KeyserLab

Who we are

We are a group of scientists at the Cavendish Lab, University of Cambridge, UK. Our research is focused on understanding transport processes through membranes for biosensing applications.

Since the pandemic we are mainly interested in understanding RNA, its structure and its relation to biology and disease. More details on our current and past research interests can be found here. Since the start, the lab aims to achieve a maximum level of control over all parameters in our experiments. Our main technique remains resistive-pulse sensing with nanopores especially in combination with DNA and now RNA nanotechnology

Our interdisciplinary team combines researchers with expertise in physics, engineering, physical chemistry, biochemistry/biology, and micro- and nanofabrication.

In case you are interested in working with us, please get in touch with Ulrich by email: ufk20 (at) cam.ac.uk.

We gratefully acknowledge funding of our work from various sources including:

News

4/05/2026 Single-molecule nanoarray for short RNA

Yunxuan designed a library of DNA molecules that can be count 10s of short RNA molecules with solid-state nanopore sensing. The single-molecule resolution of the technique miniaturizes microarray sensing to true nanoarray detection with minimal sample volumes. In her paper, Yunxuan uses 27 different DNA molecules to detect up to 81 different RNA sequences. The project is part of a collaboration with Jinbo at Dalian. The technology will also enable new sensing approaches developed by Cambridge Nucleomics, the KeyserLab spin-out.

24/03/2026 Our guide for optimal nanopore sensing for nucleic acids.

Simon has written a practical guide to optimise signal-to-noise ratio, translocation time and throughput in solid-state nanopore experiments. We provide a systematic framework linking voltage, pore geometry and buffer conditions to experimental performance. We link the performance to physical principles underlying translocation and parameter-dependent behaviour, including electrophoresis, electro-osmotic flow, hydrodynamic friction and entropic effects. The concepts are transferable to broader nanoscale transport and sensing systems. Check out the review out now in Physics of Life Reviews.

7/11/2025 Glass nanopore biosensing for quantification of RNA degradation.

Max and Mohammed used our glass nanopore sensors to characterize RNA degradation at the single molecule level. We show how to use simple assumptions about the ionic current signal in the nanopore with the size of the molecules for RNA fragment sizing. Very nice work led by Casey Platnich and published in Analytical Chemistry.

7/11/2025 Raluca wins Best Poster Award at Sensors Day 2025.

Our PhD student Raluca is funded through the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sensor Technologies. She presented her first year work on Investigating Protein-RNA Interactions by Solid-State Nanopore Sensing and won the Best Research Poster Award. Congratulations for the great success early in the PhD!

16/10/2025 Urea changes translocation of RNA:DNA hybrids.

Our lab published research led by Thieme and Casey on the changes that urea makes on translocation Dynamics. In their paper, they show that RNA:DNA hybrids appear to stiffen if urea is added during the assembly of the molecules. They use nanopore sensing and atomic force microscopy and show that this is due to interactions with RNA:DNA not with DNA:DNA systems. The work was done in a collaboration with Jeremy Baumberg. You can read the full story in Angewandte Chemie. The work was highlighted by Yang and Gao in ChemBioChem.