On Wednesday 5th March, Prof Steffi Krause gave her inaugural lecture to mark her promotion to Professor of Electroanalytical Systems.

In ‘Sensing to seeing: an electrochemical approach’, Prof Krause explores how Sensors have revolutionised the way we monitor our environment, from measuring pollutants to diagnosing diseases using the marvel of sensors.

Steffi told a story of a personal journey from the development of sensors for a single analyte to the imaging of electrical and electrochemical cues from living cells.

Due to their simplicity and low cost, electrochemical sensors in particular have had a lasting impact on how we measure pollutants and diagnose disease. Traditionally, electrochemical sensing of multiple analytes such as disease markers or measuring the responses of individual cells in culture have relied on arrays of electrodes. Generating electrochemical currents with focused light, we can sense at any spot of an unstructured substrate without the need to fabricate arrays of electrodes.

The work of Steffi’s research group has transformed this photoelectrochemical technology from a tool for the interrogation of sensor arrays to a high-resolution imaging technique that allows us to explore a range of exciting applications in biomedical engineering and green energy.

Prof Steffi Krause gained her PhD in 1994 at the Humboldt-University of Berlin working on the development and characterisation of a field-effect oxygen sensor. Her postdoctoral research at the Universities of Newcastle and Glasgow focused on the development of new biosensor principles. She worked as a Lecturer and later EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow at the Chemistry Department of Sheffield University from 1997 to 2004 and then moved to the Materials Department at Queen Mary.