Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam (Associate Professor, BioNanoscience) uses single-molecule tools to study membrane proteins and cell biophysics. Research: (1) optical tweezers protein unfolding — mechanical unfolding of membrane proteins to probe folding landscape; (2) single-molecule cell biophysics — force spectroscopy on live cells; (3) synthetic biology applications — integrating engineered proteins with biophysical tools.

Craik leads the RAVIOLIS project (SNSF Starting Grant, started July 2025) measuring atomic parity violation in barium ions at <0.1% precision. Her entanglement protocol uses multi-ion entangled states with photonic integrated waveguide addressing to common-mode-reject parity-conserving systematics. Previous work: precision measurement of Ba+ dipole transition probabilities below 1% uncertainty; first laser-guided individual addressing of Ba+ qubits with <10^-4 intensity crosstalk; isotope-shift spectroscopy in Ca+ for fifth-force searches. She is actively recruiting for postdocs and PhD students for the new Ba+ ion trap experiment.

Pioneer in spintronics and quantum information engineering. Research spans: (1) NV-center spin qubits in diamond for quantum sensing and communication including nanomagnetic imaging; (2) spin defects in SiC and Er-doped hosts for quantum network nodes at telecom wavelengths; (3) molecular and protein-based spin qubits (2025 fluorescent-protein spin qubit, Physics World Top-10); (4) coherent Er spin defects in colloidal nanocrystal hosts (2024, with Alivisatos). Founding Director Chicago Quantum Exchange. Joint Senior Scientist Argonne. Large infrastructure-rich group with strong industry ties (IBM, Intel, Google quantum).

Poul Martin Bendix (Associate Professor, BendixLab/NBI) investigates physical properties of living cells using advanced optical techniques. Research: (1) optical tweezers for mechanosensing — GPCR mechanosensing with picoNewton force resolution, membrane curvature sensing by proteins (annexins, BAR-domain proteins); (2) thermoplasmonics — gold nanoparticle laser heating for controlled membrane microsurgery, cell fusion, and plasma membrane repair; (3) single-molecule biophysics — DNA-protein interactions using 4-trap optical tweezers (LUMICKS C-Trap) with STED imaging; (4) filopodia dynamics — twist and rotation of actin filaments; (5) Brillouin microscopy for cell mechanics; (6) COBM center management. GPCRmec consortium (Novo Nordisk). 2026 BPS Annual Meeting featured.

Brune leads the Circular Rydberg Atom / Cavity QED group at LKB (Collège de France site), continuing the work of Serge Haroche (Nobel 2012). Note: Brune is employed by ENS, not Sorbonne Université; postdoc contracts are typically ENS/CNRS. Research directions: (1) Circular Rydberg atoms — atoms in extremely high principal quantum number states (n~50) with extremely long radiative lifetimes (~30 ms) and large dipole moments; (2) Cavity QED quantum sensing — single circular atoms probe the microwave field in a superconducting cavity photon-by-photon via quantum non-demolition measurement; (3) Quantum state engineering — generating Fock states, Schrödinger cat states, and entangled atom-field states in the cavity; (4) Tests of quantum complementarity — observing decoherence of mesoscopic superpositions in real time as a probe of quantum-to-classical transition. The 'quantum radio receiver' using single atoms to sense individual microwave photons is a landmark quantum sensing demonstration.

Chu leads the Hybrid Quantum Systems Group coupling mechanical resonators to superconducting circuits and diamond color centers. Research directions: (1) Circuit quantum acousto-dynamics (cQAD) — HBAR resonators coupled to transmon qubits achieve single-phonon nonlinearity (coherence/anharmonicity ratio 6.8), mechanical qubit gates demonstrated (arXiv 2406.07360, 2024); (2) Optimal control for high Fock state preparation in bulk resonators; (3) Ultra-cold mechanical quantum sensor — cryogenically cooled nanomechanical oscillators as probes for new physics beyond the standard model; (4) Coupling NV/SiV color centers in diamond to acoustic waves for hybrid quantum memory and transduction. Targets long-lived phonon storage for quantum networking and quantum sensing beyond the standard quantum limit.

Cohadon and Heidmann co-lead the Optomechanics and Quantum Measurements group at LKB. Research directions: (1) Back-action evasion and Standard Quantum Limit (SQL) — early demonstration of radiation-pressure back-action in a micro-mirror (Nature 2006), subsequent beating of SQL via quantum correlations; (2) Micro/nanomechanical resonators — 2D photonic crystal deformable slabs, membrane-in-the-middle cavities, micropillar resonators for radiation-pressure optomechanics; (3) Superconducting qubit–macroscopic membrane coupling — Jacqmin & Deléglise team: resonant coupling of transmon qubit to MHz membrane oscillator, tracking quantum motion with 300 repeated interactions (2025); high-impedance hyperinductors for electromechanics; (4) Gravitational wave detector contributions — VIRGO/LIGO data analysis and quantum noise modeling. Applications include back-action-evading force sensing and tests of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales.

Degen leads the Spin Physics and Imaging group, one of the world's leading NV-center magnetometry labs. Research directions (as of 2025): (1) Scanning NV magnetometry of quantum materials — NV-tipped cantilevers image current flow (≲50 nm resolution) in graphene heterostructures and resolve domain walls in antiferromagnets/ferroelectrics; cryogenic scanning down to 350 mK in dilution refrigerator (published Appl. Phys. Lett. 2022). (2) Single-molecule NMR — shallow NV centers detect nuclear spins from surface-adsorbed molecules with sub-nanometer 3D resolution; 2022 Nano Lett. on amine-functionalized diamond surfaces; exploring chirality-induced spin selectivity at few-molecule level. (3) NV magnetometry protocols — reconstruction-free waveform sensing (1.1 ns time resolution, Nature 2025), gradiometric detection, spectrum demodulation for rapid scanning, multi-NV addressing. (4) Diamond nanoengineering — multicone pillar waveguides, surface engineering, scanning probe fabrication. ERC Proof-of-Concept 2025 for photonic IC single-photon NV excitation/detection for commercial quantum sensing.

Cees Dekker (Distinguished University Professor, BioNanoscience/Kavli) pioneered solid-state nanopores and single-molecule biophysics. Research: (1) solid-state nanopores for protein sensing and sequencing — detecting individual protein molecules by current blockade; (2) DNA loop extrusion by condensin and cohesin at the single-molecule level; (3) chromatin structure and chromosome organisation with bacteria-on-chip; (4) synthetic cell construction from the bottom up; (5) diagnostic nanopores for neglected diseases. NanoFront 51M€ NWO program leader; 2019 Nature paper on real-time DNA loop extrusion imaging.

Nynke Dekker (Full Professor, BioNanoscience) leads single-molecule biophysics of DNA replication and topology. Research: (1) single-molecule force-fluorescence microscopy — integrated optical tweezers and fluorescence for real-time imaging of replication machinery; (2) DNA topology — supercoiling, gyrase, topoisomerase dynamics with magnetic tweezers; (3) DNA/RNA-processing molecular motors. EMBO member; KNAW member. 2024 integrated force-fluorescence toolbox published.