Collaboration & Services

Academic and Industrial Collaboration

We collaborate with a wide range of academics and companies all over the world, from start-ups and SMEs to large multinationals listed on the FTSE 100 and NYSE.

Our research is interdisciplinary and tends to lie at the intersection between analytical science, engineering and computation. In the words of Popper (1963), "We are not students of some subject matter, but students of problems. And problems may cut right across the borders of any subject matter or discipline." One can also interchange the word "problems" with "nature".

Our laboratories have developed expertise in analytical science and instrumentation, developing novel instruments and new methods with universal applications for a diverse range of substances. These include technical and analytical grade materials, formulations, and finished products (such as personal care, beauty and wellbeing, nutrition, etc.), as well as air, soil, and various types of water (such as drinking, surface, ground water, and saltwater), crops, human exposure monitoring, and animal/human matrices (such as saliva, urine, faeces, breath, and blood). Additionally, these substances can be tested for a wide range of analytes and contaminants, including industrial chemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), consumer products, as well as the metabolites and degradation products resulting from these contaminants.

We deliver bespoke solutions, including method development, experimental design, instrument design, fabrication, MS and chromatography optimisation, standardisation, automation, sample preparation, method validation, method verification, system integration, miniaturisation, proof of concept scoping, and more. For example, we have successfully delivered a range of outcomes for collaborators such as, but not limited to, aroma profiling, VOC classification modelling, method development for novel insecticides, process monitoring for personal care products, monitoring dissolved gases, VOCs and key performance markers in recirculating aquaculture systems, in-situ monitoring of hormones in cow's milk, oil in water monitoring, trace analysis as evidence for patent infringement litigation, electronic feedback for ion source control, design and fabrication of bespoke 3D printed parts, water quality testing automation for a major water utility, bespoke plasmonic substrate fabrication, lateral flow immunoassay development for small molecule bioanalysis, environmental sensor system integration (temperature, humidity, etc.) for low-power wireless monitoring of cattle shed environment, routine mass spectrometry services, amongst many others. 

We are particularly interested in the most challenging analyses, including those where there is currently no solution, as well as requirements that seek to enhance performance (sensitivity, specificity, reliability, etc.), reduce cost/time/complexity/size/power, or improve sustainability. Our engineering, analytical science and data processing expertise, enable us to deliver solutions and conduct testing for a wide range of problems.

Please contact us for further information.