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Professor Valerica Raicu

Valerica Raicu

  • Professor, Physics and Astronomy
  • Professor, Electrical Engineering

Professor Raicu earned his PhD in Biophysics from the University of Bucharest in 1998. He held research positions in Romania and Japan before joining the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral research associate in 2002.

Since 2004, he has been at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where he is a Professor in the Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Electrical Engineering and served as Physics Department Chair from 2012 to 2015. He teaches and has authored course materials in electrodynamics, biophysics, and optics, and his research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and other public and private organizations.

Education

  • PhD, Biophysics, University of Bucharest, Romania, 1998
  • Physics Diploma/MSc, University of Bucharest, Romania, 1991

Research Interests

  • Theoretical and experimental classical electrodynamics, quantum electrodynamics, including classical and quantum dipoles and dielectrics.
  • Biological physics, in particular development of linear and nonlinear photonics technology for studying membrane receptors localization and interactions in live cells.

Recent Publications

Google Scholar link

  1. V. Raicu, Quantization of the electromagnetic fields from single atomic or molecular radiators. Annalen der Physik (Berlin), in press (2026).
  2. T.D. Killeen, K. Tepper, K.W. Miller, Y. Aydin, Y. Zhuo, S. Zhao, J.M. Conley, R. Tat, C. Klug, A. Marchese, V. Raicu, Q. Chen, Distinct Membrane Binding Properties of the Two Non-visual Arrestins. Communications Biology, in press (2025)
  3. V. Raicu, Derivation and physical interpretation of the general solutions to the inhomogeneous wave equations for the scalar, vector, and Hertz potentials. Annalen der Physik (Berlin) 537 (2025) 2400393.DOI: 10.1002/andp.202400393
  4. M.R. Stoneman, K. Yokoi, G. Biener, T.D. Killeen, D.P. Adhikari, S. Rahman, K.G. Harikumar, L.J. Miller, V. Raicu, Mechanistic insights from the atomic-level quaternary structure of short-lived GPCR oligomers of the human secretin receptor in live cells. Communications Biology 8 (2025) 966. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08374-4
  5. B. Phan, M. Stoneman, S. Sharma, T.D. Killeen, V. Raicu, I. Popa, Enabling hour-long drift correction with nanometer resolution in optical microscopy through reflection interferometry of fiducial beads. Nano Letters 25 (2025) 21095-2202. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05234
  6. M.R. Stoneman, V.E. McCoy, C.T. Gee, K.M.M. Bober, V. Raicu, Two-photon excitation fluorescence microspectroscopy protocols for examining fluorophores in fossil plants. Communications Biology, 7 (2024) 53.
  7. M.R Stoneman and V. Raicu, Fluorescence-Based Detection of Proteins and Their Interactions in Live Cells. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 127, 21 (2023) 4708–472.
  8. S. Marsango, L. Jenkins, J. D. Pediani, S. J. Bradley, R. J. Ward, S. Hesse, G. Biener, M. R. Stoneman, A. B. Tobin, V. Raicu, G. Milligan, The M1 muscarinic receptor is present in situ as a ligand-regulated mixture of monomers and oligomeric complexes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 24, (2022) e2201103119.
  9. D.P. Adhikari, G Biener, MR Stoneman, DN Badu, JD Paprocki, A Eis, PS-H Park, I Popa, V Raicu, Comparative photophysical properties of some widely used fluorescent proteins under two-photon excitation conditions, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 262 (2021) 120133.
  10. M.R. Stoneman, G. Biener, V. Raicu. Reply to: Spatial heterogeneity in molecular brightness, Nature Methods. 17 (2020) 276-278.
  11. M.R. Stoneman, G. Biener, R.J. Ward, J.D. Pediani, D. Badu, I. Popa, G. Milligan, and V. Raicu, A general method to quantify ligand-driven oligomerization using fluorescence microscopy, Nature Methods, 16 (2019) 493-496.
  12. V. Raicu, Ab initio derivation of the FRET equations resolves old puzzles and suggests measurement strategies, Biophysical Journal, 116 (2019) 1313-1327.
  13. G. Biener, D. Masson-Meyers, V.V. Bumah, G. Hussey, C.S. Enwemeka, V. Raicu, Blue/violet laser inactivates methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by altering its transmembrane potential, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 170 (2017) 118-124, doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2017.04.002
  14. V. Raicu, M.R. Stoneman, R. Fung, M. Melnichuk, D.B. Jansma, S. Rath, L.F. Pisterzi, M. Fox, J.W. Wells, D.K. Saldin, Determination of the supramolecular structure and spatial distribution of protein complexes in living cells, Nature Photonics 3 (2009) 107-113

Community Involvement

  • Served as editorial board member and guest editor for Scientific Reports and International Journal of Molecular Sciences
  • Organized several scientific meetings:
    • PACIFICHEM symposium #BIO027, 2025;
    • Symposium on Optical Microspectroscopy and Molecular Imaging, Series, 2011-2022;
    • International Conference on Analytical and Nanoanalytical Methods in Biomedical and Environmental Technologies, Brasov, Romania, June 18-20, 2010-2018
  • Developed and participated in several outreach programs involving tens of high school students and hundreds of elementary school students in research and hands-on learning
  • Acted as Co-Director of the IMPACT STEM Transfer Collaboration between UW-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College, and was the PI on the grant from the HHMI Inclusive Excellence 3 Program which funded the collaboration.