Born in the United States, Suliana Manley studied at Rice University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics in 1997, cum laude. She continued her studies at Harvard University, where she earned a PhD in physics under the supervision of Prof. Dave Weitz in 2004. After this, she conducted postdoctoral research on lipid bilayer and red blood cell membrane dynamics at MIT.
![](https://www.epfl.ch/labs/leb/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Suliana-Manley.jpg)
She subsequently went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher in the cell biology laboratory of Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the National Institutes of Health (USA). During this time, she developed a highly promising optical method (sptPALM) for studying the dynamics of large ensembles of single proteins in membranes and inside cells.
She became a tenure-track assistant professor of physics at the EPFL in 2009, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2016, and to full professor in 2022.
Curriculum Vitae
2022-present Full professor, Department of Physics, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
2016-2022 Associate professor, Department of Physics, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
2016-2017 Visiting professor, Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science, Caltech, Pasadena, CA
2009-2016 Assistant professor, Department of Physics, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
2006-2009 National Research Council postdoctoral fellow, NICHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD
2004-2006 Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA
2004 PhD Physics, Harvard University.
Dissertation: “Mechanical Stability of Fractal Colloidal Gels.”
1997 B.A. Physics and Mathematics, cum laude, Rice University
2019-2024 European Research Council Consolidator Grant
2019 Medal for Innovation in Light Microscopy, Royal Microscopical Society
2016-2019 Sinergia Grant
2009-2015 European Research Council Starting Grant
(non-exhaustive list)