About
Since September 2000 Tracy Melvin has been at the University of Southampton and has research interests in the areas of optical microdevices for bioanalysis. The focus of her research is to create technologies to provide the potential to answer bioscience questions, that are difficult or cannot be answered in any other way. This is achieved by developing novel methodology and devices, some of which was originally conceived for optical telecommunications applications. Her research crosses the medical science – microfluidics -optical device interface and includes bionanotechnology methods.
Tracy Melvin obtained her PhD from University College London. After post-docs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA and the Max Planck Institut fur Strahlenchemie, Germany, she worked in the MRC Radiation and Genome Stability Unit on direct ionisation and enzymatic detection of DNA damage. After researching in the area of charge-migration in DNA, she became interested in the interface of microsystems and microelectronics with biochemistry and took up a research post in the CNRS working at the Centre de Biophysique Moleculaire and the Laboratoire de Physique et Metrologie des Oscillateurs, France.
Research
Research groups
Current research
Microdevices for bioanalysis (biochemistry and cell biology applications), optical/microfluidic devices for bioanalytical applications (including optical sorting, sensitive detection), biophotonics, bionanotechnology (and the application of the novel physical properties of nanomaterials for biosensing, micro/nanofabrication) and microfluidics.
Research projects
Completed projects
Publications
Supervision
Current PhD Students
Teaching
Medical Electrical and Electronic Technologies (ELEC6247) (4th yr, MSc. electronics, electrical and electromechanical fields) As a master's level module, this has been designed to include a combination of taught (lectures and tutorials) and self-study to build on each individual's engineering expertise. The module is designed to provide the foundational knowledge for advancement of expertise into the clinical/biomedical academic and industrial sectors where your electrical/electromechanical/electronics expertise is the main technology driver.
Group Design Project (ELEC6200) (4th yr electronics, electrical, electromechanical, computer science and information technology fields) This module provides an introduction to intensive group project work in collaboration with an industrial or academic customer. Students work in groups of four or five on a challenging project iwhich will be typically based on an idea from an industrial partner, or from a research project looking to transfer technology to industry or build a demonstrator/proof of concept. The aim of the group design project is to encourage both innovation and engagement with the broader engineering context (financial, economic, social, environmental). The use of ‘real world’ engineering problems requires students to actively engage with their customers to determine the scope and requirements of their project, in order to provide a realistic simulation of the sort of challenges that they are likely to face as engineering graduates.