Prof Clemens Kaminski

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Professor of Chemical Physics

Position	Professor
College	Robinson
Telephone	+44 (0)1223 (7)63135
Research group	Laser Analytics

Research description

The central theme of our research activities lies in the development and application of modern laser spectroscopic methods to visualise and quantify dynamic chemical processes.  

Applications range from environmental and chemical process sensing to biomedical applications. We have developed tools that allow the fast probing of exothermic chemistry in reactive flows and the research has been used, for example, in the design of next generation, low emission aero-engines. On a very different scale we have succeeded in visualising chemical reactions inside single living cells and our optical tools help in the design and testing of novel drugs.

You'll find more information on the type of work we do under Research. If you would like to get a general overview on the types of techniques we use, and what they allow us to do, take a look at our overview article on fluorescence.

Our work is strongly collaborative in nature and we work with groups from all over the world including the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany, Sandia National Labs in US, George Washington University, US. In Cambridge we have active collaborations with the The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK,Gurdon Institute of Cancer & Developmental Biology, the Hutchison MRC Institute, the departments of Genetics, Engineering, Physics and Physiology Development and Neuroscience.

The group runs the CamBridgeSens initiative, a large scale research initiative to connect sensor research across the University of Cambridge.  We are also strongly involved in setting up the Cambridge Advanced Imaging Center, CAIC, where state-of-the-art microscopy techniques are developed for use in the life sciences.  We are members of the Cambridge Neurodegenerative Disease Consortium for which we develop advanced molecular imaging techniques.

Research keywords

Microscopy, Applied Optics, Chemical Imaging, Chemical Sensing

Main collaborators

Prof. P. St. G. Hyslop, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
Prof. P.St.J. Russell, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany
Prof. C. Dobson FRS, Dept. of Chemistry, Cambridge
Prof. W. Harris FRS and Dr. R. Adams, Dept. of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
Dr. A. Knight and Dr. D. Metcalfe, National Physics Laboratory, Teddington, UK
Prof. R. Jones, Dept. of Chemistry, Cambridge
Prof. A. Tunnacliffe, Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Prof. D. Ron, Institute for Metabolic Science, Cambridge.
Prof. J. Baumberg, Dept. of Physics, Cambridge
Dr. C. Lindon, Dept. of Genetics, Cambridge
Dr. C. Bertonicini, Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona
Prof. E. Barnard and Dr. J. Simon, Dept. of Pharmacology, Cambridge
Dr. V. Lew and Dr. T. Tiffert, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Cambridge
Dr. A. Esposito, Hutchison/MRC Centre for Cancer Research, Cambridge
Dr. J. Pines, The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, Cambridge
Prof. H. Miller, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA
Dr. J. Frank, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, Ca, USA

Key publications

Kaminski Schierle GS, van de Linde S, Erdelyi M, Esbjörner EK, Klein T, Rees E, Bertoncini CW, Dobson CM, Sauer M, and Kaminski CF, "In Situ Measurements of the Formation and Morphology of Intracellular ß-Amyloid Fibrils by Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 133 (33), pp 12902–12905, (2011)

Laurila TK, Sorvajarvi T, Saarela J, Toivonen J, Wheeler DW, Ciaffoni L, Ritchie GAD, and Kaminski CF, "Optical Detection of the Anesthetic Agent Propofol in the Gas Phase", Anal. Chem., 83 (10), pp 3963–3967, (2011) 

Kaminski Schierle GS, Bertoncini CW, Chan FTS, van der Goot AT, Schwedler S, Skepper J, Schlachter S, van Ham T, Esposito A, Kumita JR, Nollen EAA, Dobson CM, Kaminski CF, "A FRET sensor for non-invasive imaging of amyloid formation in vivo", ChemPhysChem, 12(3), 673–680, (2011)

Chakrabortee S, Meersman F, Kaminski Schierle GS, Bertoncini CW, McGee B, Kaminski CF, Tunnacliffe A, "Catalytic and chaperone-like functions in an intrinsically disordered protein associated with desiccation tolerance", Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 107 (37), 16084-16089, (2010)

Kiwanuka SS, Laurila T, Kaminski CF, "Sensitive Method for the Kinetic Measurement of Trace Species in Liquids Using Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy with Broad Bandwidth Supercontinuum Radiation", Anal. Chem., 82 (17), pp 7498–7501 (2010)

Elder AD, Domin A, Kaminski Schierle GS, Lindon C, Pine J, Esposito A, and Kaminski CF, "A quantitative protocol for dynamic measurements of protein interactions by FRET-sensitized fluorescence emission". Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Volume 6, S59-S81, (2009)

Esposito A, Tiffert T, Mauritz J, Schlachter S, Bannister LH, Kaminski CF, Lew VL, "FRET Imaging of Haemoglobin Concentration in Plasmodium Falciparum Infected Erythrocytes". PLoS ONE, 3(11): e3780, (2008)

M. Schnippering, P.R. Unwin, J. Hult, T. Laurila, C.F. Kaminski, J.M. Langridge, R.L. Jones, M. Mazurenka, S.R. Mackenzie, "Evanescent Wave Broadband Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy using Supercontinuum Radiation: A New Probe of Electrochemical Processes", Electrochemistry Communications 10:1827-1830, (Kiwanuka SS, Laurila T, Kaminski CF, "Sensitive Method for the Kinetic Measurement of Trace Species in Liquids Using Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy with Broad Bandwidth Supercontinuum Radiation", Anal. Chem., 82 (17), pp 7498–7501, (2010)

Kaminski CF, Watt RS, Elder AD, Frank JH, Hult J, "Supercontinuum radiation for applications in chemical sensing and microscopy" Applied Physics B 92:367-378, (2008)

Frank, JH; Elder, AD; Swartling, J; Venkitaraman, AR; Jeyasekharan, AD; Kaminski, CF, "A white light confocal microscope for spectrally resolved multidimensional imaging", JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY-OXFORD 227:203-215, (2007)

Hult, J; Watt, RS; Kaminski, CF, "High bandwidth absorption spectroscopy with a dispersed supercontinuum source", OPTICS EXPRESS 15:11385-11395, (2007)

Other information

We are currently seeking outstanding postdoctoral and PhD candidates in the following areas of research:

1. Analysis of exhaled breath for clinical diagnostics using supercontinuum cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy.
2. Development of superresolution microscopy tools for the study of protein aggregation in living cells and application to Parkinson\'s Disease research.

For further information on any of these projects or general enquiries contact C. Kaminski (cfk23_AT_cam.ac.uk)

We particularly welcome applications from candidates with strong backgrounds in one or more of the following fields: Applied optics, microscopy,  molecular spectroscopy, Biophysics, chemical biology.