Role
Professor of SMART Materials and Devices (Part time)
Research Areas
- Electrospinning of natural and synthetic polymers to produce microstructured functional nanofibrous membranes for applications in Life Science, Healthcare, Energy and Environment
- Point of Care and Self Diagnostic devices for early detection of disease (Type II Diabetes, Cardiovascular)
- Manufacturing techniques and processes to produce high quality human tissue suitable for cell based medical implants to treat disease and injury. (Therapies for Age related Macular Degeneration, Spinal Cord Repair)
- Manufacturing of chronic in vitro 3D tissue models to help discover new drugs to treat Parkinson's Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
- Nano-electrospray of nanomaterials and biomolecules for advanced functional coatings, patterned and precision surfaces
- Offset and Lithographic Printing for low cost production of flexible hybrid electronics and optoelectronics
- Interfacing printed flexible and stretchable electrodes with manufactured human tissue
Commercial activity
- Director of Flexotronix Limited - Manufacture of Flexible Hybrid Electronics
Career overview
Principal Scientist at the Science and Technology Facilities Councils Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (1999-2012) Process Development Group Leader for Micro and Nanotechnology.
Spin out companies
- Oxsensis Ltd. Manufacturer of multi-parameter fibre optic sensing systems (Co-founder)
- The Electrospinning Company Ltd. Manufacturer of nanofibre enabled devices for Life Sciences (Co-founder & Research Director)
- ESP Technology. Developer of advanced early canulation and arterial venous grafts (Chief Technology Officer)
Consultancies
- Radius Health Diagnostics. Developer of Portable X-ray imaging systems for the healthcare sector
- The Electrospinning Company
Research areas
Areas of research include:
- Nano-emitter devices for electrospray applications
- Electrospun nanofibre tissue scaffolds leading to cellular therapies for:
- Spinal Cord repair
- Age related Macular Degeneration
- Electrospun nanofibre fabrics for advanced fuel cell components
- Electrospun nanofibre nanocomposites for high performance carbon fibre systems
- Electrospun nanofibre fabrics for:
- Wound healing
- Lithium Ion Battery Separators
- Fuel cell components
- Tissue scaffolds – Spinal Cord Repair, Treatment of Age related Macular Degeneration,
- Low cost, disposable point of care diagnostics
Professor Stevens is currently working on:
- Connected digital manufacture of Medical Devices
- Flexible light emitting optoelectronic devices
- Point-of-Care disposable diagnostic device for the early detection of the onset of Type II diabetes. In collaboration with The University of Cardiff and the Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Scale up of high speed printing technology for flexible electrodes and circuits on thin plastic film.
- Developing collaborative projects which integrate, electrospinning, nano-electrospray, laser ablation and annealing.
Opportunities to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil/PhD exist in the School of Science and Technology and further information may be obtained from the NTU Graduate School.
External activity
- Research Director of ESP Technology Limited. A company developing advanced early canulation devices, arterial venous grafts and vascular access grafts
- Research Director of Flexotronix Limited. A company manufacturing printed flexible hybrid electronics and optoelectronics
Sponsors and collaborators
Current and recent research is being conducted with the collaboration, funding and/or support of:
Sponsors
Academic collaborators
- Cardiff University
Industrial Collaborators
Publications
Directionality And Bipolarity Of Olfactory Ensheathing Cells On Electrospun Nanofibres, Kueh JL, Raisman G, Stevens R, Nanomedicine, 2012, 2 (8), 1211-1224
Comparison Of Bulbar And Mucosal Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Using Facs And Simultaneous Antigenic Bivariate Cell Cycle Analysis. Stevens B et al, GLI, 2011, 59 (11), 1658-1671
Nanofiber fabrication in a temperature and humidity controlled environment for improved fibre consistency. Hardick O, Stevens R, Bracewell DG, Journal of Materials Science, 2011, 46 (11), 3890-3898
A planar refractive x-ray lens made of nano-crystalline diamond. Alianelli L, Sawhney KJS, Malik A, Fox OJL, May PW, Stevens R, Loader IM, Wilson MC, Journal of Applied Physics, 2010, 108, 123107
Optically trapped probes with nanometer scale tips for femto-Newton force measurement. Pollard MR, Botchway SW, Chichkov B, Freeman E, Halsall R, Jenkins DWK, Loader I, Ovsianikov A, Parker AW, Stevens R, Turchetta R, Ward AD, Towrie M, New Journal of Physics, 2010, 12 (11), 110356
Optimisation of silicon field-emission arrays fabrication for space applications. Wang L, Stevens R, Huq E, Loader I, Kent B, Aplin K, She J, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, 2004, 22 (3), 1047-1410
Production of multi-MeV per nucleon ions in the controlled amount of matter made(CAM) by using causally isolated targets. Strangio C, Caruso A, Neely D, Andreoli P.L, Anzalone R, Clarke R, Cristofari G, Del Prete E, Di Giorgio G, Murphy C, Ricci C, Stevens R and Tolley M, Laser and Particle Beams, 2007, 25, 85-91, Cambridge University Press
High-aspect ratio silica nozzle fabrication for nano-emitter electrospray applications. Wang L, Stevens R, Malik A, Rockett, P, Paine M, Adkin P, Martyn S, Smith K, Stark J, Dobson, P. SO: Microelectronic Engineering, 2007, 84 (5-8), 1190-1193
Enhancement of the laterally emitting thin film electroluminescent device optical outcoupling via the fabrication of novel geometry structures. Barros SO, Stevens R, Cranton W, Optical-Engineering SPIE, 2001, 40 (6), 934-40
Press expertise
- Electrospinning
- Formulation Technology
- Micro and nanofabrication
- Printed electronics
- Tissue Engineering
- In vitro cell models
- Medical Device Manufacturing