IMPERIAL
Imperial College London was founded in 1907 and was recently ranked 5th in the international university league table. There are currently over 13000 students and approximately 1200 academic staff. The College is primarily science-based with faculties of Medicine, Engineering, and Natural Sciences at its core.
The Faculty of Medicine was established in 1997, bringing together all the major West London medical schools into one world-class institution. The Faculty is one of Europe's largest medical institutions - in terms of its staff and student population and its research income; at present there are over 700 Faculty members actively involved in research, with an annual research spend of over £140 million. Professor Teresa Tetley heads the Lung Cell Biology group within the National Heart and Lung Institute, one of the most successful divisions in the Faculty of Medicine. This group has a strong research background in the adverse health effects of inhaled particles with a particular focus on nanomaterials, air pollution and cigarette smoke. Professor Tetley’s group conducts research in to the mechanisms underlying cytotoxic and inflammatory responses of the peripheral gas exchange region of the lung and her group currently consists of one lecturer, two post-docs and three PhD students. She has developed techniques to isolate primary cells from human lung parenchyma and established novel in vitro models using these cells.
The Faculty of Engineering, together with the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, is one of the largest engineering faculties in the UK, with around 1,200 staff, over 5,000 students and research income of £60 million. Dr Mark Rehkamper is a Reader in Isotope geochemistry within the Department of Earth Science and Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering. His research interests include geochemistry and cosmochemistry and he is one of the pioneers of multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS).
The Faculty of Natural Sciences employs over 1,200 staff, teaches 3,000 undergraduates and 1,200 postgraduate students and has a research income totalling £57 million. Dr. John de Mello is a Reader in Nanomaterials in the Departmentof Chemistry at Imperial College, specialising in the experimental and theoretical characterisation of nanoparticles and molecular semiconductors and with particular emphasis on their use in optoelectronic devices. In the area of organic semiconductors, his research focuses primarily on the fabrication,analysis and optimisation of light-emitting diodes and solar cells. In the area of nanoparticles, he has pioneered the use of microfluidic reactors for the automation and controlled synthesis of nanoparticles.
