active Matter & Cell Biomechanics @ TU Delft
Summary:

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.

Department(s)/lab(s): Neurobiology | Kozorovitskiy Laboratory @ Northwestern
Summary:

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.