Microneedle Biosensors for Rapid and Painless Disease Diagnosis

About the Project

This project aims to develop rapid disease diagnostics based on transdermal microneedle biosensors.

Disease diagnosis often relies on invasive tissue sampling techniques, such as blood sampling or skin biopsies, in order to extract biomarkers for analysis. We have engineered transdermal microneedles to capture specific protein biomarkers from the skin painlessly, without the need for invasive blood sampling or skin biopsies. Thus, it can provide a means to diagnose disease quickly in a patient-friendly manner and will benefit conditions where diagnosis currently involves invasive and time-consuming sampling techniques, such as skin cancer and infectious diseases. Coupled with an electrochemical analytics backend, it is possible to obtain real-time results by converting those captured biomarkers into electrical signals that can be interpreted immediately. This will drastically accelerate the diagnosis (which otherwise would have otherwise taken days or even weeks to complete) and, consequently, timely treatment to save lives.

There are clear clinical applications for the microneedle biosensor in the detection of skin cancer, infections, as well as autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The specific target disease and biomarkers are to be agreed with the supervisors to ensure a good fit with the current programme of work within the team.

We work closely with partners in the School of Engineering and the Translational and Clinical Research Institute in developing our microneedle biosensors, with access to state-of-the art research facilities across the university. You will join a friendly, diverse and multidisciplinary team to develop skills in material science, microfabrication, 3D printing, immunochemistry, electrochemistry, biosensing, and toxicology testing, among others. There are also opportunities to partake in public engagement and commercialisation activities relating to bringing the technology to market.

Visit our research blog to learn more about our research environment, activities and successes. We are also on various social media platforms.

You should hold or expect to hold a 2:1 or 1st class degree in a biomedical or pharmaceutical science or equivalent subject. A Masters degree or prior research experience would be advantageous.

Relevant publications

• Bocchino A, Marquez-Grana C, Singh OP, Melnik E, Kurzhals S, Mutinati GC, Coulman S, Martin C, Ng KW, Vergilio MM, Birchall J, Donovan P, Galvin P, O’Mahony C. A multifunctional platform for the production and customization of polymer-based microneedle devices. Sens Actuators A Phys. 2025;388:116491.
• Rimawe B, Lee JY, Ng KW, Goh CF. In vitro evaluation of microneedle strength: A comparison of test configurations and experimental insights. RSC Pharmaceutics. 2024;1:227-233.
• Smith E, Lau WM, Abdelghany TM, Vukajlovic D, Novakovic K, Ng KW. Vac-and-fill: A micromoulding technique for fabricating microneedle arrays with vacuum-activated, hands-free mould-filling. Int J Pharm. 2024;650:123706.
• Dixon RV, Lau WM, Ng KW. A microneedle-microplate platform to detect biomarkers in the skin. Br J Pharm. 2022;7(2):1164.
• Dixon RV, Skaria E, Lau WM, Manning P, Birch-Machin MA, Moghimi SM, Ng KW. Microneedle-based devices for point-of-care infectious disease diagnostics. Acta Pharm Sin B. 2021;11(8):2344-2361.
• Dixon RV, Lau WM, Moghimi SM, Ng KW. The diagnostic potential of microneedles in infectious diseases. Precis Nanomed. 2020;3(4):629-640.
• Totti S, Ng KW, Dale L, Lian G, Chen T, Velliou EG. A novel versatile animal-free 3D tool for rapid low-cost assessment of immunodiagnostic microneedles. Sens Actuators B Chem. 2019;296:126652.
• Skaria E, Patel BA, Flint MS, Ng KW. Poly(lactic acid)/carbon nanotube composite microneedle arrays for dermal biosensing. Anal Chem. 2019;91(7):4436-4443.
• Ng KW, Moghimi SM. Skin biosensing and bioanalysis: what the future holds. Precis Nanomed. 2018;1(2):124-127.
• Ng KW, Lau WM, Williams AC. Towards pain-free diagnosis of skin diseases through multiplexed microneedles: biomarker extraction and detection using a highly sensitive blotting method. Drug Deliv Transl Res. 2015;5(4):387-96.

Funding Notes

This project is suitable for self-funded students or students with third-party sponsorship. There is no dedicated funding from the university for this project. The student will be expected to provide funding for tuition fees and living expenses. UK students may be able to apply for a Doctoral Loan from Student Finance for financial support. Some students may be eligible to apply for supplemental funding.

Details about the tuition fees and a supplemental funding search tool are available on our website: View Website