Biophysical and Photophysical Chemistry

Our work develops new methods to characterise chemical and biological systems and their behaviour; explores the mechanisms of charge and energy transfer in molecules and material; and develops new analytical methodologies for the characterisation of molecular systems, biomolecules, and materials.

Research themes in the biophysical and photo physical group

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Major Themes

We are a dynamic, interdisciplinary group of people sharing passion for light-driven phenomena and (supra)molecular interactions at the interface of chemistry, physics and biology - collaborators welcome.

Ultra-fast processes, light matter interactions: charge and energy transfer in molecular systems and biomolecules, artificial photosynthesis and light-harvesting, photocatalysis, photodynamic therapy
Biophysical chemistry: single-molecule spectroscopy and microscopy, energy transfer in molecular systems, repurposing of natural systems for synthetic biology applications, self-assembling proteins and biological membranes, plant signalling
Surfaces and materials: plasmonics, surface spectroscopy, bionanotechnology, photonics
Applied spectroscopy: development of new analytical spectroscopic techniques and its applications, to study the metabolism of bacteria, and sensing of nutrients in soils.

Methods

Ultrafast laser spectroscopy: transient absorption and time-resolved infrared, 2D-IR, time-correlated single-photon counting, fluorescence upconversion spectroscopy.

Ultrasensitive techniques: single-molecule FRET, cavity ring-down spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, direct singlet oxygen detection.

Imaging techniques: Nanolithography, surface patterning, AFM, Molecular photonics breadboards, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), FLIM and phosphorescence lifetime imaging microscopy in cells and tissues.

Protein engineering: rational design of self-assembling proteins and immunofluorescence microscopy.

Key publications

Ambrose, B., Baxter, J.M., Cully, J. et al (2020). The smfBox is an open-source platform for single-molecule FRET. Nat Commun, 11, 5641.

G.D. Metcalfe, S. Alahmari, T.W. Smith, and M. Hippler (2019). Cavity-Enhanced Raman and Helmholtz Resonator Photoacoustic Spectroscopy to Monitor the Mixed Sugar Metabolism of E. coli. Anal. Chem., 91 13096-13104.

A. Lishchuk, G. Kodali, J. A. Mancini, M. Broadbent, B. Darroch,O. A. Mass, A. Nabok, P. L. Dutton, C. N. Hunter, P. Törmä and G. J. Leggett (2018). A Synthetic Biological Quantum Optical System. Nanoscale, 10, 13064 - 13073.

A. Graf, J. Finkel, A. Chauvet & S. Rtimi (2019). Deciphering the mechanisms of bacterial inactivation on HiPIMS sputtered CuxO-FeOx-PET surfaces: from light absorption to catalytic bacterial death. Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 11, 48, 45319–45329.

Booth A, Marklew CJ, Ciani B & Beales PA (2019). In Vitro Membrane Remodeling by ESCRT is Regulated by Negative Feedback from Membrane Tension. iScience, 15, 173-184.

Delor M, Scattergood PA, Sazanovich IV, Parker AW, Greetham GM, Meijer AJHM, Towrie M & Weinstein JA (2014). Toward control of electron transfer in donor-acceptor molecules by bond-specific infrared excitation. Science, 346(6216), 1492-1495.