Current Lab Members

Prof. Andrea Markelz

Principal Investigator
Research Project and Activities: 
Principal investigator for the group. We have two main lines of research: protein dynamics and collective electronic excitations. We study these phenomena with THz light and molecular dynamics simulation.

Dr. Tim LaFave Jr.

Research Scientist
Research Project and Activities: 
My projects and activities involve THz instrumentation development including compact anisotropy spectroscopy using a variety of THz sources and detectors, use of a molecular CO2 gas laser and FTIR for optical measurements and texting. I also use Ansys HFSS to model optical systems and the current web development character of this group's website. Contact me regarding contributions and corrections to this website.

Dr. Deepu George

Visiting Scientist
UB Degree: 
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
PhD Conferred: 
2013

Dr. Jeffrey McKinney

Visiting Scientist
Research Project and Activities: 
I am spearheading an effort to express, purify and crystallize protein targets for the Markelz lab, which is studying biomolecular dynamics using a variety of tools. In particular, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to measure protein intramolecular vibrations, solvent dielectric response, crystal phonons and electronic excitations.

Jiri Prusa

Visiting Scientist

David Andrzejewski

Undergraduate Researcher
Research Project and Activities: 
Thin film processing of photoconductive antennas for THz generation • photolithography • thin film metallization • packaging on printed circuit board (PCB) • electrical and optical characterization in a THz micro-spectroscopy system Far-field terahertz and anisotropic terahertz microspectroscopy (ATM) • used THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) • single crystal sucrose sample preparation • microspectroscopy of sucrose samples

Alexander Mcnulty-Romaguera

Undergraduate Researcher

Robert Thompson

Undergraduate Researcher
Research Project and Activities: 
OCP optical characterization

Amandine Tirino

Undergraduate Researcher
Research Project and Activities: 
I am engaged in methods to prepare protein crystal samples, inhibitor binding studies, and demonstrating how vibrations in lysozyme molecules change with inhibitor binding. * 2023 Celebration of Student Academic Excellence Student Showcase (See Activities link above)

Cyrus Clabeaux

High School Researcher
Research Project and Activities: 
Microscopy of protein crystals.