Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Experience: technical management of research in an interdisciplinary environment and research into a wide range of topics including materials, devices and microsystems. Collaborations with multinational companies and government laboratories. Over 60 publications and 10 patent applications. Goals: (i) to bring together technolgy providers and exploiters to develop products in the bio-sensing area and (ii) research into bio-sensing in particular sample preparation. Specialties: Technical management of interdisciplinary projects, Bio-sensing, MEMS, nanomaterials and devices, microfluidics, optical spectroscopies.
As Director: Research and Enterprise in the Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology at UWE, I am bringing together interdisciplinary teams from academia and industry to solve important current bio-sensing challenges, primarily in the medical and environmental fields. My current research interests are in integrated bio-sensing Microsystems with particular interests in sample pre-processing, i.e. how to prepare a complex sample, e.g. soil or tissue, prior to introducing it to the sensor.
Technical leader developing microsystems to detect chemical and biological materials for a wide range of applications ranging from medical to security. A microsystem includes sample pre-processing and a sensor plus control and signal processing. A particular area of interest was sample pre-processing, e.g. pre-concentration of vapours or bacteria or extraction of DNA from biological matrices. Sensors developed include those based on microcantilevers, an interferometric porous silicon system, and sensitive fluorescence and chemiluminescence techniques. MEMS devices formed a key part of the development of microfluidic lab on a chip systems. Collaborations with a wide range of companies and governement institutions, e.g. security and NHS.
Three areas of research: (i) 1986: 1990 investigation of methods of controlling plasma based processes used in the semiconductor industry in real time to improve yield and process up time. Techniques used include optical emission spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, methods to measure electron energy distribution functions. (ii) 1990 - 1998 porous silicon as an optoelectronic material and as a biomaterial. The group that I led produced the worlds most efficient silicon based electroluminescent device. (iv) 1998 - 2000 silicon based microfluidic and other systems, these include sample preparation devices, pumps and other fluidic control elements and also sensors, e.g. a rapid PCR chip to amplify DNA.
Development of novel silicon semiconductor devices and methods of making them. Including laser and also plasma based approaches to controlling material properties and structures
Research into light scattering techniques to study the properties, structure and dynamics of liquids