The nature and structure of matter and energy remains one of mankind’s leading research frontiers. The faculty members involved in this area are engaged in experimental and theoretical studies of the fundamental interactions of matter at sub-femtometer distances. Another research focus is on the direct detection of dark matter with the XENON100 and XENON1T experiments operated in the LNGS laboratory in Italy. Research & development efforts for these and future dark matter experiments addresses xenon purification techniques to operate the most radiopure detectors in the world.