Overview

Analytical Chemistry

Nanoscience

Sustainability


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The Haynes group focuses on applications of analytical chemistry in the fields of ecology, immunology, and toxicology, with much expertise in the area of single cell analysis.

One major area of interest is sustainable nanotechnology - a field focused on maximizing the positive impact, and minimizing the unintended negative impact, of engineered nanomaterials.

Another major focus in the group is on studying fundamental properties of cells involved in inflammation. In fact, the Haynes group performed the first ever real-time single blood platelet measurements, examining the chemical messenger molecules that platelets secrete upon stimulation.

While most of the Haynes lab research employs electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques, the group is always exploring new and exciting technologies to answer pressing bioanalytical questions.

News

09.19.2025

Congratulations to Dr. Eleni Spanolios on the successful defense of her PhD thesis, titled "Developing Fluorescent and Electrochemical Sensors for Reactive Oxygen Species"!

09.16.2025

The Haynes Lab welcomes Jay, joining the lab as a new undergraduate researcher working with Timmy.

09.12-14.2025

Rhea and Timmy attend the ACS Bridge Career Kick-Starter Workshop at Eli Lilly.

09.10.2025

Congratulations to Beza on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript titled "Mo-Nitrogen Nexus: Nanotechnology Enhanced Mo-based Nitrogen Fixation Towards Environmental Sustainability" in Chemical Engineering Journal!

09.04.2025

The Haynes Lab welcomes Madi and Emily, joining the lab as new undergraduate researchers working with Rhea and Suman, respectively.

08.08.2025

Congratulations to Dr. Beza Tuga on the successful defense of her PhD thesis, titled "Leveraging Nanoparticle Transformations for Sustainable Agricultural Applications"!

08.07.2025

Undergraduate Haynes lab researchers Christopher, Andrea, and Judith presented posters at the Summer Undergraduate Research Expo.

08.06.2025

The Haynes group had their annual pie bake-off as we celebrated with our summer undergraduate research symposium. Congratulations to Suman on her winning lemon pie!

07.25-27.2025

The Haynes Group enjoyed a three-day extravagaza of science and community in honor of the lab's 20th anniversary, including alumni returning for a picnic, posters, talks, and tours of their old lab space and the soon-to-open Chemistry undergraduate teaching building! It was an amazing celebration!

07.17.2025

Congratulations to Mahmoud, Casey, Clare, Timmy, Rhea, and Katie on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript with the Reineke group titled "A Machine Learning-enabled SERS Sensor: Multiplex Detection of Lipopolysaccharides from Foodborne Pathogenic Bacteria" in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces!

07.23.2025

Congratulations to Rhea and Timmy on being chosen to participate in the ACS Career Kick Starter Program - they’ll both travel to Eli Lilly for an intensive mentoring experience!

07.01.2025

Congratulations to Safia, Eleni, Riley, Heather, and Abby on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript titled "Cyanine-Incorporated Amorphous Polymeric Carbon Dots for Optical Reactive Oxygen Species Sensing" in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C!

06.09.2025

The Haynes Lab welcomes Andrea, a CSN SURE student who will be working with Rhea for Summer 2025, and Milin, a high school student who will be working the Cheng-Hsin and Suman for Summer 2025.

06.06.2025

Casey and Abby present at the UMN Chemistry 3rd year Graduate Research Symposium.

06.01-06.2025

Cheng-Hsin presented a poster and flash talk about the Environmental Nanotechnology Gordon Research Conference in Maine.

06.01.2025

The Haynes Lab welcomes Christopher, a CSN SURE student who will be working with Mahmoud for Summer 2025.

05.28.2025

Congratulations to Haynes Group members who presented at the annual IPrime meeting - Rima, Timmy, and Christy gave talks while Mahmoud and Riley presented posters.

05.15.2025

Congratulations to undergraduate researchers Heather Muenter and Katie Riley on their graduations!

05.15.2025

Cheng-Hsin presented a talk about her research at the "Advancing PFAS Treatment and Remediation Solutions" conference.

05.09.2025

Congratulations to Cheng-Hsin, Riley, Tana, Beza, and Antavia on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript titled "Designing Ultraporous Mesostructured Silica Nanoparticles for the Remediation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances" in ACS Nano!

05.08.2025

Congratulations to Judith on writing a successful Undergraduate Research Opportunities Project (UROP) proposal to support her research in the Haynes Lab!

04.22.2025

Eleni, Wilanyi, Abby, and Casey all gave flash talks as part of the Jeannette Brown Lectureship!

04.18.2025

Congratulations to Judith on winning the 2025 Wayland E. Noland Award for Academic Excellence in Chemistry!

04.18.2025

Christy gave an Honorary Department Seminar in the University of Minnesota - Duluth Department of Chemistry.

04.15.2025

Both Heather and Judith presented posters about their research projects at the Spring 2025 UMN Undergraduate Research Symposium.

04.11.2025

Heather presented a flash talk about Haynes Lab research projects at the Institute on the Environment's 2025 Sustainability Symposium.

04.01.2025

Congratulations to Wilanyi on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript titled "Optimizing SiO2 Nanoparticle Structures to Enhance Drought Resistance in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.): Insights into Nanoparticle Dissolution and Plant Stress Response" in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry!

03.23-27.2025

The Haynes group was well-represented at the Spring 2025 National ACS Meeting in San Diego, with Casey and Christy giving talks and Beza, Eleni, Wilanyi, Cheng-Hsin, Abby, Rhea, Riley, Rima, and Heather presenting posters.

03.21.2025

Congratulations to Mahmoud for being recognized with an honorable mention for the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry fellowship!

03.19.2025

Congratulations to Timmy on winning a 2025 Research Travel Grant from the University of Minnesota to support a lab exchange to the University of Florida!

03.17.2025

Christy gave an invited seminar in the University of South Dakota Department of Chemistry.

03.03.2025

Congratulations to Tana, Beza, Sharmaka, and Rima on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript titled "Vacuum Infiltration for Priming of Soybean Seeds: Optimization and Particle Tracking Using Fluorescent Silica Nanoparticles" in Chemical Science!

02.24.2025

Christy gave an invited seminar in the Boston University Department of Chemistry.

01.27.2025

The Haynes group is excited to welcome Suman to the group for her doctoral studies!

01.27.2025

Christy is awarded a graduate faculty appointment in the UMN Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering.

01.24.2025

Congratulations to Timmy on passing his oral preliminary exam and advancing to doctoral candidacy!

01.22.2025

Congratulations to Casey for winning a 2025 Department of Chemistry Graduate Student Travel Award to support her participation in the National Spring ACS Meeting in San Diego!

01.07.2025

A new patent (US Patent 12,187,658) based on collaborative Haynes lab research on nanoagriculture has been issued!

12.24.2024

Congratulations to Riley on the acceptance of a collaborative manuscript titled "Phytotoxicity and Phytoremediation Potential of Lemna minor Exposed to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)" in Frontiers in Plant Science!

12.23.2024

Christy contributes to a review article with 70 co-authors for Chemical Society Reviews about the history of surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

12.17.2024

Congratulations to Rhea on passing her oral preliminary exam and advancing to doctoral candidacy!

12.07.2024

Congratulations to Rhea on passing her written preliminary exam!

11.26.2024

The Haynes group is excited to welcome Cheryl to the group for her doctoral studies!

11.14.2024

Congratulations to Timmy on passing his written preliminary exam!

11.02.2024

Congratulations to Mahmoud for winning a "Best Poster" award at the National Diversity in STEM 2024 meeting!

10.30-11.02.2024

Mahmoud and Wilanyi present posters at the National Diversity in STEM 2024 meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.

09.27.2024

Congratulations to Eleni, Riley, Rhea, and Safia on the acceptance of a manuscript titled "Progress and Limitations in Reactive Oxygen Species Quantitation" in ChemComm!

09.26.2024

Christy gave an invited seminar in the University of Texas, Austin Department of Chemistry.

09.24-26.2024

Clare, Casey, Mahmoud, and Timmy present flash talks and posters at the International Institute of Biosensing conference.

09.18.2024

Christy gave an invited seminar in the University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering.

09.17.2024

The Haynes lab is welcoming a new undergraduate researcher, Judith Zhu, to the group. Judith will be mentored jointly by Wilanyi and Cheng-Hsin, working on cargo-loaded silica nanoparticles.

09.03.2024

Andrea has completed her undergraduate research projects with Beza in the Haynes lab - we wish her well for her senior year!

08.30.2024

Congratulations to Clare, Casey, and Mahmoud on the acceptance of a book chapter titled "Advances in Machine Learning for SERS Analysis" in the upcoming book Surface- and Tip-Enhanced Raman Scattering Spectroscopy – Bridging Theory and Applications!

News Archive

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Funding

The Haynes Research Group receives gracious financial support from the following agencies:

Sloan Foundation

Sloan Foundation logo

A 2010 Sloan Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Dreyfus Foundation

Dreyfus Foundation logo

A 2009 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from the Dreyfus Foundation

National Institutes of Health

NIH New Innovator logo

A 2008 New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health

University of Minnesota

Univeristy of Minnesota logo

Start-up funds and a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship from the University of Minnesota

National Science Foundation

NSF logo

A National Science Foundation CAREER award

3M

3M logo

A 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Grant

Kinship Foundation

Searle logo

A Kinship Foundation Searle Scholar Award

American Chemical Society

ACS PRF logo

An American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Grant

Center Collaborations

The Haynes Group is an active member of these centers:

Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology logo Univeristy of Minnesota MRSEC logo