The experimental biophysics and condensed-matter group currently consists of faculty members Mark Reeves and Xiangyun Qiu, and their graduate and undergraduate students. The group features expertise in scanning probe-based near-field microscopy; detection of biomolecules by localized surface plasmon sensing; analysis of biomolecular structure, interaction, and functional relationships; X-ray and neutron scattering; and osmotic stress methods for mdofying celluar components. These techniques are being applied to the study of electronic materials, biomaterials, and to problems in cellular biological physics. Our expertise allows our students to study structural linkages in proteins and crystalline systems, and to study biological and electronic functionality through sub-wavelength length-scale probes of the electromagnetic response of materials. Collaborations with federal laboratories (NRL, ORNL, NIH, NIST) and with faculty in chemistry, biology, and in the medical school allow us to address a wide array of research questions. New approaches to investigating protein functionality are being developed, based on the electronic and optical response of self assembled nanoparticle systems.