Lekshmi Kailas currently works as an experimental officer in AFM at the University of Leeds (UK).

Her most recent research focuses on combining atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to investigate the structure and dissipation kinetics of light harvesting complex II (LHCII) clusters in native-like membranes, in order to better understand the mechanism of photoprotection in plant light-harvesting systems.

Recent AFM-related papers:

Naseer, R., Ali, B., Laffir, F., Kailas, L., Dickinson, C., Armstrong, G. and McCormac, T. (2019). ‘Transition Metal-Substituted Krebs-Type Polyoxometalate-Doped PEDOT Films’. Langmuir, 35(34), pp. 11007-11015.
Ali, B., Laffir, F., Kailas, L., Armstrong, G., O’Connell, R. and McCormac, T. (2018). ‘Electrochemical Characterisation of Ni(II)-Crown-Type Polyoxometalate-Doped Polypyrrole Films for the Catalytic Reduction of Bromate in Water’. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 2019(3-4), pp. 394-401.
Maya, M.G., George, S. C., Jose, T., Kailas, L. and Thomas, S. (2018). ‘Development of a flexible and conductive elastomeric composite based on chloroprene rubber’. Polymer Testing, 65, pp. 256-263.

Biography: Lekshmi completed an MSc in Physics from the University of Kerala (India) and a PhD in Materials Physics from the Universite Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) where she studied the surface and interface behaviour at the nanoscale in thin polymer films.

She carried out her postdoctoral research at the University of Sheffield (UK) (2005-2012) where she worked across various departments on polymer crystallisation studies, instrument development for video rate AFM as well as cryo-TEM studies of exosporium layers.

She then worked briefly at the Department of Atomic Energy for the Government of India as a visiting scientist at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR). Following this, Lekshmi joined the University of Limerick (Ireland) in 2013 as a staff instrument scientist in microscopy and spectroscopy techniques at the Bernal Institute. In 2019, she joined the University of Leeds (UK) as an experimental officer in AFM at the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Twitter: @MNP_Leeds

Websites: Dr. Lekshmi Kailas | School of Physics and Astronomy | University of Leeds, Dr Lekshmi Kailas : Molecular & Nanoscale Physics Research Group (leeds.ac.uk)

Are you a woman conducting AFM research or know of someone you would like to nominate to be featured in our next #WomenInAFM campaign? Contact us at community@nunano.com!

Also, check out our previous March 2021 Women in AFM blog post to read about more researchers. Why are we celebrating women in AFM? — NuNano AFM Probes

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