QMUL > School of Engineering and Materials Science > Staff
| Position: | Visiting Professor |
| Email: | e.huq@qmul.ac.uk |
| Vcard: | 
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Ejaz Huq is a Council Fellow and Senior Principal Scientist at the UK’s Science and Technology Facility Council (STFC) - one of Europe’s largest multidisciplinary research facilities.
Huq obtained PhD in Electrical Engineering from Cambridge University in 1989 and was subsequently appointed Research Associate at Cambridge University (Materials Science Department) to work on superconducting tunnel junctions for terahertz mixers for space applications. At RAL since 1993 he has worked as Task Leader on various national and international programmes including the Joint European Submicron Silicon Initiative [JESSI] and the UK Dept. of Trade and Industries funded Innovation in Industrial Lithography (ISL).
Prof. Huq initiated research in field emission at RAL in the mid-90s. The field emission work led to the development of world’s smallest ion trap mass spectrometer which is deployed on European Space Agency’s Rosetta Mission launched in 2004 to test the ‘origin of life’ on earth. The mission has been sent to a comet which is 465 million miles from our planet.
Currently at RAL Prof. Huq directs a large portfolio of research activities. One of his research teams is investigating ‘single electron’ memory device based on the principle of ‘Coulomb blockade’ for quantum computation, in collaboration with Cambridge University. Huq is the Coordinator for a TSB funded project on the use of a novel nanocomposite material (developed at Queen Mary University of London) for security and crime prevention.
Whilst a number of his research programmes are in the physical sciences area, more recently his interests are focused on the application of micro/nanotechnology in life sciences, particularly post-genomic proteomics. Currently together with scientists at Cambridge and Oxford University and the UK Medical Research Council one of his research teams is developing micro sensors each of which will detect a protein and provide information on its behaviour and its interactions with other proteins in a cell at any given time. This will allow gaining intimate insights into the molecular basis of life in a cell. The ultimate objective is to produce a mobile phone like device to detect cancer and other diseases. He is also looking at the use of nanosensors in stem cell research.
To exploit some of his research findings, two technology-based companies have been formed at STFC. One of these is exploring the application of a novel device to detect the coagulation time of blood and the other concerns the detection of Helicobacter pylori – a bacteria that causes stomach ulcers.
Prof. Huq has acted as the Coordinator [UK] for the UK-Korea nanotechnology joint research initiative. Huq is invited to the European Commission in Brussels from time to time for strategic planning in nanotechnology for Europe and also to evaluate long term research proposals in this area, submitted by various research organisations and academic institutions in member states. Huq is on the editorial board of three international journals including the IEEE Transaction on Nano Biosciences, The Microelectronics Journal (Elsevier Science publication) and the Micro Nano Letters (UK IET publication). He also sits on a number of UK national and international committees concerned with nanotechnology.
Created: 21:17 Tuesday 21st May 2013