Contributors to the 10th Anniversary UK issue

Andrew deMello

Andrew deMello is Professor of Chemical Nanosciences and Head of Nanostructured Materials and Devices in the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London. His PhD in Molecular Photophysics from Imperial College was followed by Post-Doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley. His research includes microfluidic devices for high-throughput analysis, ultra-sensitive optical detection, nanofluidic reaction systems for chemical synthesis, segmented flow microfluidics and semiconducting materials in diagnostic applications. He has published 150 peer reviewed papers and is co-founder of Molecular Vision Ltd, which develops low-cost diagnostic devices. His recent awards have included the 2009 Corday Morgan Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

John deMello

John deMello was born in the UK in 1973. He received his PhD in physics from the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University in 1998. In 2000 he joined the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College as a lecturer in physical chemistry. He is currently a Reader in Nanomaterials in the same department and holds an Industry Fellowship with the Royal Society. He is a co-founder of Molecular Vision – an Imperial spin-out company developing diagnostic devices for point-of-care applications. He is also a Director of Solar Press UK – a Carbon Trust company specialising in low cost solar cells for the developing world.

Kishan Dholakia

Kishan Dholakia was born in the UK in 1966. He received his PhD in laser cooling of trapped ions from Imperial College, UK in 1994, and won a Royal Society of Edinburgh fellowship in 1997. In 2000 he secured a permanent lectureship at the University of St Andrews and was promoted to Professor there in 2003. Currently he runs a 25 strong research group exploring the use of novel photonics methods in fundamental science and biomedical applications. This includes novel beam shaping, optical trapping, nanosurgery and Raman spectroscopy.

Roberto Di Leonardo

Roberto Di Leonardo was born in Italy in 1973. He received his PhD in Physics from University of L'Aquila, Italy in 2002. In 2002 he moved to the Physics Department of University “Sapienza” in Rome as a researcher for the National Institute for Condensed Matter Physics (INFM). Since 2008 he has been on the permanent research staff of the National Research Council (CNR) at the University “Sapienza” in Rome. His current research interests are: holographic optical trapping, colloidal science, microhydrodynamics and active matter.

David Klug

David Klug is Chair of the Imperial College Institute of Chemical Biology (www.chemicalbiology.ac.uk) and Director of the Single Cell Proteomics Project (www.singlecellanalysis.ac.uk). His own research is currently focussed on the development and application of new methods for studying protein–protein interaction networks and the details of the molecular interactions themselves. These methods include microfluidic antibody capture chips and coherent multidimensional infrared spectroscopy. The biological questions currently studied include the role of protein dynamics in protein–protein interactions and the control of stochastic fluctuations in protein copy number and cell to cell variations in human tissues.

Hywel Morgan

Hywel Morgan was born in the UK in 1960. He received his PhD in biophysics from the University of Wales in 1985 and in 1993 moved to a lectureship at the University of Glasgow where he established a research programme in AC electrokinetics. In 2003 he moved to the University of Southampton where he is Professor of Bioelectronics. In 2004 he won the Desty memorial prize. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. His research interests are in electrokinetics and electrohydrodynamics, together with Lab on Chip technologies for medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

Richard Oreffo

Richard Oreffo is Professor of Musculoskeletal Science and Associate Dean Enterprise, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton. He leads a group focused on understanding skeletal development, physiology and in developing strategies to regenerate bone and cartilage using stem cell technologies and innovative scaffolds. Richard is active on a number of government, industry research/advisory panels including the UK Stem Cell Advisory Committee and serves on the editorial boards of Tissue Engineering, European Cells and Materials, Regenerative Medicine and Journal of Tissue Engineering. He has published over 145 peer-reviewed papers and in 2009 was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Biology.

Miles Padgett

Miles Padgett was born in England, in 1963. He received his PhD in Laser Physics from Cambridge, England in 1989. In 1989 he joined PA Consulting and in 1992 left to resume an academic career at the University of St Andrews. Since 1999 he has been Professor of Physics at the University of Glasgow in the School of Physics and Astronomy where he heads the Optics Group. His current research interests centre around the understanding and application of light's momentum and range from optical tweezers to quantum optics.

Nicole Pamme

Nicole Pamme was born in Germany and studied at the University of Marburg, where she graduated with a Diploma in Chemistry in 1999. She then moved to the UK for her PhD under supervision of Prof. Andreas Manz at Imperial College London. This was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in Japan, in the International Centre for Young Scientists at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba. Nicole returned to the UK in 2005 to take up a position as Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Hull. She has worked extensively on applications of magnetism in microfluidic devices for handling of particles, cells and droplets.

Cees van Berkel

Cees van Berkel was born in the Netherlands in 1958. He studied physics at Utrecht University and received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Manchester in 2006. Dr van Berkel has worked at Philips Research for more than 25 years in both business development and technical roles, covering consumer electronics and healthcare products. He leads the work at Philips Research UK on bio-electronics and micro cytometry. He has co-authored 40 papers and 13 granted US patents.

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