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HAYNES RESEARCH GROUP

AT THE INTERFACE OF BIOANALYTICAL AND BIOMATERIALS CHEMISTRY

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
NANOSCIENCE
SUSTAINABILITY

The Haynes group operates at the interface of bioanalytical and biomaterials chemistry, focusing on pressing challenges in agriculture, environmental monitoring, plasmonic sensing, and toxicology.

A primary, long-standing focus of the group is sustainable nanotechnology—maximizing the positive impacts of engineered nanomaterials while minimizing their unintended ecological effects. Over the last decade, this work has expanded deeply into sustainable nanoagriculture, where we design innovative nanoplatforms to boost plant disease resistance, improve crop yields, and enhance global food security.

Another major area of innovation is the development of next-generation chemical sensors. Leveraging our deep expertise in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and polymer-enabled capture, the group couples advanced analytical techniques with machine learning to achieve rapid, label-free detection of environmental contaminants, foodborne pathogens, and viral particles.

While our work heavily utilizes diverse spectroscopic, materials, and electrochemical tools, the Haynes group constantly explores emerging technologies to understand complex molecular-level interactions and address global sustainability challenges.

NEWS

10.12.2026

Congratulations to Riley Lewis, Cheng-Hsin Huang, Jason White, Sara Nason, Nubia Zuverza-Mena, and Christy Haynes on the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 12,752,323, “Silica-based Nanoparticles for PFAS Remediation”!

10.08.2026

Congratulations to Abby for winning the department’s Three-Minute Thesis competition and to Timmy for placing second! Way to represent the Haynes Group!

10.02.2026

Congratulations to Christy on being named the next Editor-in-Chief of Analytical Chemistry by the American Chemical Society!

10.01.2026

Congratulations to Christy on delivering the keynote talk at UNC’s “Trailblazer” Symposium, where she presented the Haynes Group’s research on nanomaterials for agriculture and PFAS remediation!

09.29.2026

The Haynes Group welcomes Grace Gobris, a second-year undergraduate student, to the team!

09.25.2026

Christy is attending the Institute on the Environment annual meeting!

09.23.2026

Congratulations to Christy on presenting an invited talk at the Raman Spectroscopy & Microscopy Symposium at Medtronic!

09.09.2026

Congratulations to Rhea for starting her interning at Thermo! Best wishes to her as she spends the fall semester interning!

09.05.2026

Congratulations to Mahmoud for starting his new position as a Senior Research Chemist at Exemplify Biopharma in New Jersey!

08.20.2026

Congratulations to Christy on presenting an invited talk at the 34th International Materials Research Congress (IMRC 2026) in Cancún, Mexico!

08.03.2026

Congratulations to Wilanyi for starting her new job with Colder Products Company International!

07.17.2026

Congratulations to Timmy on winning a UMN Department of Chemistry Excellence Fellowship!

07.13.2026

Congratulations to Casey on starting her new job at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

07.10.2026

Good news - group alumna Eleni Spanolios got a job as a Principal Sensor Engineer at Ecolab!

07.03.2026

Congratulations to Christy on being elected as the co-chair of Nanomaterials in Agriculture GRC 2030. She will also deliver two presentations in 2026 (titled "A First-Generation Journey into Academic Science" and "How Avoiding Nanotoxicity Set the Stage for Critical Nanosustainability Applications”). Additionally, she hosted an “Power Hour” event on understanding how one’s values influence career trajectories.

Congratulations to Cheryl on presenting her work as a poster at the Nanomaterials in Agriculture GRC/GRS.

Congratulations to Timmy for winning a COGS Career Development grant!

06.04.2026

Congratulations to Rhea on her win at the 3rd-year Graduate Student Research Symposium!

News Archive

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FUNDING

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

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

Distinguish the McKnight University Professorship from the University of Minnesota

Characterization Facility

MnDrive Advancing Industry, Conserving our Environment from the University of Minnesota for the "Phytoremediation of PFAS Using Nanomaterials "

Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (LLCMR) for 2025 proposal "Phytoremediation of PFAS from Soil" and 2027 "Controlling Oxidative Stress Using Nanobiostimulants for Resilient Crops "