Develops second- and third-harmonic generation (SHG/THG) nonlinear optical microscopy to image collagen and other non-centrosymmetric structural proteins label-free in tissue, with applications to cancer diagnosis and fibrosis, pushing spatial/orientational resolution of structural imaging in intact tissue.

Studies co-translational protein folding using time-resolved single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy synergistically combined with NMR and single-particle cryo-EM.

Uses optical and magnetic tweezers to study single-molecule mechanics and dynamics of molecular motors and nucleic-acid-processing enzymes with piconewton force resolution.

Nobel laureate Steven Chu's group spans laser cooling/trapping of atoms and single-molecule biophysics, using optical and magnetic tweezers and single-molecule fluorescence to study DNA/RNA folding, molecular motors, and signal transduction -- one of the earliest applications of AMO-derived single-particle measurement precision to living systems.

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.

Daniel Comparat (DR CNRS, LAC MFC coordinator) works on cold atoms, molecules and Rydberg physics. Research: (1) Rydberg atoms — spectroscopy, few-body interactions, frozen Rydberg gases with Cs/Yb; (2) cold molecules — BaF laser cooling and trapping for eEDM measurement; (3) antihydrogen laser manipulation for fundamental tests; (4) novel electron electric dipole moment measurement technique; (5) cold ion and electron sources (photo-ionization of laser-cooled atoms). ERC-linked funding.

Conolly builds Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) scanners, a tracer-based imaging modality that detects the nonlinear magnetization response of superparamagnetic nanoparticles with high sensitivity, safety, and zero background signal from tissue, alongside compressed-sensing MRI methods.

Croquette is a co-inventor of magnetic-tweezer single-molecule biophysics, applying it to helicase/topoisomerase mechanochemistry, DNA replication, and nucleic-acid mechanics; his group also develops complementary single-molecule readouts (stereo darkfield interferometry, mass photometry-adjacent tracking) for sub-nanometer 3D localization. He continues active, well-cited methodological development (e.g., recent reviews of magnetic-tweezer principles) alongside Jean-Francois Allemand.

Cui develops vertical nanopillar electrode and optical sensor arrays that interface with the cell membrane to probe curvature-sensitive signaling, and pairs them with 3D super-resolution (single-molecule localization) microscopy to resolve nanoscale protein organization at the nano-bio interface with 10-20 nm precision, well past the optical diffraction limit.

Develops photonic-crystal-based optical biosensors and photonic-resonator-enhanced microscopy for digital-resolution, single-nanoparticle/single-quantum-dot biodetection, applied to protein, exosome, and nucleic acid diagnostics.