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December 2020

Dr Joe Briscoe

Queen Mary researcher receives €2 million grant to develop more efficient solar technology

17 December 2020

For this project Dr Briscoe will explore how a type of material known as ferroelectrics could be used to produce a new class of solar energy device that could break current efficiency barriers. The ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to outstanding researchers with between 7-12 years of experience after PhD, … [more]

A remote-imaged Salvatore

Salvatore Auriemma Passes his PhD Viva

10 December 2020

Salvatore Auriemma has passed his PhD viva on "Development of parametric CAD models for gradient-based aerodynamic shape optimisation" with minor corrections. Gradient-based methods are the most efficient approach for soptimisation with very many design variables and has become a standard in aerodynamic shape optimisation of e.g. aircraft wings and … [more]

ERC logo

Dr Joe Briscoe Receives Prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant

9 December 2020

Dr Joe Briscoe, a Senior Lecturer in Functional Materials in SEMS, QMUL, has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the 'excellent science' pillar of the EU's current Research and Innovation programme, Horizon 2020. Dr Briscoe is one of only 327 individuals across Europe to … [more]

Bo after his viva

Bo Zhou Passes his PhD Viva

9 December 2020

Congratulations to Bo Zhou who passed his PhD viva yesterday. Bo's thesis title is "Photoelectrochemical imaging of live cells using semiconductor substrates". He was supervised by Steffi Krause and Karin Hing. He presented his work at the International Symposium on Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics in 2019, published two full … [more]

Gabriel, Maria and Folashade meeting for a celebration after the event, and toasting Andrew, who sadly couldn't join

Education Awards Success!

8 December 2020

Many congratulations to our colleagues Drs Maria Romero-Gonzalez, Gabriel Cavalli, Andrew Spowage and Folashade Akinmolayan Taiwo for receiving a prestigious President and Principal's Prize at the Queen Mary Education Excellence Award. This award recognizes the hard work and crucial leadership the team offered towards developing and delivering the SEMS Teaching … [more]

Professor Liz Tanner

Liz Tanner elected Secretary of International College of Biomaterials Fellows

4 December 2020

On Friday 4th December the new Council of the International College of Fellows in Biomaterials Science and Engineering meet. This Council will lead worldwide activity in Biomaterials for the next 4 years. Activities will include student exchanges, debates at congresses and supporting the run up to 2024 World Biomaterials Congress in South … [more]

Virus particles surrounding lungs. Credit: feellife/iStock.com

Queen Mary scientists receive donation from Emulate, Inc to support Covid-19 research

1 December 2020

The donation was awarded to Professor Daniel Pennington and Dr Neil McCarthy as part of the Organs-on-Chips against COVID-19 initiative run by the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network. Through this research project the scientists hope to improve understanding of how Covid-19 affects the lungs and identify new ways … [more]


November 2020

EU Cordis logo

EU Commission report on cancer mechanobiology research from Prof Knight's group at QMUL

24 November 2020

The EU Commission have published a report on some of the research into cancer mechanobiology taking place in the Bioengineering Division within School of Engineering and Materials Science at QMUL. The report entitled 'Mechanobiology of METAstatic and DORMant cancer cells in bone marrow lesions', describes research conducted by Dr Verbruggen … [more]

Coronavirus particles spread through tiny droplets of liquid floating through the air. Credit: fpm/iStock.com

Existing UV light technology has potential to reduce Covid-19 transmission indoors

19 November 2020

The research, published in the journal PeerJ, found that upper room UV germicidal irradiation (UVGI) can kill SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which can be transmitted by aerosolised droplets that float in the air. UVC is known to be very effective at ‘killing’, or inactivating, microorganisms however this type of UV light … [more]

Professor Hazel Screen

This is Engineering Day: Interview with Professor Hazel Screen

4 November 2020

Professor Hazel Screen is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and was recently appointed Head of the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London. Here she talks about her research, new role and what being an engineer means to her. I’ve worked at … [more]


October 2020

Dr Sobrido

Queen Mary researcher awarded UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship

15 October 2020

Dr Ana Jorge Sobrido from Queen Mary University of London has today been named as one of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellows for her work to develop innovative energy storage systems. The £1.4m Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) award will support Dr Sobrido’s … [more]

Premature baby in an incubator

New bioengineering approach to fix fetal membranes

13 October 2020

The study, published in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis, found that these molecules, known as peptide amphiphiles (PAs) self-assemble to form a ‘plug’ that seals holes within the fetal membranes, and could potentially help repair any damage. For the study, the researchers established a fetal membrane defect model, … [more]

The ammonia sensor is based on a vertical diode structure formed from zinc oxide nanorods and a gold contact deposited by thermal evaporation.

Scientists develop ammonia gas sensor based on a zinc oxide nanorod-gold Schottky diode

9 October 2020

Ying Tu's paper describing a novel room temperature sensor for ammonia has been accepted by ACS Sensors. As ammonia is gaining importance in the production and storage of hydrogen, there is an increasing demand for energy-efficient ammonia detectors. The device described in this paper boasts low power consumption, good … [more]

Talk by Prof Kaspar Althoefer at the IET on 'Novel soft robotics approaches: Addressing the challenges in nuclear decommissioning'

Prof Kaspar Althoefer will present at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

6 October 2020

Professor Kaspar Althoefer will give a talk on Wednesday, 7th of October 2020, 2pm (UK time) at the IET in the framework of their Technical Webinars on "Novel soft robotics approaches: Addressing the challenges in nuclear decommissioning". Please join here: https://bit.ly/3nXV4fq [more]

Modelling of real-world disease breakout group (from top left on screen: Elisabete Silva; Andrew Pitsillides; Gerard Cummins; Charareh Pourzand; Alessandra Granata; John Greenman; Paul Holloway; Tomasz Kostrzewski; Valerie Speirs)

Organ on chip funding sandpit goes virtual

5 October 2020

Thanks to the new world of on-line events, the OOACT Network's sandpit – originally planned face to face in April this year – was run successfully in MS Teams from 29 September to 1 October. This interactive funding sandpit event provided a great opportunity for 32 senior academics and industrialists from across … [more]

confocal microscopy image of primary cilia in healthy cells but which are disrupted in Jeune syndrome

Funding awarded to Prof Knight to develop a new treatment for the rare disease, Jeune Syndrome

1 October 2020

This project funded by Queen Mary Innovations, will identify compounds for the treatment of a rare genetic disease, Jeune Syndrome, that disrupts skeletal formation. The disease is caused by mutation in the genes that regulate primary cilia – the tiny hair-like cellular structures that coordinate a variety of important signalling … [more]


September 2020

Thermoelectric Energy Conversion Materials Roadmap

UK Materials Science Community delivers its strategic response to net-zero emissions challenge

30 September 2020

In May 2019 the UK Government became the first global economy to set a net zero emissions target for 2050, upgrading the previous target of delivering an 80% cut in emissions. The move followed the publication of the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) ‘Net Zero’ report. In response, the Henry Royce Institute … [more]

Patterning process

Queen Mary researchers develop non-distructive single-crystal perovskite surface nanopatterning technologies

25 September 2020

Single-crystalline perovskites are widely regarded as the future semiconductor materials and will be the next big wave in optoelectronics. To manufacture high-quality single-crystal perovskite optoelectronics, non-destructive surface nanopatterning technologies are required. Conventional photolithography-based nanopatterning methods cannot be used due to perovskite’s sensitivity to high temperature and solvents. Researchers at … [more]

(https://falling-walls.com/lab/)

QMUL MSCA Fellow selected to compete at the MSCA Falling Walls Lab 2020

25 September 2020

The worldwide MSCA Falling Walls Lab competition will form the structure of the "MSCA 2020 - Achieving more together" Conference. Four workshops have been organised about the perspective of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, supervisors from academic institutions and non-academics. Falling Walls Lab is an international showcase for the next generation of … [more]

James Busfield FREng

James Busfield elected to Royal Academy of Engineering

22 September 2020

The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced the 50 new Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) and 3 International Fellows. James Busfield, Professor of Materials, Director of Industrial Engagement in the School of Engineering and Material Science and Yang Hao (School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science) have been elected. … [more]

Organ on a chip network logo

QM hosts new Organ-on-a-chip Research symposia

22 September 2020

QMUL has launched a new e-symposia series with research presentations related to organ-on-a-chip and other predictive in vitro models. The symposia are part of the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network which is funded via the Technology Touching Life scheme and directed by Prof Hazel Screen and Prof Martin Knight, both bioengineers … [more]

Dr Khai D Q Nguyen speaking at the Innovations in Elastomeric Materials and Products event in 2019

Queen Mary researcher named ‘Future Innovator’ at National Awards

21 September 2020

The KTP Best of the Best awards celebrate the best of KTP’s three-way partnerships, which bring together business, research teams and qualified graduates to drive innovation for UK business and organisations. The Future Innovator award recognises qualified graduates, known as KTP associates, who have shown outstanding skills, above and … [more]

Best Reconfigurable Parallel Mechanism Paper award

Dr Ketao Zhang Honoured with Best Reconfigurable Parallel Mechanism Paper Award of Parallel2020

11 September 2020

Dr Ketao Zhang's work on parallel robot mechanisms - that can change their structure and functionalities like "Transformers" - has been honoured with the Best Reconfigurable Parallel Mechanism Paper of The 4th International Conference on Fundamental Issues, Applications and Future Research Directions for Parallel Mechanisms / Manipulators / Machines. The conference was … [more]


August 2020

Professor Gleb Sukhorukov

Gleb Sukhorukov's H-index reaches 100

31 August 2020

One measure of the impact of an academic's research is to count the number of citations. Citations refect who thinks our work is of interest and worth referencing. One common measure of this is to use the h-index which is defined as the maximum value of h such that the … [more]

Pan-African competition

Queen Mary researchers launch new competition on low-cost innovation for African scientists and entrepreneurs

21 August 2020

Researchers from the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London have launched a new competition in low-cost technologies that aims to identify and develop the next generation of young scientists, leaders, and entrepreneurs in Africa. This new competition, which is open to all countries in … [more]

Thomas Iskratsch in the Journal of Cell Science as a 'Cell Scientist to Watch'

Thomas Iskratsch is featured in the current issue of the Journal of Cell Science as part of the "Cell Scientist to Watch" series.

3 August 2020

Thomas Iskratsch is featured in the current issue of Journal of Cell Science as part of the "Cell Scientist to Watch" series. The series looks at "cell biologists who are in the earlier stages of their careers, and who [the Journal of Cell Science think] are making … [more]


July 2020

Transmission Electron Micrograph of graphene decorated with platinum nanoparticles. The dark spots are the platinum nanoparticles and the grey sheet they lie on is the graphene support material. Credit: Patrick Cullen / Gyen Ming Angel

Scientists develop new material for longer-lasting fuel cells

23 July 2020

In the study, published today in the journal Nanoscale, researchers produced graphene via a special, scalable technique and used it to develop hydrogen fuel cell catalysts. They showed that this new type of graphene-based catalyst was more durable than commercially available catalysts and matched their performance.  Hydrogen fuel cells convert … [more]

The launch symposium celebrated the start of the new Centre for In Vitro Predictive Models

Successful Launch of QMUL Centre for Predictive in vitro Models

22 July 2020

The Centre for Predictive in vitro Models (CPM) was officially launched on Wednesday 22nd with an successful virtual symposium. More than 330 registrated attendees joined in to celebrate the occasion, listening to talks and participating in stimulating discussions. Introductory words from the vice principal for the faculty of Science and Engineering, … [more]

Dr Andrew Spowage

Dr Andrew Spowage Awarded Grant from the Gas Safety Trust

21 July 2020

Dr Andrew Spowage has been awarded £10k from the Gas Safety Trust (GST) for his research proposal aiming to understand the state of play in carbon monoxide poisoning in the UKs general aviation sector. The Gas Safety Trust, established in 2005 as a registered charitable body, has become the UK’s … [more]

Elvis & Kresse Ltd rescue waste material and transform it into luxury fashion accessories © Elvis & Kresse (EAKO Ltd)

Collaborating with SMEs to develop sustainable fashion

14 July 2020

Funded as part of a £1.2m R&D funding award from the Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology (BFTT) programme, the project will see Queen Mary support Elvis & Kresse to create metal fixtures, such as buckles and zips, from recycled drinks cans.  The team hope this innovative project will provide … [more]

Dr Maria Romero-González. Her inspirational quote: 'I get paid to think...'

Dr Maria Romero-González features in 1 Million Women in STEM campaign

9 July 2020

Dr Maria Romero-González has been featured in the 1 million Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) global campaign as a role model for the next generation of girls aspiring to enter these areas. The campaign is seeking to increase the visibility of women working in STEM through … [more]

Tianjun Liu

Tianjun Liu Passes his PhD Viva

8 July 2020

Tiajun Liu has successfully defended his thesis entitled "Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Thermoelectric Materials". His thesis was already selected as the best in the Materials Division this year and his work has been published in Nature Communications, Nanoscale, Advanced Materials, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and other journals. Tianjun has been an integral … [more]


June 2020

Thibault at the Plastic Electronic Materials Winter School in Switzerland

Thibault Degousée successfully passes his PhD viva

30 June 2020

Thibault Degousée has successfully defended his PhD thesis on "Organic thermoelectric materials". His work covered structure-property relationships in polymer materials used to convert waste heat into electricity. Thibault was employed on a SEMS studentship, but also travelled to Italy several times to conduct X-ray scattering experiments through the Royal … [more]

Final year medical students ready to support the NHS

How the Queen Mary community has contributed to the fight against COVID-19

26 June 2020

Students and staff from Queen Mary have delivered a multifaceted response to the crisis so far. In recent months, they have volunteered in critical NHS roles, contributed vital resources and equipment, and launched several COVID-19 research projects.  Students and staff on the NHS frontline  In March, 18 final-year Barts medical students … [more]

WES Top 50 Women in Engineering award winner, Dr Petra Ágota Szilágyi

Queen Mary researcher recognised in WES Top 50 Women in Engineering

23 June 2020

Now in its fifth year, the 2020 WE50 celebrates women who have made a significant contribution within sustainability. Winning nominees were required to provide evidence of their successful support of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals or the Net Zero Carbon Programme, and their responses were judged by a panel of industry … [more]

Emulate's organs-on-chips technology. Credit: Emulate

Using Organs-on-chips technology to accelerate COVID-19 research

18 June 2020

The Queen Mary & Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre is involved in a new initiative to use miniaturised living systems with human cells, known as organ-chips, in the fight against COVID-19. As part of this initiative, Emulate, Inc have donated blank Organ-Chips to the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network to support the … [more]

Competition Final

Building communication skills across Materials and Biomedical Science

17 June 2020

On 11th June 2020, ICTL funded the project to enhance students' skills in building communication skills across Materials or Polymer Science and Engineering, and Biomedical Science, led by Faith Nightingale (School of Language, Linguistics and Film) and Maria Romero-Gonzalez (School of Engineering and Material Sciences). The aim was for students to … [more]

Dr Folashade Akinmolayan

Two SEMS Academics Awarded Grants from the Westfield Fund to Enhance Student Experience

12 June 2020

Dr Folashade Akinmolayan and Dr Maria Romero-Gonzalez have each been awarded a grant from the Westfield Fund 2020 for Enhancing the Student Experience. The Westfield Fund made six awards to fund projects which will enhance the student experience at Queen Mary. For this year, a range of different types of projects … [more]

QMUL image

Queen Mary Confirms Position Among World's Best Universities

10 June 2020

QMUL has climbed twelve places up the QS 2021 World University Rankings, published on Wednesday 10 June, to confirm its position as one of the world’s top universities. The University placed 114th in the world and remains in the top 20 in the UK. The Complete University Guide for 2021 was also released … [more]

Nick wearing one of the face-shields

Face Shield donations in response to COVID-19 Pandemic

8 June 2020

The technical team at SEMS-QMUL has been practicing social distancing and working on manufacturing face-shields in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop team consisting of Dennis Ife, James Searles, Mick Etheridge, Clement Cordery, Nick Duggan, and Andrew McDonald have so far produced over 1100 face shields that have been donated … [more]


May 2020

Rejish defending his thesis on Microsoft Teams

Rejish Jesudasan successfully defends his thesis

22 May 2020

Rejish Jesudasan successfully defended his thesis on "An Adaptive Parametrisation Method for Shape Optimisation Using Adjoint Sensitivities". Owing to COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2, the viva was conducted over video conferencing, but even with noise of his ceiling fan (essential in his Indian home at this time), the finer details of his algorithm … [more]

Clockwise, from top left: keratinocytes deforming protein nanosheets on top of an oil droplet (Gautrot lab), fibroblasts forming a network in a hydrogel (S.Lopategui, Iskratsch lab), cardiomyocytes contracting soft polymers (with titin doublets resolved at approximately 160nm distance, I.Xanthis, Iskratsch lab) and flat worm larvaes (A.Carrillo-Baltodano, Martin lab, SBCS), all imaged with the Nikon SoRa super-resolution spinning disc microscope

New state-of-the-art microscope to support research in the School of Engineering and Materials Science

20 May 2020

Queen Mary underlined its strong commitment to the ongoing research in SEMS by investing into a £375K state-of-the-art super-resolution spinning disc microscope. Microscopy imaging approaches have long been a major research strength within the school, facilitating new collaborative links and supporting significant research funding and outputs in leading journals. … [more]

Team AlgaX: Ahmad, Abdinasir, Lucas and Marcos (L-R).

SEMS Students Win Global Entrepreneurship Challenge - The Hult Prize 2020

15 May 2020

The Hult Prize is the largest socio-entrepreneurship student competition in the world. The 2019 Hult Prize Challenge was announced by President Bill Clinton at the United Nations. This was an invitation to student teams around the world to develop innovations that can be scaled to improve the lives of millions whilst … [more]

Crystal structure of a 1-dimensional organometal halide semiconductor

Renewal of Royal Society University Research Fellowship for Dr Fenwick to study low dimensional energy materials

15 May 2020

Nanomaterials have dimensions less than 100 billionths of a metre, and on these length scales they can acquire completely new properties. Examples include metal quantum dots less than 10 nanometres in diameter which emit light, or graphene which, being a single layer of carbon atoms, is nano-sized in one dimension and exhibits … [more]

'Cooking up cleaner composites' reported by Materials World magazine

Scientists at Queen Mary developed extremely energy-efficient manufacturing for future composites, reported by the Materials World magazine in its latest issue

7 May 2020

Research led by Dr Han Zhang at the School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, has devised a sustainable manufacturing method for future composites towards the clean growth of the composite sector. An extremely energy-efficient and intrinsically safe curing process has been developed based on nanostructured … [more]

covid-19 virus and organ-chip (not to scale)

Queen Mary + Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre supports COVID-19 initiative

6 May 2020

The Queen Mary + Emulate Organs-on-Chips Centre is supporting a new initiative to use predictive in vitro models, also known as organ-chips, in the fight against COVID-19. Emulate, Inc is participating in the Organs-on-Chips against COVID-19 initiative (#OoCovid) and donating a set of Organ-Chips to the UK Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network which … [more]


April 2020

‘Magnetically responsive’ microscopic drug carrier

Researchers use magnetism to keep drugs at disease sites

30 April 2020

The researchers were able to use magnetism to hold ‘magnetically responsive’ microscopic drug carriers at chosen sites, even in the presence of external forces, such as flowing liquid, which would normally displace them. They also found that magnetism restricted the movement of cells containing these drug capsules. This … [more]

New study reveals unexpected softness of bilayer graphene. Credit: theasis/ iStock.com

New study reveals unexpected softness of bilayer graphene

30 April 2020

In the study, published in the journal Physical Review B, the researchers showed that bilayer graphene, consisting of two layers of graphene, was noticeably softer than both two-dimensional (2D) graphene and three-dimensional (3D) graphite along the stacking direction. This surprising result differs from previous research which showed that 2D graphene, … [more]

Humaira Patel

SEMS student Humaira Patel was a runner up in the The McLaren Future Mobility Challenge

24 April 2020

Humaira Patel, a second year mechanical engineering student, entered for The McLaren Future Mobility Challenge category of The Telegraph newspaper's STEM Awards 2020. Humaira applied her knowledge of materials engineering, gained from her Engineering Materials for Design module, to propose an idea for the automotive sector - using spider silks … [more]

A protective visor using a 3D printed frame.

The Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ) provides essential support for NHS staff during the COVID-19 crisis

21 April 2020

Members of the Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ) provide frames for visors urgently needed by frontline NHS staff at main London hospitals including the newly created Nightingale Hospital. In collaborations with clinicians from the Royal London Dental Hospital, Prof Shakeel Shahdad and Ahmed Din, ARQ have taken on … [more]

Cell screening of implant materials

Queen Mary secure new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships to support industry engagement

17 April 2020

The new KTPs, which represent funding of over £500,000, will support engineering projects aimed at developing new biomaterials for bone healthcare treatments, and novel woven colour-changing fabrics for clothing.   Improving bone healthcare treatments Working with Lucideon, who are a leading organisation in materials development and commercialisation, Queen Mary will develop new … [more]

Image: people wearing masks

Queen Mary steps up to support its community through coronavirus

16 April 2020

Community outreach work and engagement have always been intrinsic to what we do at Queen Mary. Now, in the face of the pandemic crisis, our staff and students are finding ways to further support communities at the local and national levels, whether by joining the NHS frontline or volunteering to … [more]

Mughees Asif

SEMS student Mughees Asif awarded Royal Academy of Engineering Scholarships

14 April 2020

Mughees Asif, a second year Aerospace Engineering student, has been award both the Engineering Leaders Scholarship and the prestigious Sir Ralph Robins Scholarship by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). The Engineering Leaders Scholarship is awarded to 30 students attending Universities in the UK who have the potential to become leaders … [more]

Ralph and his wife Valmai on a recent boat trip.

Dr Ralph Stevens

8 April 2020

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Dr Ralph Stevens. Ralph arrived to Queen Mary in 1964 as a lecturer in The Department of Mechanical Engineering, from where he went on to help establish the Materials Department. Prof Bill Bonfield (former Head of Materials) notes that, “Ralph … [more]

Advanced Energy Materials cover showing a 3D porous structure consisting of carbon nanotubes and graphene layers for oxygen and hydrogen electrocatalytic applications.

Advanced Energy Materials Cover on 3D Carbon Materials for Efficient Oxygen and Hydrogen Electrocatalysis

1 April 2020

A review by Ana Jorge Sobrido (QMUL), Rhodri Jervis (UCL), Magda Titirici (ICL) et al. has been featured as the cover for the latest edition of Advanced Energy Materials journal. The cover was designed by PhD student at ICL Jingyu Fen. This review summarises the latest advances in 3D porous … [more]


March 2020

New date announced

New date for World Biomaterials Congress 2020 announced

31 March 2020

The World Biomaterials Congress with Liz Tanner as a member of the Executive Committee has been postponed from May to December 2020 due to Covid-19. The new dates are Thursday 11th December to Wednesday 16th December. The programme will be similar but there will be new events announced nearer the time. [more]

Education awards logo

SEMS staff recognised in Education Awards

26 March 2020

Two of our academic staff have been recognised this year at the QMSU Education Awards. This event is the annual QMUL ‘OSCARS’ ceremony with 12 different award categories. This year James Busfield won the Employability Enhancement Award and Folashade (Shade) Akinmolayan won the Innovative Teaching Award. The citation for Shade states, “… [more]

Alberto Caenazzo

First PhD from the Centre for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ)

23 March 2020

Alberto Caenazzo successfully defended his PhD studies on "Integrated Hydraulic Steering and Signal Transmission Technologies Applied to Novel MRI-Compatible Intravascular Catheters". Because of the coronavirus crisis, the viva was conducted entirely online. Despite that the viva was completed without a hitch, allowing Alberto to present his novel research in catheter … [more]

Michele relaxing with a friend

Michele Ghilardi successfully completes his PhD in the Soft Matter Group

16 March 2020

Michele Ghilardi became the third of James Busfield's PhD students to pass his PhD already in 2020. Michele completed his PhD viva on the 16th March defending a thesis entitled, "Soft smart machines: electrically tuneable devices made of electro-responsive elastomeric smart materials." Michele was also significantly supported by Prof Federico Carpi … [more]

THEUNSEEN and Lucideon logos

Double Success with KTP Grants Awarded

11 March 2020

SEMS has secured two new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTPs) grants this month. This success represents a total of about £500K in grant funding and a doubling of SEMS portfolio to a total of 4 live KTP projects. This is all of the live KTP projects running at QMUL currently. The … [more]

The microwave sensor technology measuring a droplet of blood.

Researchers use microwaves to measure signs of dehydration

5 March 2020

The researchers are now looking to develop the technology into a wearable device that could be used by athletes, or in healthcare settings, to monitor hydration in real time. For the study, the research team utilised a microwave-based measurement system, developed by NPL, to examine changes to salts and … [more]


February 2020

The MEng group being congratulated by Dr Adrian Briggs (on the right)

Robot Hand Team Wins Top Prize at ILF

26 February 2020

A team of 4th year MEng students Jamie SENGUN, Ahmed DEIRI, Talha TAILOR, Kai PAGE & Mohammed KHAN who have been working on the "Soft 3D-printed Robotic Hand" project supervised by Dr Lorenzo Jamone & Dr Ketao Zhang won the best MEng group project prize at the Annual … [more]

Caumaghen Sannassy's winning poster

Caumaghen Sannassy wins the best MSc student Poster Award

26 February 2020

Caumaghen Sannassy won the best MSc student prize at the 2020 Industrial Liaison Forum in SEMS for his poster called, "Investigation of Air Flows within Urban Landscapes using Open FOAM". His project is supervised by Dr Andrew Buchan. [more]

ILF 2020 in full swing

Another Hugely Successful ILF Completed

26 February 2020

The School of Engineering and Materials Science hosted another successful Industrial Liaison Forum (ILF) on Wednesday 26th February 2020 which attracted 85 visitors during the day. The focus was on our Taught Programme Student Projects with more than 100 of our students having the opportunity to discuss their projects with each other, QMUL … [more]

Thomas (right) and Corina (middle) being congratulated by Dr Adrian Briggs.

3rd Year Project Poster Winners Announced

26 February 2020

The Spring Industrial Liaison Forum one again played host to the 3rd year project student poster showcase. Two winners were selected from the 300+ posters that were submitted. These were from Thomas Kellock for his poster on "Spiral Microfluidics for Circulating Tumour Cell Isolation" who is supervised by Yi … [more]

Land Speed Record Challenger Designed by our  former Aerospace Engineering Students

Land Speed Record Attempt in Bolivia

21 February 2020

The findings of our former Aerospace MEng students (Salah Macan Markar, Karan Sumaria, Tanjir Zaman and Banjoab Kantangul) will be incorporated in the future Land Speed Record Streamliner by CMR Motorsport Challenges. The work has been carried out as part of their MEng project entitled "Land Speed Record Aerodynamics Design … [more]

Hacking Hearts illustration by Libby Morrell who followed the workshop with her amazing line drawings

First outcome of our 'Hacking Hearts' art and science outreach collaboration with Central Saint Martins released online

19 February 2020

Central Saint Martins published a first story about the outcome or our art and science collaboration. This fast-paced project saw postgraduate students from across disciplines hack the research of our inaugural Scientists in Residence over the course of a week. You can read here: https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/… [more]

Professor Hazel Screen

Join us for Professor Hazel Screen's Inaugural Lecture

13 February 2020

We are delighted to announce that Professor Hazel Screen's Inaugural Lecture will be taking place on Thursday 19 March. Hazel's research spans from the nano-scale to whole body mechanics, where she utilises a bioengineering approach to explore the relationships between tissue health and disease, and the surrounding mechanical environment. … [more]

Knee replacement implant (https://bonesmart.org/knee/choosing-a-knee-implant-prosthesis/)
Image credit: Conformis

New paper on the anti-inflammatory effects of low levels of cobalt ions

3 February 2020

Cobalt ions from some orthopaedic implants induce a dose-dependent cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory response. However, this new paper from Prof Knight and Prof Shelton's groups shows that low levels of cobalt are in fact beneficial and block pro-inflammatory signalling in cartilage. The authors showed that sub-toxic levels of cobalt (50uM) … [more]

Take the National Student Survey – and claim your £5 SU food outlet voucher!

Take the National Student Survey – and claim your £5 SU food outlet voucher!

3 February 2020

The National Student Survey (NSS) is an annual national survey of final-year undergraduate students in the UK. It gives you an opportunity to tell us what you have enjoyed about your time at Queen Mary as well as about anything you feel could have been improved. The NSS launched here … [more]


January 2020

The Organ-on-a-chip team, L to R: Martin, Julia, Sarah, Aysha, Angel, Stephen, Matthew, Luana, Paul, Mina, Elisabete, Ashley, Chrysanthi, Stefaan, Clare & Natt

The Organ-on-a-Chip Shop – a Science Museum highlight!

29 January 2020

On 29 January, Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network scientists and engineers swapped their lab coats for aprons, to run the Organ on a Chip shop at the hugely popular Science Museum Lates in London. This Lates night celebrated the launch of the Museum’s new Medicine Galleries and attracted over 4,000 visitors. Promoted … [more]

Prof Dan Bader

Dan Bader Gives His Valedictory Lecture in Technical University of Eindhoven

24 January 2020

During his time as Professor of Medical Engineering at Queen Mary University of London, Prof Bader was also a part-time visiting professor in the Technical University of Eindhoven (Tu/E). There he worked closely with Prof Cees Oomens in the area of pressure ulcers as well as continuing his work … [more]

Barnabas Shaw (left) and Leihao Chen (right) celebrating their double PhD viva successes together.

Double Soft Matter Group PhD Success for Barnabas Shaw and Leihao Chen

17 January 2020

Barnabas Shaw and Leihao Chen have both successfully passed their PhD vivas within a week of each other. Barnabas completed his PhD viva on the 10th January with a thesis entitled, "Characterisation of Elastomers for Dynamic Sealing Applications ." Leihao completed his PhD viva on the 17th January with a thesis … [more]

Emulate's organs-on-chips technology. Credit: Emulate

Queen Mary opens Organs-on-Chips Centre for advancements in medical research and drug development

16 January 2020

A new research centre which aims to revolutionise medical research and drug development using microengineered Organs-on-Chips has opened at Queen Mary University of London. Organs-on-Chips contain tiny hollow channels lined by living human cells that recreate the microenvironment experienced by cells within the human body.  As miniaturised living … [more]

Queen Mary’s Aerospace Engineering Students Flying Again

Queen Mary’s Aerospace Engineering Students Flying Again

3 January 2020

A group of our third year Aerospace engineering students recently took a short flight test course as part of our annual visit to Cranfield University. The course demonstrated performance and handling qualities of a real aircraft flight. They flew on a British Aerospace Jetstream Aircraft Series 31 turbo-prop, taking the role … [more]