Kelly Laboratory for Nanoscale Optics and Membrane Biophysics

Welcome to the Kelly Lab at WSU!

In the Kelly Lab, we employ a variety of experimental and computational methods to explore the nanoscale properties of membranes. In particular, we focus on novel sub-diffraction-limited optical methods, many of which we are developing ourselves. We are in the process of developing single-molecule localization setup to detect the interplay of nanoscale membrane curvature, molecular sorting, and lipid phase dynamics!

All interested students and collaborators are encouraged to contact us. We love to share our techniques and learn about new applications for them.

Lab News

8/27/18 - Congratulations on your well defended prospectus, Master Sonali Gandhi! We can't wait to see all your results as you continue towards your PhD!

7/9/18 - The Richard Barber Interdisciplinary Research Program's program-wide meeting brought together researchers from across WSU.

8/1/2018 - The Kelly Lab has enjoyed doing outreach events at Camp Cosmos, VBS, and WSU Planetarium!

6/7/18 - Zoe's paper was accepted to BBA-Biomembranes! Great job, Zoe and Eric!

"Single-lipid tracking on nanoscale membrane buds: The effects of curvature on lipid diffusion and sorting"


5/8/18 - Abir has officially graduated! We're so proud and excited for you!

4/23/18 - We won awards! I'm so proud of Abir for winning the "2018 Alburuj R. Rahman Prize for the best Ph.D. Dissertation in Physics and Astronomy" and Zoe for winning the "Emil and John & Mary Kaczor Endowed Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for 2018." I am honored and grateful to have been awarded the " 2018 Sultana N. Nahar Prize for Distinction in Teaching Physics and Astronomy." What a day!

10/11/17 - We took a new group photo. What a handsome group!

10/1/17 - Joe and Will will be working with us to develop optics demonstrations in collaboration with the Michigan Science Center. Last we talked, they were going to attach a string to a fan to create waves, show polarization, and show interference. I can't wait to see their engineering ideas.

9/15/17 - Abir has won the Professor Eugene Victor Perrin, M.D. Endowed Memorial Scholarship from WSU's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies for her use of fundamental physics to understand the mechanisms of cholera infections. Way to go, Abir!

9/1/17 - Meshari and Mohammed have joined the group! We're excited to see the great research you'll do!

8/11/17 - Abir's two papers were accepted for publication in the Biophysical Journal. All that hard work is finally paying off!

6/15/17 - The 2017 Richard Barber Interdisciplinary Research Program has begun. It'll be a great summer with four interdisciplinary research groups part of the program!

6/1/17 - Sonali and Logan started researching with us! Welcome to the team, guys!

5/1/17 - Hailee, Karl, and Vaseem completed there undergraduate honors theses. Their hard work shined through!

4/7/17 - Chris wins the Richard J. Barber Faculty Award from the Physics and Astronomy Department at WSU. What an honor!

3/14/17 - The Richard Barber Interdisciplinary Research Program has been funded for the 7th consecutive year! All interested undergraduate and undergraduate students are encourage to apply here.

3/8/17 - Abir won 3rd place in the University-wide Graduate Research Fair!

3/4/17 - We've put a draft of Abir's first two manuscripts on the arXiv for the world to enjoy while it undergoes peer review.

2/16/17 - Abir, Zoe, and Chris attend the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA (with great food!).

2/1/17 - Chris won the NSF CAREER Award and was highlighted on our college website!

1/15/17 - Abir wins the Biophysical Society Travel Award (again) for her excellent research this past year. Congratulations, Abir!

10/1/16 - Tim has joined us to perform molecular dynamics simulations in collaboration with Jeff Potoff.

3/24/16 - The Richard Barber Interdisciplinary Summer Research Program has been funded for the 6th consecutive year! All interested undergraduate and undergraduate students are encourage to apply here.

3/23/16 - Abir wins third place at the Graduate and Postdoctoral Research Symposium! (with $$!)

3/1/16 - Abir, Zoe, and Chris attend the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, CA.

11/20/15 - Karl wins 2nd place in the Society of Physics Students poster competition at Undergraduate Physics Research Day! Congratulations, Karl!

11/15/15 - Congratulations, KeVaughna, for your OUTSTANDING presentation at ABRCMS in Seattle, WA!

8/5/15 - KeVaughna presented at the 4th Annual Summer Undergraduate Mini Symposium

7/22/15 - Suvra defended his thesis! Congratulations, Suvra!

6/27/15 - Abir and Chris helped out at Camp Cosmos

3/3/15 - Abir won Wayne State's 6th Annual Graduate Exhibition poster competition!

2/7/15 - Abir won the Biophysical Society Travel Award!

11/24/14 - Parisa passed her prospectus defense. Congratulations, Parisa!

11/7/14 - Rebecca won the Physics Department's Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster Competition and our collaborator, Amulya, wins 2nd place! (with $$!)

10/9/14 - Rebecca won the Roumell Family Undergraduate Research Award! (with $$!!)

9/18/14 - Parisa and Abir presented at the Graduate Research Day in the Wayne State Medical School.

9/11/14 - Parisa and Rebecca presented at the Richard Barber Interdisciplinary Summer Research Poster Session!

8/24/14 - Zoe joined the lab!

8/14/14 - The 2014 Richard Barber Interdisciplinary Summer Research Program has been a great success.

8/6/14 - Rebecca represents the group well at the 3rd Annual Joint Summer Research Mini Symposium.

4/24/14 - Congratulations to Anthony for his graduation and admission to medical school!

4/3/14 - Abir won 2nd place for her poster at the Fifth Graduate Research Day!

3/1/14 - We'll miss you Dipa. Enjoy the adventures of Europe!

1/10/14 - Rebecca joined the lab!

8/1/13 - Dipa joined the lab!

6/15/13 - Parisa joined the lab!

6/3/13 - Our Lab is done being renovated, technically...

6/1/13 - Anthony and Taral joined the lab!

2/26/13 - Evelina joined the lab!

2/16/13 - Shahera joined the lab!

2/1/13 - Abir joined the lab!

1/1/13 - Chris started full time in Detroit as an Assistant Professor.

10/17/12 - Chris accepted the assistant professorship at WSU!