We develop new optical methods with applications in biophysical chemistry, molecular biophysics and across the broader life sciences. Currently, we focus on mass photometry, light-scattering-based detection, imaging and mass measurement of single biomolecules in solution. Our goal is to transform our ability to monitor and quantify biomolecular processes – ultimately delivering technologies that enable us to directly observe biomolecules in action. We foster a strongly collaborative approach to research, and are based in the Kavli centre for nanoscale discovery, a highly interdisciplinary environment across departments, disciplines and divisions. Work in our group falls in two major categories: 1. Development of novel optical hardware and analysis approaches to enable new measurement modalities. 2. Application of our methodologies with a focus on mechanistic investigations of biomolecular interactions and assembly.
Philipp Kukura read Chemistry at St Hugh’s College Oxford until 2002 and obtained a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley under the supervision of Prof Rich Mathies in ultrafast spectroscopy before moving to ETH Zurich to work with Prof Vahid Sandoghdar in nano-optics. After returning to Oxford in 2010, he became a tutorial Fellow at Exeter College in 2011, and promoted to Full Professor in 2016. Awards include those by the Royal Society of Chemistry (Harrison-Meldola 2011 and Marlow 2015), the European Biophysical Society Association (Young Investigator Medal 2017), a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2018), the Klung-Wilhelmy Science Award (2018), the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists UK (2019), and the RMS Medal for Light Microscopy (2021). He is founder and non-executive director of Refeyn Ltd (2018), where he acted as CEO from 2018 – 2020. The Kukura group has been and continues to be supported by the ERC (Starting, Consolidator and Proof of Concept) and the EPSRC (Career Acceleration Fellowship, Leadership Fellowship).
