Shelley Claridge

Assistant Professor Shelley Claridge’s research group develops integrated imaging strategies that have improved single-molecule structural analysis at the 0.1–10 nm scale.

These include:

1. development of custom scanning probe instrumentation and sample preparation strategies to enable imaging of samples not traditionally amenable to scanning probe characterization (including large proteins)
2. unconventional applications of bioanalytical techniques leveraging recent advances in the synthesis of layered materials such as graphene
3. integrating modeling and advanced imaging to address issues in single-molecule structural analysis of complex molecules, including finding solutions to inverse imaging problems (collaborations with science and engineering faculty in the Integrated Imaging Cluster at Purdue).

An REU student working with Claridge group would help develop a new technique for characterizing nanoscale hydration of amphiphilic surfaces based on synthetic phospholipids using a combination of femtoliter water contact angle data and fluorescence microscopy. Anticipated REU mentor would be Jae Jin Bang, a 3rd year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry.