Bath's group designs and assembles DNA- and RNA-based molecular machines and nanostructures (including DNA origami 'molecular signposts' for cryo-electron tomography), aiming to create probes of cellular structure and function and new disruptive technologies for molecular manufacturing.

PREFERRED. Bathe's lab programs DNA and RNA into custom 2D/3D nanoscale materials (DNA origami via the DAEDALUS algorithm) for applications spanning vaccines/therapeutics, massive molecular data storage, and — most relevant here — using DNA as a programmable scaffold to organize photonic and quantum-optical elements (mimicking quantum coherence effects seen in photosynthetic light-harvesting) and single-molecule optical biosensing.

Bell's group uses DNA nanotechnology and advanced optical microscopy for single-molecule biosensing. Research directions: (1) DNA-based biosensing — DNA origami structures as programmable biosensing platforms; using structural switching of DNA nanodevices to sense specific biomolecules with single-molecule sensitivity; (2) Super-resolution microscopy with DNA — DNA-PAINT and FRET-based single-molecule localization for mapping molecular architectures in cells; (3) Solid-state nanopores — DNA-threaded through nanopores as a precision biosensor for protein identification and force measurement; (4) Multiplexed single-molecule detection — combining DNA-based sensors with optical readout for parallel biomolecule profiling. New group established at UCL, strong biosensing focus.

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.

Designs programmable DNA nanodevices as quantitative fluorescent reporters to map second messengers in real time inside specific organelles of living cells. Research directions: (1) DNA origami ion-sensing nanodevices for pH, Cl-, Ca2+, HOCl, and membrane voltage with single-organelle addressability; (2) targeting nanodevices to endosomes, lysosomes, mitochondria, and ER to dissect organelle biology and disease mechanisms; (3) in vivo deployment in C. elegans and Drosophila. NIH Director's Pioneer Award 2022.

Liu's group sits at the junction of DNA nanotechnology and nanophotonics: DNA-origami-templated plasmonic assemblies, reconfigurable artificial nanomachines whose motion is read out optically (chiral plasmonics, FRET), and, increasingly, synthetic-cell systems -- DNA-based pores and a programmable DNA-origami nanosyringe for directed membrane translocation, the latter published jointly with Nussberger's biophysics group at Stuttgart. The through-line is building nanoscale machines that both actuate and report. Relative to the established NV-ensemble quantum-sensing playbook (DEER, nanoscale NMR, T1 relaxometry at pT/sqrt(Hz) ensemble sensitivity), the relevance is on the biosensing axis: this is the group that can put a nanoscale probe exactly where you want it on or through a membrane, which is the delivery problem that in-cell quantum sensing keeps running into. Preferred-attribute note: nanofabrication is heavily used, but the emphasis is on single-molecule optical readout rather than device manufacture per se.

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.

Wickham builds DNA origami nanostructures — programmable, self-assembling scaffolds with nanometre-precision addressability — and uses them as molecular machines, drug-delivery vehicles and, most relevantly, as rulers and probes for single-molecule measurement. DNA origami is the standard platform for DNA-PAINT super-resolution and for positioning fluorophores, nanoparticles or spin labels at defined separations, and her group works on dynamic, reconfigurable devices that respond to biological triggers. 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 — DNA origami is the leading candidate technology for positioning target molecules at a controlled standoff from a near-surface NV ensemble, which is the central geometric problem in pushing NV nanoscale NMR and DEER from pT/sqrt(Hz) ensembles down to single-molecule sensitivity. Genuinely complementary skill set for a quantum-sensing candidate.