A point-of-care biosensor for personalised medicine

Personalised medicine is heavily reliant on point-of-care biosensors. Such biosensors should be self-referenced i.e. able to measure analytes in biological samples that are complex mixtures and amid changes in ambient conditions (e.g. temperature). Effective personalised medicine also relies on accurate diagnosis, which in turn demands that multiple analytes are measured simultaneously. The aim of this project is to develop a self-referenced leaky waveguide [1] biosensor made of photofunctionalisable hydrogel [2] for measurement of multiple analytes. The developed biosensor will be a platform technology i.e. it can be adapted to facilitate personalised medicine for any disease condition. Such a sensor will also find applications in numerous other fields including pandemics (e.g. ongoing covid-19), environmental monitoring and food security.

The student will work alongside other members in the group to develop photofunctionalisable hydrogels and chemistries for immobilisation of antibodies. The student will also gain skills in microfabrication, microfluidics, optical sensors, instrumentation and data analysis. The student will be based in Dr Ruchi Gupta’s group (https://rguptagrouplab.com/) in the School of Chemistry at University of Birmingham.

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Ruchi Gupta at r.gupta.3@bham.ac.uk. Please include a CV and transcripts in your email.

Degree Requirements:
Applicants should possess (or expect to possess) a good degree in physical sciences or engineering or allied disciplines.