The Raman Group uses laser spectroscopic techniques including resonance Raman spectroscopy, time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy, picosecond and femtosecond time-resolved absorption spectroscopy to study chemical and biological reaction dynamics with a particular focus on the mechanism of photoactive proteins and condensed phase chemical reaction dynamics.

Recent projects include: 1) picosecond time-resolved Raman investigations of the primary photochemistry of rhodopsin, 2) microchip flow resonance Raman experiments to elucidate structures of rhodopsin intermediates, 3) sub-picosecond time resolved vibrational techniques, and 4) studies of the excited-state structure and dynamics of the solvated electron.

The DNA Group works primarily on the development of high-performance microfabricated genetic and biochemical analysis systems. We do CE. These novel devices are being developed for the Human Genome Project, for high-speed, high-throughput DNA sequencing, for forensic and health care diagnostics, and for extraterrestrial exploration, DNA computing, point-of-care genetic analyzers, cellular interfacing, and pathogen detection.