Oppenheimer Research Fellow

I develop fluorescence microscopy methods for measuring the orientation of single molecules, with the aim of making orientation imaging a routine tool in the life sciences. My current work focuses on fluorescent labelling strategies for molecular orientation imaging.

I did my PhD in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry under Prof. Steven Lee (2019–2024), working on single-molecule orientation estimation with a polarisation camera. This work led to POLCAM, a method for instant molecular orientation microscopy (Nature Methods, 2024). From 2024 to 2026 I was Lead Optical Microscopy Engineer at Micrographia Bio, where I developed imaging systems for nanoscale spatial proteomics. I returned to the department in 2026 as an Ernest Oppenheimer Early Career Research Fellow. Before that, I did a BSc in Bioengineering at the University of Antwerp and an MSc in Biophysics, Biochemistry and Biotechnology at KU Leuven.

I’m available for consulting on optical microscopy, optical instrument development, and laser safety.

Publications

SMOLM-LFM: ratiometric single molecule orientation without polarizers
AG Vesga, L Aleman-Castaneda, HS Heil, S Daly, E Bruggeman, SF Lee, S Brasselet, R Henriques
(2025)
Nano-org, a functional resource for single-molecule localisation microscopy data.
S Shirgill, DJ Nieves, JA Pike, MA Ahmed, H Abbott, MHH Baragilly, K Savoye, JD Worboys, KS Hazime, E Bruggeman, A Garcia, DJ Williamson, P Rubin-Delanchy, R Peters, DM Davis, R Henriques, SF Lee, DM Owen
Nat Commun
(2025)
16
POLCAM: Instant molecular orientation microscopy for the life sciences
E Bruggeman, O Zhang, L-M Needham, M Körbel, S Daly, M Cheetham, R Peters, T Wu, AS Klymchenko, SJ Davis, EK Paluch, D Klenerman, MD Lew, K O'Holleran, SF Lee
Nature Methods
(2024)
21
dSTORM of actin in fixed HeLa cells v1
E Bruggeman, R peters
(2024)
Live-cell imaging of the plasma membrane of Jurkat T cells v1
E Bruggeman, M Körbel
(2024)
Preparation and imaging of lipid bilayer-coated silica microspheres v1
E Bruggeman
(2024)
Single-molecule orientation estimation using a polarisation camera
E Bruggeman
(2024)
High-density volumetric super-resolution microscopy
S Daly, J Ferreira Fernandes, E Bruggeman, A Handa, R Peters, S Benaissa, B Zhang, JS Beckwith, EW Sanders, RR Sims, D Klenerman, SJ Davis, K O’Holleran, SF Lee
Nature Communications
(2024)
15
TAB-PAINT imaging of alpha-synuclein fibrils using Nile Red v1
E Bruggeman
(2024)
Imaging single AF647 molecules immobilised in PVA on a cover glass v1
E Bruggeman
(2024)

Research Group