About
In the Mass Spectrometry & Instrumentation research group, our expertise is founded in engineering and analytical science. This enables us to design and build bespoke instrumentation and sensor systems, with a particular emphasis on advanced portable solutions that can be deployed at the point-of-need.
Our research is interdisciplinary, crossing several traditional subject boundaries, and we routinely collaborate with academics and industrialists from diverse fields and sectors. We have expertise in mass spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, ambient ionisation, ambient ion soft landing, electrospray deposition, electrospinning and surface deposition, electronic control, lateral flow assay development, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering, chemical sensors, chemometrics, to name a few. We are experienced in designing and developing new sensors and analytical instruments, ion optics and electromagnetic simulations, fabrication, experimental design, automation, sample preparation, method development, method validation, method verification, system integration, miniaturisation and spectral data analysis. Our research has been applied in many application areas such as clinical diagnostics, point of care testing, biofluids analysis (saliva, sweat, whole blood, plasma, breath, urine, faeces, hair), microbiology, environmental & water analysis (drinking, surface, ground, salt water and aquaculture), agriculture, food testing, consumer products, security, defence, etc.
Our group is driven by a passion for the most complex analyses and measurement tasks, particularly those that currently lack a viable solution and those that demand innovative approaches (novel technologies), enhanced performance (sensitivity, specificity, reliability, etc.), reduced cost/time/complexity/size/power, or improved sustainability. Our collective expertise in engineering, analytical science, and data processing equips us to deliver tailored solutions for a wide spectrum of problems.
I am always looking for talented scientists and engineers who want to study for a PhD at Liverpool. Please get in touch with me if you intend to apply. More broadly, outside of university, I am a Christian, married to a wonderful wife, and have three amazing children. I have a variety of interests, including fundamental science, football, and local history.
For more up-to-date information, please visit: www.liverpool.ac.uk/mass-spec or contact s.maher@liverpool.ac.uk