Prof Xunli Zhang PhD FRSC CChem CEng

Professor of Bioengineering and Microsystems, Director of Chemical Engineering

Prof Xunli Zhang is Professor of Bioengineering and Microsystems, Bioengineering Group and the Director of Chemical Engineering within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Xunli Zhang graduated from Northwest University (Xi'an, China), where he received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering. Upon obtaining an ORS Award from the UK government, he started his Ph.D. studies at Imperial College London in October 1996, under the supervision of Professor Michael Mingos (FRS), and was awarded a Ph.D. degree by the University of London in May 2000. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Hull with Professor Steve Haswell on miniaturised Lab-on-a-Chip technology. During this period he has also spent time as a senior scientist at Micro Chemical Systems Ltd. In August 2007, he joined the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton upon appointment to an RCUK (Research Councils UK) Academic Fellowship.

Research

Publications

Teaching

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With a strong cross-disciplinary research background and experience at the interface of chemistry, chemical engineering and life sciences, Xunli’s current research interests are primarily centred around the development of microfluidic and Lab-on-a-Chip technologies and their applications in bioengineering. His research topics cover:

Cell-based bioanalysis, using microfluidic and Lab-on-a-Chip methodologies to manipulate and analyse single cells.

Drug delivery systems, synthesised with continuous-flow microfluidic reactors for controllable size and shape.

Biomicrofluidics for therapeutic applications including chemo/embolisation, ureteric stenting, and sclerosis of varicose veins.

Nano prisms, synthesised with continuous-flow microfluidic reactors for controllable optical properties

Research group

Bioengineering Science

Affiliate research group

Engineering Materials

Research project(s)

Organic nanoparticles for drug delivery – size matters

Making drug-loaded nanoparticles in a controllable way with uniform size or a narrow size range is crucial for their use as nanomedicine.

Blocking blood supply to starve cancerous tumours

Microfluidic technology can potentially provide a platform for evaluation of clinical and patient-specific features for cancer therapy, while as an alternative to animal models to reduce the amount of animal tests.

Nanoparticles for energy saving glazing

Nanoparticle based coating is a step towards energy saving glazing.

Rapid Diagnosis of Allergy to Drugs using a Microfluidic Platform

The aim of this project is to develop a microfluidics-based system for rapid diagnosis of allergy to drugs by integrating cross-disciplinary expertise of microfluidic bioengineering and medicine. This system will require small volumes of blood and provide a cost effective and reliable diagnostic test to determine drug allergy in patients. The study will focus on the separation and activation of human basophils, granulocytic cells which release histamine amongst other mediators in response to a drug allergen.

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Articles

Book Chapters

Capretto, L., Cheng, W., Hill, M., & Zhang, X. (2011). Micromixing within microfluidic devices. In Topics in Current Chemistry (pp. 1-42). London, GB: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/128_2011_150
Cheng, W., Capretto, L., Hill, M., & Zhang, X. (2011). Organic nanoparticles using microfluidic technology for drug-delivery applications. In C. S. S. R. Kumar (Ed.), Polymeric Nanomaterials (pp. 221-257). (Nanomaterials for the Life Sciences). Weinheim, DE: Wiley.
Zhang, X., Mingos, M., & Hayward, D. (2008). Microwave assisted heterogeneous catalysis. In D. Marmaduke (Ed.), Progress in Heterogeneous Catalysis USA: Nova Science Publishers.
Fletcher, P. D. I., Haswell, S. J., Watts, P., & Zhang, X. (2004). Lab-on-a-Chip micro reactors for chemical synthesis. In J. A. Schwarz, C. Contescu, & K. Putyera (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (pp. 1547-1564). New York, USA: Marcel Dekker.

Conferences

Kimpton, H. J., Zhang, X., & Stulz, E. (2020). Decarbonising heating and hot water using solar thermal collectors coupled with thermal storage: The scale of the challenge. Paper presented at 4th Annual CDT Conference in Energy Storage and Its Applications , Southampton, United Kingdom.
Hassan, S-U., & Zhang, X. (2019). Chip-and-dip: capillary-driven flow devices for point-of- care diagnostics. In 23rd International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (pp. 685-686). Basel, Switzerland.
Hassan, S-U., Goel, P., Kumar, N., & Zhang, X. (2019). Paper-based miniaturized device for detection of beta- lactam antibiotics in milk. In 23rd International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (pp. 1604-1605). Basel, Switzerland.
Hassan, S-U., & Zhang, X. (2019). Portable flow cell for detection of multiple microchannels in a single chip. In 23rd International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (pp. 1690-1691). Basel, Switzerland.
Carugo, D., ElMahdy, M., Zhao, X., Drake, M., Zhang, X., & Clavica, F. (2013). An artificial model for studying fluid dynamics in the obstructed and stented ureter. In 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) (pp. 5335-5338). IEEE. DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2013.6610754
Carugo, D., Ankrett, D. N., Glynne-Jones, P., Capretto, L., Boltryk, R. J., Townsend, P. A., ... Hill, M. (2011). Contrast agent-free cell sonoporation using a continuous-flow microfluidic device. Paper presented at 15th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, Seattle, United States.
Grigorov, A. V., Hua, P., & Zhang, X. (2010). Fabrication and optimization of silver electrode porous membrane microfluidic devices for electrokinetic energy harvesting applications. Paper presented at The 17th Joint Annual Conference of CSCST & SCS CS, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Patents

Reviews

Hassan, S-U., & Zhang, X. (2020). Microfluidics as an emerging platform for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR): a review. Current Analytical Chemistry, 16(1), 41-51. DOI: 10.2174/1573411015666181224145845
Hassan, S-U., Zhang, X., & Niu, X. (2019). Droplet-based microfluidics: Formation, detection and analytical characterization. Research & Development in Material Science, 11(5). DOI: 10.31031/RDMS.2019.11.000774
Hassan, S-U., & Zhang, X. (2019). Droplet-based microgels: Attractive materials for drug delivery systems. Research & Development in Material Science, 11(3). DOI: 10.31031/RDMS.2019.11.000763
Hassan, S-U., Zhang, X., & Niu, X. (2019). Droplet-interfaced separations as an emerging tool for high-throughput microchip electrophoresis. Research in Medical & Engineering Sciences, 8(1). DOI: 10.31031/RMES.2019.08.000679

Module title	Module code	Discipline	Role
Engineering Design	SESM3001	Mechanical	Course leader

Prof Xunli Zhang
Engineering, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton. SO17 1BJ United Kingdom

Room Number: 7/4071

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