Martyn BoutelleProfessor of Biomedical Sensors Engineering, Imperial College London Martyn Boutelle is Professor of Biomedical Sensors Engineering in the Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, and Associate Provost for Estates Planning for Imperial College. |
Andrew J deMelloProfessor of Biochemical Engineering & Institute Chair, ETH Zürich Andrew is currently Professor of Biochemical Engineering in the Department of Chemistry & Applied Biosciences at ETH Zürich, and until October 2020 was Head of the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering. Prior to his arrival in Zurich, he was Professor of Chemical Nanosciences and Head of the Nanostructured Materials and Devices Section in the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London. His research interests cover a broad range of activities in the broad areas of microfluidics and nanoscale science. Primary specializations include the development of microfluidic devices for high-throughput biological and chemical analysis, ultra-sensitive optical spectroscopies, microfluidic tools for material synthesis and clinical diagnostic technologies. |
Lorena DiéguezLeader of the Medical Devices Research Group, INL- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory Lorena Diéguez joined INL in 2014 as a Staff Researcher and is, since 2018, the leader of the Medical Devices research group. Her research is mainly devoted to Translational Medical Research in close collaboration with hospitals and focuses on the development of tools and solutions based on microfluidics, biosensors and nanotechnology towards early diagnosis and better understanding of diseases. She is also very interested in translating her technology from the lab to the clinic and is co-founder and CEO of the spin-off company RUBYnanomed in the field of liquid biopsy. Currently, she is also the Chair of the Working Group in Medical Devices at the ETPN (European Technology Platform in Nanomedicine). She obtained her Bachelors in Physics with a Major in Optoelectronics at the University of Santiago de Compostela in 2005, then completed her Masters in Nanotechnology at the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2007 and her PhD in Biosensors at the UB, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia and the ETH Zürich. Her postdoc at the University of South Australia (2010-2013) was devoted to the study of rare cells from biological samples using microfluidics. |
Rosanne GuijtProfessor, Deakin University Prof Guijt specializes in microfluidic systems for chemical separation and analysis, and has pioneered the area of functionally integrated devices through the incorporation of electrodes and membranes. Currently a Professor at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia, Rosanne studied Biopharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University, before commencing her PhD at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. After graduation, she received a fellowship from the Dutch Science and Technology Foundation STW to initiate Lab on a Chip research at the University of Tasmania in 2003, followed by a prestigious Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (2004-2009) and a Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (2014/15 an 2016/17). Since 2014, she has led the adoption of 3D printing as an alternative fabrication approach in microfluidics. |
Maiwenn Kersaudy-KerhoasProfessor of Microfluidic Engineering, Heriot-Watt University Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas is a Professor of Microfluidic Engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She leads a multi-disciplinary research group of biologists and engineers. Her work has focused on the development of robust, reproducible and affordable prototyping methods for point-of-care diagnostics. She has developed several pre-analytical tools for liquid biopsies applications with clinicians, including blood plasma separation devices, cell-free DNA extraction cartridges and a finger-actuated blood processing device. In 2013, she received a five year Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship and in 2018 a Healthcare Technology Challenge Award from the UK Engineering and Physical Science Council. In 2019 she was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering ‘Frontiers of Development’ and Global Challenge Research Fund seed funding to develop an advanced sepsis diagnostic tool via cell-free microbial nucleic sequencing with clinical partners around the world. She is a recipient of the 2023 Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers Champion award, which she will use for the creation of a Frugal Diagnostic network. |
Gregory NordinProfessor, Brigham Young University Professor Greg Nordin joined the faculty of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at Brigham Young University in 2005. From 1992 to 2005 he was at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) where he was the founding director of the university's Nano and Micro Devices Center, which was created as an independent research center by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. While director of the center, he created a 7,600 sq. ft. cleanroom facility for nano and microfabricated devices to pursue research activities in photonics, MEMS, microfluidics, and sensors. Prof. Nordin has led numerous large research programs, and has been principal investigator on research grants from government and industry totaling $18M. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award (1996) for promising young faculty, and twice received the UAH Outstanding Researcher Award as well as the UAH Foundation Award for Research and Creative Achievement. Prof. Nordin's current research is focused on developing 3D printing for microfluidic devices and applications. In March 2018 Prof. Nordin gave a TED talk on his group's work, which is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T122fzOEVYE. |
Valérie TalyCNRS Research Director, Professor and Group leader Translational Research and Microfluidics, Université Paris Cité V. Taly is a CNRS research director and group leader of the Translational Research And Microfluidics team within the clinical oncology research unit MEPPOT (personalized medicine pharmacogenomics and therapeutic optimization) in the Cordeliers Research Center (university Paris Cité). Her team performs interdisciplinary researches aiming at developing and validating microfluidic tools for cancer research in close collaboration with clinicians and researchers in oncology and toxicology. Since 2008, she developed droplet-based digital procedures for Cancer diagnosis. Recently, her research has been dedicated to the clinical validation of droplet-based microfluidics for the non-invasive detection of Cancer biomarkers, the highlighting of new Cancer Biomarkers and the development of original tools and procedures for their detection with applications in personalized medicine, cancer recurrence detection and cancer diagnostics. She is co-founder of EMULSEO (2018) and METHYS DX (2021) start up companies. |
Elisabeth VerpoorteChair of Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Analysis, University of Groningen E.M.J. (Sabeth) Verpoorte has more than 30 years of research experience in the microfluidics or lab-on-a-chip field. Her introduction to this technology came in 1990, after her PhD with D. Jed Harrison at the University of Alberta, when she started as a postdoctoral researcher to the pioneering µTAS group headed by Professor Andreas Manz at Ciba Ltd., Basel, Switzerland. In 2003, Sabeth made a strategic switch to assume a Chair in the Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, making a foray into a new research environment dominated by cells, tissue and drug development. Projects have involved the development of organ-on-a-chip systems to study drug metabolism (liver chip, gut chip), diagnose endothelial dysfunction and monitor liver tissue function. Efforts have also concentrated on continuous-flow particle separation strategies, paper microfluidics, as well as miniaturized analytical instrumentation (paper spray ionization, multidimensional chromatography). The acquisition of interdisciplinary projects involving scientists from the life sciences, chemistry, and physics disciplines continues to be a driving force in her research. |
Nan ZhangAssociate Professor, University College Dublin Dr Nan Zhang is an Associate Professor in Manufacturing and Design at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering of University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland. His research covers polymer micro/nano manufacturing, precision manufacturing of plastic microfluidic chips, microfluidic systems for synthesising genetic nanomedicine and molecular diagnostics, manufacturing functional micro/nano structured surfaces, and atomic and close-to-atomic-scale manufacturing. He has been founded by H2020 MSCA ITN Grant as a consortium coordinator, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland-Commercialization Funding, Irish Research Council etc. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal papers in Materials Today, Nano Letters and the International Journal of Machine Tool and Manufacture. He was the chair of the 6th and 8th international conferences on polymer replication on the nanoscale (PRN2019, PRN2022). He is the associate editor of the journal “Frontier-Lab on Chip Technology” and a Council member of the Microfluidic Association. His research has generated several patents which have been commercialized or are in the process of being commercialized. He has received the University Research Impact award in 2022, the Year of Invention Award 2024, and has been highlighted as a Rising Star Fellow by UCD. |
