Amanda is Associate Professor in the Optics and Photonics Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Nottingham. Amanda obtained her PhD and Mphys degrees from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester in 2004 and 1996 respectively. After completing her PhD she joined the Institute of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde and was award a Royal Academy of Engineering/ESPRC personal research fellowship. In 2012 she transferred her fellowship to the University of Nottingham. Her lab specialises in developing bespoke optical instruments to image, measure and perturb biological systems, characterising properties such as viscosity and elasticity of cells and their surrounding environments. Amanda is the Nottingham and overall project lead on nu-Sense and provides expertise in techniques including optical trapping, adaptive optics, fluorescence microscopy and non-linear microscopy to the project. 

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Cathy is Professor of Stem Cell Glycobiology in the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University Of Nottingham. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Manchester and then went on to do a PhD, working with Prof. John Gallagher at the Paterson Institute, Manchester. During her PhD studies, she developed a novel method for the sequence analysis of heparan sulphate. While at the University of Manchester, she was the first to describe how the heparan sulphate glycosaminoglycans (HS GAGs) displayed by embryonic stem (ES) cells are remodelled during differentiation to better support complex signalling events. Cathy joined UoN in 2015 as an Associate Professor in the Division of Cancer and Stem Cells. Her research focus is the structure/function relationships of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and the role of the microenvironment in directing cell behaviour. In this project, Cathy will provide the expertise on 3D cell culture and will deliver functionalised hydrogels to mimic stem cell niche environments for regenerative medicine and disease modelling applications.

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Cameron is currently Professor of Polymer Therapeutics, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Fellow, and Head of the Division of Molecular Therapeutics and Formulation at the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham. Cameron’s background is in chemistry, with degrees (BSc and PhD) from the University of Durham and post-doctoral research at the Melville Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis, University of Cambridge. His research focuses on developing polymers which can carry complex drugs to target sites in the body, with applications in disease areas ranging from bacterial and viral infections through to cancers and neurodegeneration. In this project his group are making polymer micro- and nano-particles which can be used as probes to evaluate how polymeric materials and drug delivery systems associate with biological membranes and enter target cells. 

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Tania graduated with a BSc in Life Sciences in 2011 from St. Xavier's College (University of Mumbai) in Mumbai, India and obtained an MSc in Biological Photography and Imaging from the University of Nottingham in 2012. She was awarded a PhD from the University of Sheffield in 2018 for developing a novel application of light sheet microscopy to study sperm-female interactions in the reproductive tracts of birds using the songbird zebra finch. In 2018, Tania joined nu-Sense as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Optics and Photonics Research Group at the University of Nottingham. In this project Tania will develop a combined light sheet and optical trapping system at Nottingham that will later include the multiplane imaging system from Heriot-Watt. This instrument will be used to image and measure the micro-rheology of 3D cell cultures grown in hydrogels.

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Akosua graduated from the University of East Anglia (UEA) with an MPharm (1^st Class Hons) in Pharmacy (2014). Upon graduating, Akosua completed a split pre-registration programme with Cambridge University Hospital (Addenbrooke’s) and GSK, Harlow. She joined the Cameron Alexander group at the University of Nottingham in 2015 to undertake her PhD research investigating polymer-drug conjugates for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Following this, Akosua joined nu-Sense as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the polymer therapeutics group at the University of Nottingham.

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Kasia graduated with BSc in Biomedical Sciences in 2010 from Nottingham Trent University. She is skilled in Stem Cell Culture, Confocal Microscopy, High Content Screening and Analysis, and Cell Culture Automation. 

In 2018, she joined nu-Sense as a Stem Cell Technician in the Stem Cell Glycobiology Group (part of Stem Cell Biology Group) at the University of Nottingham. In this project, Kasia will provide the 3D models grown in peptide hydrogels for testing the methodology being developed by the team, as well as carry out phenotypic characterisation of the cells.

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Paul leads the Advanced Microscopy Group at Heriot-Watt, developing novel optical and photonic microscopy solutions for life science research. His work is based primarily on real time 3D cellular imaging, single molecule spectroscopy and time resolved single photon counting. 

For 3D cellular imaging his research group develops novel multi-plane and adaptive optics systems to probe the 3D cellular environments in real time. His research can trace its origins back to optical developments for astronomy, now translated into the life sciences. A significant challenge is in data processing and handling for the multi-dimensional 3D data sets. For nu-Sense Paul and his research group will adapt this technology to work alongside optical trapping and light sheet microscopy to probe the full 3D cell culture environment. Paul is the Heriot-Watt lead on nu-Sense. In addition to research interests, Paul is the Senior Program Director (Head of Discipline) for Physics at Heriot-Watt.

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Lynn is an Assistant Professor and leads the Biophotonics Research Group in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering at Heriot-Watt University. Lynn's research interests are based around exploiting the interaction between light and biological cells or tissue to benefit the bio-medical sciences. Her areas of expertise are optical trapping and optical tweezers, Raman spectroscopy, biological uses for nanoparticles (as sensors) and integrating optics with microfluidics. For nu-Sense, Lynn will collaborate with Paul at Heriot-Watt University to build a multiplane imaging optical tweezer microrheometer, capable of probing micro-mechanical properties of liquids and gels in 3D. 

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Andrew received his MPhys from the University of Edinburgh, and then moved to the University of St Andrews for a PhD performing ultrafast spectroscopy on organic semiconductors. Following this Andrew returned to the University of Edinburgh where he worked on the structure and properties of gels formed by self-assembled small molecule gelators, and did some contract research on the rheology of commercial formulations for industrial clients. Andrew moved to Heriot-Watt University in November 2018 to join nu-Sense as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow where he is working to combine the multiplane imaging with optical trapping to allow 3D tracking of optically trapped beads.

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Manlio is a Senior Lecturer within the Division of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Glasgow. In 2000, he graduated as a Chemical Engineer from the Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Naples “Federico II”. In 2007 he obtained his PhD from the School of Physics & Astronomy at The University of Leeds. In 2010 he was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Research Fellowship. Manlio is internationally renowned for his contributions to the fields of rheology, microrheology and metrology applied to the study of biological, bio-analytical and synthetic systems. He is a Council Member of The British Society of Rheology, a Member of the Institute of Physics, an Ordinary Member of The IoP-Polymer Physics Group, an Associate Member of the Institute of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, a Delegate of the Individual Members on the European Society of Rheology Committee, an EPSRC Peer Review Full College Member, and an Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports.

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