Nobel laureate W. E. Moerner, who first detected and studied single molecules optically, now develops engineered point-spread-function and orientation-resolved single-molecule localization microscopy methods to track individual biomolecules and their rotational dynamics in cells with nanometer precision, well beyond the optical diffraction limit.
Monzel holds the biophysics/biophotonics professorship at Stuttgart's 2nd Institute of Physics. The group develops multiparametric imaging spectroscopy and high-resolution light microscopy -- combining super-resolution, fluorescence-fluctuation and lifetime-resolved methods -- to read out several observables at once in living cells and in biomimetic model membranes, and pairs this with magnetic nanoparticles used to apply and sense forces on cell-surface receptors (magnetogenetic control of signalling). Single-molecule analysis inside cells is an explicit focus. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), this is the closest thing at Stuttgart to a natural biological host for in-cell quantum sensing: the group already does single-molecule-resolution live-cell imaging and already works with magnetic nanoparticles, so nanodiamond relaxometry/thermometry would slot in with the readout stack it already runs. Relatively new appointment -- good moment to join.
Jörg Müller's Quantum Metrology group works on next-generation optical atomic clocks and superradiant lasers. Key experiments: cold strontium continuous superradiant laser (subnatural linewidth, pushing beyond traditional clock limitations); microresonator-based frequency combs; ultra-stable optical reference cavities; and cavity QED many-atom systems for clocks and sensing. The group is part of the EU iqClock project targeting operational optical lattice clocks.
Muller designs wireless, miniaturized CMOS integrated circuits for closed-loop neural recording and stimulation (including the WAND platform), pushing implantable bioelectronic sensing toward fully autonomous, battery-free operation.
Mulvaney directs the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science and runs Melbourne's nanoscience laboratory. The group's distinctive capability is single-particle and single-emitter optical spectroscopy: photon-antibunching and blinking statistics from individual quantum dots and perovskite nanocrystals, photothermal and dark-field spectroscopy of individual metal nanoparticles, and the electrochemical control of single-nanocrystal charge state. Applications run from LEDs and solar cells to quantum-dot probes for single-particle tracking in cells. 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 single-emitter photon-statistics measurements share the shot-noise-limited photon-counting methodology of NV-ensemble ODMR readout, and the group's nanocrystal probes are direct competitors/complements to nanodiamond in cellular sensing. Large, well-resourced group.
Murray develops mid-infrared photonic sources and detectors and combines mid-IR spectroscopy with mass-spectrometry imaging to provide complementary optical and biochemical maps of tissue for biomedical sensing.
Natrajan's group develops luminescent lanthanide complexes for chemical and biological sensing. Research directions: (1) Time-gated lanthanide luminescence sensing — long-lifetime Eu3+, Tb3+, and Yb3+ complexes with millisecond emission lifetimes for background-free sensing in cells and tissue; (2) Intracellular sensing — luminescent probes for sensing O2, pH, viscosity, and specific enzymes inside living cells with spatiotemporal resolution; (3) Chiral discrimination — circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) from Eu3+ complexes for enantioselective sensing; (4) Responsive probes — switchable lanthanide complexes as ratiometric sensors for biomedical imaging. The long-lifetime emission enables time-gating strategies analogous to quantum sensing protocols.
Nguyen's group at UCL (based at Royal Institution) focuses on magnetic and fluorescent nanoparticles for biomedical sensing and therapy. Research directions: (1) Magnetic nanoparticle synthesis — iron oxide (SPION) and other magnetic nanoparticles with controlled size, shape, and surface chemistry for MRI contrast and magnetic hyperthermia; (2) Biosensing platforms — functionalized nanoparticles as MRI-detectable sensors for specific biomolecular targets; magnetic particle imaging (MPI) for real-time tracking; (3) Plasmonic nanoparticles — gold nanoparticles for optical biosensing and photothermal therapy; (4) Fluorescent nanoparticles — QD- and dye-conjugated probes for live-cell imaging. Relevant to quantum sensing through magnetic nanoparticle platforms.
Pioneer of single-molecule/single-nanoparticle surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and quantum-dot bioconjugate imaging; develops nanoparticle probes for ultrasensitive molecular detection and in vivo tumor imaging.
Nussberger holds the biophysics chair at Stuttgart's Institute of Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems. The group studies how proteins cross and insert into membranes -- mitochondrial protein translocases (TOM complex), apoptosis-related pore formation -- using single-channel electrophysiology, single-molecule fluorescence and structural methods, and has pushed this into an explicit nanopore/biosensing line: engineered protein and DNA-based pores as single-molecule sensors, including the DNA-origami nanosyringe for directed membrane translocation published with Na Liu's group. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the relevance is the readout channel: nanopore sensing is the electrical single-molecule counterpart to optical single-molecule detection, and the group's membrane expertise is exactly what an in-cell quantum-sensing project needs when the question becomes how to get the probe across a bilayer.