Research labs

The highly multidisciplinary Bioengineering Research Group operates within and across a number of engineering laboratories.

Within engineering these include the BioMEMS Laboratory and the Materials and Structures laboratory (visit the MAST Research Group website for more information on the lab facilities). Access to biological preparation and analysis facilities are provided by the School of Life and Medical Sciences (LMS) and access to chemical analysis facilities are provided by the School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science.

Microfabrication facilities
These include a 35m2 class 1000 (ISO 6) clean room and for precision manufacture of microfluidic devices. Facilities are equipped for specialising in SU8 and PDMS and polymer rapid prototyping processes including; Suss Mask Aligner MJB4, Photoresist Spinner, Plasma Etcher/Asher/Cleaner, Evaporator and Parlene coating system.
The 100m2 BioMEMS MICROFLUIDICS Research laboratory (contact Dr Ian Johnston by email i.d.johnston@hjerts.a.cuk or call +44 (0)1707 284169) provides facilities for assembly and testing of microstructured devices and systems.
State-of-the-art equipment including collocated manufacturing equipment in Materials and Structures:
- two UV-ozone cleaning systems
- three laminar flow cabinets
- two ultrasonic baths
- miniature 5-axis CNC machine
- 2.5 axis CNC machine
- a laser cutter
- 3D printer
- programmable oven.
Metrology facilities
These include:
- a dedicated fluorescence microscopy dark room with a Carl Zeiss Axiovert 40 CFL fluorescence Microscope and QImaging EXi Aqua CCD Camera
- Veeco Wyko NT9100 Optical Profiler
- contact angle measurement system
- suite of four Carl Zeiss stereo microscopes.
Dedicated microbiology preparation and analysis instrumentation facilities include molecular diagnostic capabilities; Western Blot │qPCR and LAMP systems, in addition to standard incubator │sample shaker and autoclave systems. Additional analysis instrumentation includes a Partec Cube 8 Flow Cytometer, Spectrophotometer, Fluorimeter and Plate Reader. A custom designed specialist 8m3 bioaerosol launch chamber is equipped with a suite of aerosol generation and analysis instrumentation including TSI 6 Jet, TSI Tri Jet, TSI Optical Particle Sizer and 12 Alphasense Optical Particle Counters (OPC-N2 & N3).
Chemical analysis facilities
Access to facilities for chemical analysis, including:
- raman spectroscopy equipment (Renishaw InVia)
- fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR-ATR)
- nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)
- x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
- otal reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF)
- inductive coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).
Facilities for preparation of exosome and microvesicles is provided by the School of Life and Medical Sciences. Access to the custom designed Raman spectroscopy systems for microfluidic analysis are provide by the School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science.
BioEngineering facilities
Bioengineering equipment for human gait analysis and neurorehabilitation research, including:
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- wireless sensors for monitoring human motion
- custom designed limb vibration exercise device with a novel actuator system.