Dr Luigi Occhipinti
Principal Investigator
Email: lgo23 {at} cam.ac.uk
Luigi Occhipinti, PHD CEng Senior Member IEEE, joined the University of Cambridge in April 2014. He developed science and innovation for more than 25 years in emerging technology areas for the post-CMOS roadmap, smart systems heterogeneous integration, polymer and printed electronics, advanced bio-systems and molecular diagnostics, advanced signal processing and nonlinear computation, advanced mechanical, optical and chemical sensor technologies, with focus on miniaturization and advanced packaging technologies for smart devices and products. His current position is Director of Research in Graphene and Related Technologies at the Engineering Department, as well as Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Cambridge Graphene Centre.
Ioannis Prattis
PhD Student
Email: ip355 {at} cam.ac.uk
Ioannis is a PhD student at the Department of Engineering, and he is awarded an EPSRC studentship with industrial support by Cambridge Display Technologies Ltd. His PhD project focuses on the development of novel biosensing platforms for cancer detection, aiming to transform the current biopsy procedures.
He obtained a BSc in Biology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and an MSc in Human Molecular Genetics from Imperial College London. During his Master, Ioannis was awarded a 6-month scholarship to conduct his thesis research at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute evaluating the role LMTK2 kinase in prostate cancer.
Prior to starting his PhD, Ioannis worked for several years as an R&D scientist in a biotech company developing molecular reagents for a wide range of PCR-based diagnostic platforms.
Tasnim Chowdhury
PhD Student
Email: tnc24 {at} cam.ac.uk
Tasnim is a 3rd year PhD student in Occhipinti’s group, working on flexible and wearable electronics, using sustainable materials. After graduating from Newcastle University with an honours degree in Medicinal Chemistry, Tasnim worked in various roles at a fast paced pharmaceutical CDMO in Alnwick, Northumberland with world class facilities and industry leading scientists. She is highly experienced in HPLC, drug formulation and development, GLP and GMP processes.
During her PhD she has led two award-winning research proposals for the CAPE Grand Challenge in 2021 (SP-Destress) and in 2022 (CamBalance), sponsored by GSK and Haleon, respectively. Tasnim is currently leading the industrial partnership project with Haleon to develop a mobile application with a smart companion device for monitoring physiological changes in menopausal people. She has a passion for innovating in the field of women’s (trans and nonbinary) health, mental health and sustainable materials.
Tharun Reddy Kandukuri
PhD Student
Email: trk25 {at} cam.ac.uk
Tharun finished the first two years of his undergraduate education at the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) in India. During his sophomore year, he applied for an International transfer and got admitted into State University of New York at Binghamton, where he finished his Bachelors with an Honours degree. Tharun graduated Summa Cum Laude and was also the topper of his University with a CGPA of 3.99/4.0.
During his studies, Tharun represented great societies and served in many roles. He was the Honorary lifetime member at Tau Beta Pi Chapter for Engineers and acted as the Vice president of Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society for Electrical Engineers. In the meantime, Tharun worked as a lead tutor at University tutorial services at Binghamton University. His scientific interests include Bio Electronics especially Deep Brain Stimulation. He is also passionate about photonics and high speed communication technologies.
Giorgio Mallia
PhD Student
Email: gm662 {at} cam.ac.uk
Giorgio is currently working towards a PhD in bio-inspired microelectronic circuits, electrophysiological interfaces and their enhancement through the integration of graphene and related materials. He joined the University of Cambridge in October 2019, as a member of Wolfson College. The following year, he earned the degree of Master of Research (MRes) in Graphene Technology at the Cambridge Graphene Centre, in the Department of Electrical Engineering. As part of the MRes, he investigated the pioneering idea of implementing noise distribution transformers with field programmable analog arrays of graphene field effect transistors (GFETs). Furthermore, during the 2020 COVID pandemic, he reviewed current graphene-based bio-sensing platforms for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 related biomarkers.
In August 2019, Giorgio Mallia earned an integrated Master of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. He specialised on an Electrical Engineering pathway.
Dafydd Ravenscroft
PhD Student
Email: dr484 {at} cam.ac.uk
Dafydd has a background in Mathematics and Computer Science. Most recently he has been involved in machine learning having carried out research in medical imaging and automated lip reading. Before embarking on this course, he worked at Cambridge start-up Bios - a neural interface company designing smart bionics. During his time there, he worked on using machine learning techniques to analyse and interpret neural signals being relayed through the nervous system with the aim of using these to control a prosthetic limb.
This work inspired his interest in the development of novel technologies for medical purposes leading to him joining the EPSRC Sensor Technologies CDT. In his MPhil project he worked with the Occhipinti group to develop a wearable graphene strain gauge sensor for silent speech recognition based on throat movement.
He is now undertaking a PhD entitled "Implantable Biosensors for Monitoring Neuroinflammation". In this work he aims to develop a biosensor which can measure, in-situ and in real-time, the levels of key biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid which are associated with neuroinflammation. This research has the potential to improve the understanding of the spread of neurodegenerative diseases.
Gavin Summers
PhD Student
Email: grs50 {at} cam.ac.uk
Gavin received his M.Eng. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2019 from Newcastle University where his dissertation focused on the characterisation of thermoelectric materials. Following on from an internship during his undergraduate studies he then started working as a specialist in smart home and electronics at Beko PLC's research and development centre in Cambridge. As a Ph.D. student he will focus on developing a scalable multi-analyte platform for biomolecules with a view towards industrialisation.
Muzi Xu
PhD Student
Email: mx247 {at} cam.ac.uk
Muzi is a PhD student at the Department of Engineering, as a member of Trinity College, Cambridge. She is awarded a CSC Cambridge International Scholarship and working in the Cambridge Graphene Center focusing on wearable haptic sensor system for silent communications.
Before coming to Cambridge, Muzi completed her Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at National University of Singapore, followed by a one-year graduate research fellow position. And as an outstanding graduate representative, she obtained her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Macromolecular Materials and Engineering from Shenzhen University where she ranked 1st place in the consecutive years and got numerous scholarships such as China National Scholarship and Tencent Scholarship for Innovators. She has published 4 journal papers as a co-author and 9 China patents, seven of which have been granted.
During her studies, Muzi took part in various aviation and entrepreneurial activities. As a member of the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots, she got her pilot’s license (helicopter) at the age of 17, being recognised as the youngest female pilot in China at that time. As a member of class of Entrepreneurship Elite in SZU, she attended and organised a wide range of events including establishment of a communication society for entrepreneurs and innovators.
Chenyu Tang
PhD Student
Email: ct631 {at} cam.ac.uk
Chenyu joined the group in 2022 as a Ph.D. student. Currently, he is researching the intersection of wearable sensors and artificial intelligence, aiming to build human body digital twin models for the health monitoring of healthy people and disease diagnosis for patients. Besides, he is collaborating with Endoenergy Ltd. to develop a personalised lower limb exoskeleton based on sensing systems.
Before he came to Cambridge, he obtained his bachelor’s degree at Beihang University, Beijing, China, majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Applied Mathematics. In his undergraduate years, he researched the smart sensors system in diverse human-machine interaction scenarios and has published two articles in IEEE serial journals and a handbook chapter in CRC press as the first author. His research interest includes deep learning, wearable sensors, and embedded systems.
Wentian Yi
PhD Student
Email: wy278 {at} cam.ac.uk
Wentian Yi is a PhD student in Engineering and a member of Cambridge Graphene Centre. He has previously conducted research on degradable thermoset polymer for the reduction of e-waste during his undergraduate degree. After receiving his BSc degree in Chemistry from Renmin University of China in 2021, he finished his MRes course in soft electronic materials at Imperial College London. During this time, he grew interested in fibre electronics and focused on polymer fibre embedding in two-dimensional materials.
His current research in Occhipinti group is focusing on the synthesis of polymer composite embedding nanomaterials and the scale-up fabrication of fibre-based photodetectors. His research interest lies in fibre electronics and smart textile that will pave the way for the coming Internet of Things.
Josée Mallah
MPhil Student
Email: jm2508 {at} cam.ac.uk
Josée is working towards the research-based MPhil in Engineering degree, while being a member of Downing College, Cambridge. She is the recipient of a Bseisu Cambridge and Downing Robson scholarship. Her project focuses on personal devices monitoring air quality, aiming to assess the individual's exposure to airborne particles and gases.
She graduated with high distinction from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Lebanon, being ranked first among her cohort with a CGPA of 95.28%. She had a full scholarship throughout her undergraduate studies, and was awarded the Beirut International Awards Festival BIAF 2019 award for Outstanding Academic Performance. Her final project consisted in designing an Active Prosthesis for Transtibial Amputees. Currently, she is an intern at the UNDP Regional Hub for Arab States, supporting the Nature, Climate and Energy team.
Josée is inspired by entrepreneurship; she is a UNDP Youth Leadership Programme alumna and holds the Student-Entrepreneur status from the Agence Universitaire pour la Francophonie. She has been working on her startup project, Aquatricity, which aims to help people optimize their water and energy consumption through smart metering and awareness raising.
Joshua Abu
MEng Student
Email: jea68 {at} cam.ac.uk
Joshua is a 4th-year undergraduate student at the Department of Engineering, completing his MEng in Electrical and Information Engineering as a member of Corpus Christi College. He is working with the Occhipinti group, focusing on developing Graphene based electrochemical sensors for the detection of stress biomarkers and developing a biosensing platform to assess an individual's psychological stress level non-invasively and in real-time.
Before his 4th year, Joshua interned at Hg Capital, a private equity firm specialising in software companies, where he sought out and identified new software investment opportunities across different sectors. Besides his studies, Joshua is the captain of the Corpus and Sidney College basketball team and a member of the Kingsgate Community Church in Cambridge.
Wenjun Xie
MEng Student
Email: wx232 {at} cam.ac.uk
Wenjun is a 4th-year undergraduate student at the Department of Engineering. She is developing a project on fibre-based sensor device for integrated e-textile environmental monitoring system.
Alumni/
Pelumi Oluwasanya
Abdul Alzahran
Xiang Cheng
Varindra Kumar
Edward Tan
Miguel Monteiro
Nuno Bartolo
