The Steen Lab investigates how molecular interactions and nanoscale organization in soft materials give rise to biological function and material properties. We focus on lipid membranes and hybrid thin films as tunable model systems and develop quantitative optical imaging tools to interrogate their structure and dynamics across length and time scales.

Our lab combines approaches from physical chemistry, biophysics, spectroscopy, and optical microscopy. We use these tools to study a range of systems, including membranes and proteins, with relevance to photosynthetic light harvesting and drug delivery. Current interests include how lipid composition, electrostatics, and reactive oxygen species regulate the structure, molecular interactions, and chemical reactions within model photosynthetic and bio-inspired membrane and soft-matter systems. For more information, see the Research tab.

We are recruiting!

The Steen Lab is an undergraduate research group and will be opening its doors in Fall 2026. Lafayette College students interested in joining any of the projects described on this website are encouraged to get in touch to discuss opportunities.