Author: Martha Salhotra

Professor Molly Stevens, Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine, Departments of Materials and Bioengineering

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, my research group has continued to work with determination to support the development of game-changing technology to address the urgent need for reliable, cost-effective and fast COVID-19 diagnostic tests.”

I am Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine in the Departments of Materials and Bioengineering. I lead a dynamic multidisciplinary research group that develops innovative materials-based approaches to tackle healthcare challenges including disease diagnostics. We have previously developed a lateral flow immunoassay for fast detection of HIV p24 biomarker with sensitivity in the low femtomolar range, and our Ebola serological test has been validated in Uganda with 91 survivors. Our work on smartphone enabled diagnostics capitalises on the ubiquity and technical capabilities of mobile phones and networks to bring advanced technology to the point-of-care, connect patients to health centres and monitor epidemics. (more…)

Dr Joseph Sherwood, RAEng Research Fellow, Department of Bioengineering

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“JAMVENT has successfully overcome both the technical challenges that have hindered many other emergency designs, and the supply chain bottlenecks that limit manufacturing capacity of established ventilators.”

I am a Bioengineer with a Mechanical Engineering background. I joined Imperial in 2012 and focus on blood flow and eye pressure, with applications in glaucoma and diabetes research. I also do consultancy work building custom pressure/flow systems.

One week before the lockdown, Dr Jakob Mathiszig-Lee, an anaesthesiologist working with COVID-19 patients at the Royal Brompton Hospital, emailed us looking for anyone interested in building a ventilator to help with potential shortfall. I offered to help, along with Professor James Moore, an expert in medical device design, and Dr Michael Madekurozwa, who I have been working with for five years. (more…)

Dr Eleonora D’Elia, Strategic Teaching Fellow – Outreach, Department of Materials

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“Having gained access to the spookily empty campus, I have been producing face visors: more than 3,000 to date. Together with Helpful Engineering UK, we have delivered more than 24,000 visors and are currently making gowns, masks and ear savers which are going to hospitals, care homes and GPs.”

I was born and raised in a small town near Rome, and I graduated in Materials Science and Physics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. I moved to London and joined Imperial in 2010 to complete my Masters in Biomaterials and then began my PhD in Smart Materials (such a cool subject, let me tell you!). I now work as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Materials and am the Head of Outreach in the department. I teach undergraduate courses, deal with undergraduate labs and have been carrying out lots of public engagement activities for nearly 12 years now. (more…)

Rob Floyd, Director of the Central Biomedical Services Department

Celebrating our community COVID-19

“My heroes are those that are caring for the animals, the animal technicians who cannot work from home and must be at work to carry out their role every day of the week so that research at the College can continue. Their commitment and dedication is outstanding.” 

Before joining Imperial, I worked for a global pharmaceutical company and had the opportunity to travel and work in challenging roles. These included the management of animal research facilities, quality assurance and compliance, risk management and building projects, to name a few. (more…)

Dr Sabine van Elsland, External Relationships & Communications Manager, School of Public Health

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“It is humbling being part of Imperial’s COVID-19 response team. It is amazing to see the passion, talent, expertise and experience from colleagues coming together as a team delivering high profile work amidst a global crisis.”

I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and the External Relationships and Communications Manager at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Jameel Institute (J-IDEA). It is a privilege being in a position to witness the world coming together from this up-close. We are grateful to receive support from major funders like the MRC and Community Jameel.

I studied health sciences in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (my home country) and Bandung, Indonesia. My MSc in infectious disease at the VU Amsterdam took me to Aurangabad, India and Cape Town South Africa. For 10 years, I was proud to call Cape Town my home, where I completed my PhD. It was almost two years ago that I joined the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis and moved to London with my family. (more…)

Abigail Ackerman, Research Associate, Department of Materials

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“The wardening teams across all halls have reacted exceptionally to the crisis. My students are particularly upset that we no longer can do Sunday breakfasts!”

I came to Imperial five and a half years ago to start my PhD in the Department of Materials, and am now a Research Associate in Corrosion. In my first year here, I also started as a subwarden in Wilkinson Hall. Since then, I have become an Assistant Warden at Parson House and Pembridge Gardens, living onsite at Parsons House. Other than the Boathouse, Parson House is the smallest of all of the Imperial halls, with only 42 residents. This means that we create an incredibly tight knit community within the hall, by weekly Sunday breakfasts and other activities such as theatre trips and pizza nights. (more…)

John Field, Fire Safety Manager, Estates Division

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“I am currently writing and producing a Home Fire Safety video for our students and staff in order to ensure their safety as they work from home.”

Before joining the College in 2018, I worked as a firefighter for 18 years with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. I now work in Estates Operations where my role requires me to provide fire safety training, complete fire risk assessments and audits, as well as advise on fire safety features required for new buildings. (more…)

Adrian Mannall, Microsoft Cloud Tenancy Lead and Microsoft Supplier Relationship Manager, ICT

Celebrating #OurImperial community during COVID-19

“We were asked if there was anything we could do to help with running an online conference. Our CIO said: ‘I’ll put you in touch with Mr Office 365.’”

I joined Imperial in 2004 as one of four Faculty Support Managers in ICT. Ten years later, at the end of 2014, I was offered the opportunity to manage a project to move staff and postgraduate student mailboxes into Office 365. Following that, I took on my current role of managing Microsoft cloud services, Office 365 and Azure. These services are used widely across the College: 22,500 students and members of staff store over 430 TB of files on OneDrive for Business, while Office 365 delivers more than 18 million emails into user mailboxes each month. (more…)

Rob Eastwood, Service Coordinator, Counselling and Mental Health Service

Celebrating #OurImperial community during COVID-19

“First and foremost, everyone has been working to make sure that our students are being supported – that our students have that key mental health support.”

I’m a Service Coordinator in the Student Counselling and Mental Health Advice Service. I’m responsible for making sure that the administration of the counselling and mental health process runs smoothly – both for the students and the staff – and that our students can be contacted safely, quickly and fairly.

When the lockdown happened, the first thing we did was pause our service for about a week while we planned and implemented the safest way to support our students. I worked closely with ICT – in particular with Nam Ly, Mark Curtis and Rob Sherwood – to get the team set up with the equipment they needed to work remotely and to make sure they could access our systems. (more…)

Dr Marian Blokpoel, Biological Safety Officer, Health and Safety Services

Celebrating #OurImperial community during COVID-19

“We really want to support everyone to do the research, not just for the sake of their own research project, but for the wider community. That’s what will make the impact.”

I’m originally from the Netherlands, but I came to Imperial 25 years ago as a Master’s student and have been at the College ever since – through my PhD and postdoc positions, and now in the Safety team. I love science, and while today I don’t work in the lab, my job lets me see lots of the research that’s going on across the College, which is really exciting. (more…)